Tales of the Dead

Tales of the Dead was a book which Lord Byron read to Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori at Villa Diodati in June 1816. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

"At midnight, we took a torch to the chapel. With pallid countenance and trembling limbs, we descended to the vault. Hildegarde's leaden coffin loomed before us. The Count was seized with the sensations of terror. He opened the coffin with a stifled cry of dread and inside we saw..."

- An excerpt from Tales of the Dead as read by Lord Byron

Behind the scenes
Tales of the Dead was an English anthology of horror fiction published in 1813 and consisting of six short stories. Though mentioned, but not made explicit during The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the story which Lord Byron reads is called The Death-Bride. The horror story was written by German writer Friedrich August Schulze, a German novelist who wrote under the pen name Friedrich Laun.

Though the excerpt read by Lord Byron is based on the actual story, it does not appear in the real-life version.