How Did the Horror Genre Come to Exist?

Have you ever wondered where the horror genre originated from? How the horror genre come to be? How did this specific genre come to exist, bringing fans unforgettable horror tales?

Well, it’s all thanks to the first horror short story that was published in 1764. Yes, I’m not exaggerating, that was when the first horror story was brought into existence!

This horror story was called, “The Castle of Otranto,” and it was written by Horace Walpole. The story follows a man named Conrad, who falls in love with a woman named Isabella.

Unfortunately, Conrad is never able to be with his beloved.

A giant helmet falls off a statue and onto Conrad, instantly killing him. Conrad’s father, Manfred; freaks out, because he was told that in the future, he would never be given an heir.

In desperation, he decides to go after Isabella, and she escapes from him with the help of a peasant named Theodore and a friar named Jerome. The duo hides Isabella in a church, away from the clutches of Manfred.

Then a sudden twist occurs.

There is a mark found on Theodore’s body, that led to the discovery of Jerome being his own father. Jerome panics, and begs Manfred to leave his son and Isabella alone.

While Manfred is threatening Jerome to choose one person to spare, either his own son or Isabella, they are interrupted by a trumpet from random knights who claim to be from another kingdom.

They announce that Isabelle’s father, Frederic; is searching for her, and Manfred becomes even more desperate to make sure that he will have Isabella, teaming up with the knights.

Theodore is then locked away in a tower by Manfred, but he escapes with the help of Manfred’s own daughter. Theodore races back to Isabella to protect her, and hides her away in a cave.

They are attacked by a mysterious knight, who turns out to be Frederic. After besting Frederic in battle, Theodore decides they must make some sort of peace.

A deal is made, but the cost is great.

Frederic and Manfred both decide to make peace, by agreeing to marry each other’s daughters. Frederic then makes a decision to back out of the deal, when the apparition of a skeleton warns him not to marry.

Manfred loses his mind, and attempts to go after Theodore once again. He suspects that Isabella is meeting Theodore behind his back, and he stabs her. It turned out to be Manfred’s own daughter, and Manfred runs away.

Theodore and Isabella both get their happy ending, and they get married.

Theodore becomes the prince of Otranto, and Isabella as his princess.

The Castle of Otranto doesn’t exactly sound like a horror story, but I can see why it was deemed part of the horror genre.

The themes are pretty disturbing in this tale, especially when it comes to Manfred’s desperation to be with Conrad’s own beloved. His evil actions and his determination to have her were pretty insane.

I got reminded so much of a Disney villain, Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was determined to do whatever it took to claim a woman as his own, and killed a lot of innocent people to reach her.

Manfred is so similar to this character, and it makes me wonder if maybe this character inspired the creation of Frollo!

This story could also be considered a gothic tale, due to the horrible things that each character endures in the story.

Isabella loses Conrad, and is then haunted by Manfred’s love for her.

Theodore almost murders Isabella’s father to protect them from Manfred’s wrath.

Manfred accidentally kills his own daughter out of love for Isabella.

Frederic almost got married to Manfred’s daughter, but he is warned by a literal dead person to not commit to the marriage.

Jerome is threatened by the hatred of Manfred, when he discovers that he is hiding Isabella away from him.

Wow, this story is dark!

It’s honestly impressive that this was the first horror story ever made.

The world was introduced to a whole new other genre, and was given more incredible stories as time went on!

If it hadn’t been for Horace Walpole, the horror genre never would have existed!

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn