John William Polidori (1795-1821) was the son of the former secretary to the poet/dramatist Alfieri. He studied medicine and by age 20 had become the personal physician and traveling companion of George Gordon, Lord Byron. In the summer of 1816, Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley and Polidori were forced to spend a few days in a villa on Lake Geneva. They each decided to tell a ghost story. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Polidori's The Vampyre, a.k.a. Lord Ruthven, The Vampyre were thus created. Eventually, Byron and Polidori parted ways. Polidori was dismissed in September and returned to England. Polidori practiced medicine once more, but died two years after the publication of Lord Ruthven, first published in The New Monthly Magazine in April 1819. The story sparked numerous adaptations, sequels and imitations.   novella: Lord Ruthven the Vampire (2004)