Despite the scientific discoveries of the 18th century enlightenment, the existence of the folk beliefs persisted, especially in the belief in supernatural creatures such as vampires. In fact the early 18th century can be said to have codified and solidified the vampirism myth in the public imagination. By the early 19th century the hysteria had abated to leave the myth imbedded into literary form. Written by the French occultist, demonologist and writer Jacques Simon Collin de Plancy (28 January 1793 – 1881), ‘Histoire Des Vampires’ was a work upon the history and myth of vampires from local superstition and the vampire hysteria of the beginning of the previous century. A year before Plancy wrote his study ‘The Vampyre’, the first modern Vampire story was written by the English writer and physician John William Polidori (7 September 1795 – 24 August 1821).