Creating the Real Frankenstein

The most famous story of a reanimated corpse has yet to be the story of Frankenstein.  Dr. Victor Frankenstein attempted to play God and pieced the body parts of the dead together to create a living monster.  But many claimed that there was an inspiration behind the character of Dr. Frankenstein.  Dr. Polidori who also wrote the story of The Vampyre was believed to be the inspiration behind Bram Stroker’s Dracula and Frankenstein.

Chris Goulding, a student of New Castel University was searching for the influence of science on the poetry of Percy Shelley when he stumbled upon a document that could’ve been the mold for Dr. Victor Frankenstein.  Dr. James Lind was the mentor of Shelley in 1809-1810 in Eton.  On the documents, the idea of using electrical impulse was mentioned; they claimed that it was able to start a muscle movement on an experiment that was conducted on the dead frog.  It stated that upon running electricity to the frog, the leg of the frog started to twitch.

He was also the first doctor noted in the history of England to use galvanic experiments similar to what Dr. Frankenstein did in the novel.  Percy Shelley was so interested in the science of Dr. James Lind, Goulding also mentioned the unfinished biography of Mary Shelley (author behind Frankenstein)

 ‘... became intimate also with a man whom he never mentioned except in terms of the tenderest respect. This was Dr Lind, a name well known among the professors of medical science... he has often said... “I owe that man far—oh! Far more than I owe my father.” ’