John Polidori

Dr John Polidori was a British physician, one of the best in Edinburgh, and author during the early 19th century.

While serving as a physician for 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. Following the arrival of a seriously wounded Eighth Doctor at the Villa Diodati and his apparent death shortly thereafter, Byron suggested conducting an experiment to determine whether the "corpse" could be reanimated by lightning. While both Mary and Polidori strongly objected, Byron performed the experiment with Percy's assistance.

Polidori's entry in the competition resulted in the short story The Vampyre, (AUDIO: Mary's Story) which was inspired by the Star Chamber's knowledge of the Yssgaroth War. (PROSE: The Book of the War) It made Polidori one of the first human authors to write about vampires, (AUDIO: Mary's Story) and The Vampyre sparked massive public interest in the pre-human. (PROSE: The Book of the War) A younger version of the Eighth Doctor, who arrived after his future self had been revived by the lightning, told Polidori that he loved The Vampyre, which he had yet to write. (AUDIO: Mary's Story) Polidori's The Fall of the Angels even more blatantly revealed the Star Chamber's knowledge and secrets.

Polidori was ultimately murdered by the Mal'akh in 1821. (PROSE: The Book of the War)