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From terrifying creatures and malevolent witches to ghostly estates and disastrous scientific endeavors, these were among the spine-tingling themes that fueled the imaginations of some of Great Britain’s most celebrated authors, poets, and playwrights. While their creations often evoked unease, the real-life inspirations behind their works were even more harrowing. Drawing from macabre folklore, haunting nightmares, and hallucinatory experiences, here are ten of the darkest influences that shaped the masterpieces of Great Britain’s literary giants.
10. Frankenstein
Mary Shelley conceived the idea for Frankenstein’s monster after an opium-induced evening spent sharing ghost stories with friends during a thunderstorm.
At just 18 years old, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley) spent the summer of 1816 in Switzerland with writers Lord Byron, John Polidori, and her future husband, Percy Shelley. Accompanied by her stepsister, Clare Clairmont, the group found themselves confined to Byron’s villa due to inclement weather. To pass the time, they indulged in wine, opium, and shared chilling ghost stories, setting the stage for Mary’s iconic creation.
One evening, Byron proposed a challenge: each member of the group should craft a ghost story. Mary embraced the idea enthusiastically. After days of struggling to find inspiration, she lay awake in bed, recalling discussions between Byron and Shelley about the possibility of using electricity to revive the dead. In a moment of clarity, she envisioned the grotesque image of a reanimated corpse.
“I beheld the ghastly apparition of a lifeless man, stirring with signs of reanimation,” she later recounted. Initially filled with dread, she soon realized that “what frightened me would surely frighten others.” By morning, she began penning the tale that would be published a year later as Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
9. Oliver Twist
The infamous workhouse depicted in Oliver Twist was likely inspired by a real institution near Charles Dickens’s childhood home.
In one of Dickens’s most renowned works, young Oliver Twist endures a harsh life in a London workhouse. In a memorable scene, he bravely approaches his stern overseer after a meager meal and pleads, “Please, sir, I want some more.” Many scholars suggest that the bleak setting was modeled after the Strand Union Workhouse, located close to where Dickens spent his early years.
Located a mere 91.4 meters (100 yards) from Dickens’s home, the imposing, high-walled brick structure would have undoubtedly left a lasting impression. Inmates at the workhouse toiled endlessly in hazardous and unsanitary conditions, rewarded only with thin, watery gruel (with no chance of seconds) and cramped living quarters no larger than half a prison cell.
To deter any thoughts of idleness, a stone inscription above the entrance warned residents to “shun laziness and embrace moderation.” The workhouse was constructed atop a paupers’ graveyard, and in recent years, thousands of remains have been unearthed from the site.
8. “The Levelled Churchyard”
Thomas Hardy penned “The Levelled Churchyard” after participating in the exhumation of a cemetery.
Long before he authored Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy worked as an architect. During one of his early projects, he witnessed the disinterment and reburial of nearly 7,000 bodies from the graveyard at London’s St. Pancras Church, all to clear the way for a new railway line.
The task was gruesome. Excavations took place under the cover of darkness, and many coffins disintegrated as they were unearthed. In one instance, a casket reportedly split open, revealing a single skeleton but two skulls. As gravestones were cleared from the area, the young architect allegedly directed workers to arrange them around a young ash tree, now famously referred to as the Hardy Tree.
The experience left a lasting impression on Hardy, and years later, he composed a poem titled “The Levelled Churchyard.” The poem is narrated by a group of disinterred corpses, now buried together in a common grave: “We, the late-lamented, lie here mixed into a human jam, each whispering in fear, ‘I know not who I am!’”
7. Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte’s depiction of Jane Eyre—including the infamous madwoman in the attic—was inspired by a real location and its chilling tale of a woman known as “Mad Mary.”
In her timeless novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte delivers a dramatic twist. Just as Jane is about to exchange vows, she discovers her fiancé, Mr. Rochester, is already wed—to a “madwoman” he has concealed for years in a hidden attic, accessible only through a secret staircase in his bedroom.
Bronte is believed to have modeled Mr. Rochester’s imposing yet somber Thornfield Hall after Norton Conyers, an actual estate in Yorkshire she visited years before releasing Jane Eyre. It was likely during this visit that she first encountered the eerie tale of “Mad Mary,” a woman rumored to have been confined to the attic of Norton Conyers centuries earlier.
In 2004, the present owners of Norton Conyers uncovered a concealed staircase leading to the room where the real “Mad Mary” was allegedly kept. Today, visitors to the estate can gaze up at this chilling attic entrance, which undoubtedly inspired Bronte as she crafted the pivotal twist in her most celebrated novel.
6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The concept for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde struck Robert Louis Stevenson during a vivid nightmare induced by cocaine.
In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson was battling a lung hemorrhage and an illness likely to be tuberculosis. As was common in the nineteenth century, his doctor prescribed cocaine, plunging the author into a restless, hallucinatory state.
One restless night, as he tossed and turned in a feverish sleep, he began to shout. When his wife roused him, the Scottish author reportedly asked, “Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a splendid horror story.” Over the next three days, he feverishly expanded on the vivid scenes and characters from his nightmare, producing an astonishing 10,000 words daily to craft the tale of a respected physician leading a double life as a malevolent creature.
