John William Polidori

John William Polidori (7 September 1795 to 24 August 1821) was an English writer and physician of Italian descent. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most successful work was the 1819 short story, The Vampyre, the first vampire story in English. Although originally and erroneously accredited to Lord Byron, both Byron and Polidori affirmed that the story is Polidori's. Polidori died just before his 26th birthday. Hounded by depression and gambling debts, he most likely committed suicide by drinking cyanide, but the local coroner listed the death as "natural causes".