The Vampyre

The Vampyre was a short story written by Dr John Polidori in the early 19th century which featured vampires.

While staying with his friend Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816, Byron challenged Polidori, Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley to a competition to see which of them could write the best ghost story. Both The Vampyre and Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein came to be written as a result of the competition.

Upon meeting him shortly thereafter, the Eighth Doctor told Polidori that he loved The Vampyre, which he had yet to write. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)