After his wife disapproved of the initial draft (she allegedly burned the manuscript), Stevenson rewrote 30,000 words in just three days, producing the final version that would become the celebrated classic Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
5. The Dead Marshes
JRR Tolkien drew partial inspiration for the Dead Marshes in The Two Towers from a haunting battlefield he recalled from his experiences in World War I.
In JRR Tolkien’s The Two Towers, Gollum guides Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee through the eerie Dead Marshes on their quest to destroy the One Ring in Mordor. Tolkien paints the marshes as a bleak and exhausting landscape, filled with decaying vegetation and stagnant waters concealing the remains of men, elves, and orcs who perished in an ancient battle.
In a 1960 letter, Tolkien—a veteran of World War I—revealed that the Dead Marshes were partly inspired by his recollections of northern France following the Battle of the Somme, where he served as a young British officer. The battle resulted in 1.5 million casualties, and relentless rain and artillery fire transformed the terrain into a horrifying expanse of mud and lifeless bodies.
To cope, Tolkien immersed himself in creating Middle-earth, penning stories by candlelight and even during artillery barrages. After enduring months in the trenches, he fell ill and was transferred to a hospital to recuperate, never returning to the front lines.
4. Macbeth
William Shakespeare incorporated witches into Macbeth to appeal to a king fascinated by the occult.
Belief in witchcraft was widespread during Shakespeare’s era, and King James VI of Scotland was no exception. Convinced that witches had conspired against him, James sanctioned witch hunts, sparking a Renaissance-era frenzy that led to the execution of thousands of Scots, predominantly women, accused of practicing dark magic.
In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne as King James I of England and Ireland. Upon settling in London, he became a benefactor of Shakespeare’s theater troupe. Seeking to curry favor with the new monarch, Shakespeare wove elements of the occult into Macbeth, featuring three witches whose prophecy drives the titular character and his wife into a bloody rampage.
Following Macbeth’s premiere, whispers emerged that the play had been cursed by an actual coven of witches. Over the years, cast and crew members experienced numerous mishaps, and to this day, it’s considered unlucky for an actor to utter the name “Macbeth” in a theater outside of a performance. Instead, it’s commonly referred to as “The Scottish Play.”
3. Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte likely drew inspiration for the Wuthering Heights estate from a bleak manor house perched on a hill near the school where she once taught.
Emily Bronte, the second of the renowned Bronte sisters, worked as both a teacher and governess before achieving literary fame. Many speculate that during her time teaching in West Yorkshire, she observed High Sunderland Hall, a somber, Gothic-style mansion adorned with intricate and eerie stone carvings.
The estate was rumored to be haunted—by a disembodied hand. Legend has it that one of its former owners, consumed by jealousy, wrongly accused his wife of infidelity and severed her hand in a fit of rage. For years afterward, the hand was said to appear near a specific bedroom, attempting to open doors and tapping on windows.
While opinions may vary, many believe Bronte was inspired by High Sunderland Hall when crafting the primary setting of her most celebrated novel. Her fictional Wuthering Heights estate featured a windswept house with protruding stones, narrow windows, grotesque sculptures, decaying statues, and—naturally—a ghost. Although Wuthering Heights was immortalized in Bronte’s work, High Sunderland Hall fell into ruin and was eventually demolished in 1951.
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles draws inspiration from a real-life figure whose tale is steeped in dark folklore.
In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes travels to Devonshire to unravel the enigmatic death of Sir Charles Baskerville. The Baskerville family has been haunted by a monstrous, spectral hound since the 1600s, when their ancestor Hugo Baskerville abducted and murdered a young woman on the moors surrounding their estate.
Doyle reportedly modeled the novel’s backstory on the legend of Squire Richard Cabell III, a historical figure who, like Hugo Baskerville, resided in Devon during the seventeenth century. Local lore claims Cabell murdered his wife and struck a deal with the devil to escape earthly retribution.
Upon his death and burial in 1677, a pack of hellhounds allegedly descended upon the moors, howling at his tomb. For years, villagers reported sightings of Cabell and his demonic hounds roaming the area on the anniversary of his death or lingering near the mausoleum where his remains rest to this day.
1. Lady Susan
Jane Austen may have drawn inspiration for the protagonist of Lady Susan from a neighbor notorious for abusing, imprisoning, and starving her own children.
In Lady Susan, Austen’s titular character is a captivating yet cunning middle-aged widow. Lady Susan harbors no affection for her timid and sensible daughter, Frederica, and is determined to marry her off to a wealthy suitor quickly so she can secure an even richer husband for herself.
Austen is believed to have modeled Lady Susan after a Mrs. Craven, the grandmother of her childhood neighbors. This real-life woman was known for her beauty and charm in public but possessed a “domineering and cruel nature” in private, frequently beating and depriving her children of food.
When she did provide meals, they were often inedible, forcing housemaids to secretly bring the children bread and cheese. The children were virtual prisoners in their home, and several of her daughters fled by eloping with strangers. Her youngest daughter, however, managed to marry well and later shared tales of “the cruel Mrs. Craven” with her friend, Jane Austen.
