The cold summer of 1816, with its endless rainfalls and dreadful thunderstorms, has entered not only climate history but also cultural history. During this summer, two ghosts stepped onto the stage of literature, which have since become indispensable in the media: the artificial man of Dr. Frankenstein and the blood-sucking vampire. The latter is the protagonist of two tales by Lord Byron and his personal physician John Polidori, which are brought together here for the first time, newly translated by Reinhard Kaiser, in one volume in German. The two pieces emerged from a ghost story writing competition initiated by Byron. While Byron's own tale remained fragmentary, Polidori's The Vampire was later published by a shrewd publisher under Byron's name, thus creating the modern myth.