Note: Originally published in 1810 in German, a French translation was available in 1811, and this English translation appears in 1812. According to Peter Haining, Mary Shelley had read the French translation prior to writing her famous novel. However, it's been established that the book she and the others at Villa Diodati read was Fantasmagoria, and it does not include this story (a search of the Google Books scan does not find the word "Frankenstein").

Synopsis: Young man and maiden go to the foreboding tower of Frankenstein for romance. Going there, they release the spirit of a mother and child haunting the tower. (Because they came in love? Because the maiden is a virgin? The reason is unspecified). The 3 page story was said to have inspired the name of Shelley's story, but there is no connection between her novel and this story except for the name "Frankenstein" and a slight connection from the single sentence: "The maiden thinks on the story of the spirit of the woman and her child once sacrificed to the monster and said to haunt the tower though the creature lay slain by the Baron Frankenstein these many years."