Vampires, as a concept, have drawn massive audience throughout history. The journey starts in the 1700s, as science, and peaks in the 1800s as fiction. Before Dracula there were the OG vampires of literature: Carmilla, The Bride of Corinth, Varney the Vampire. Included among these ...Lord Ruthven.

Lord Ruthven of "The Vampyre" came about when a group of friends challenged each other with the creation of 'ghost stories'. In this same friend group? Mary Shelley and her creation Frankenstein.

Lord Ruthven is the first known instance of a vampire character moving undetected through the upper class and living a life of refinement, as a beautiful playboy.