Castle Frankenstein

Castle Frankenstein
Continuity:	Frankenstein
Aliases:	Frankenstein Castle Frankenstein's Castle
Category:	Residence
Continent:	Europe
Country:	Switzerland
Town:	Vasaria
Locale:	Frankenstein Village
1st appearance:	Frankenstein (1931)

Castle Frankenstein (alternately known as Frankenstein Castle or Frankenstein's Castle) is a term attributed to any number of properties owned by the family Frankenstein. While usually associated with the Frankenstein family home, it has also become synonymous with the various watchtowers and laboratories in which Doctor Frankenstein created the infamous Frankenstein Monster. The concept was inspired by the works of Mary Shelley who wrote the 1818 novel Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus, which in turn may have been inspired by the historical castle Frankenstein in Darmstadt, Germay which was once occupied by alchemist Johan Conrad Dippel.

Universal

The original castle and watchtower

The original Castle Frankenstein was located in the barony of Frankenstein Village and was the ancestral home of the Frankenstein family for more than seven-hundred years. The earliest known member of the family was Baron Frankenstein (first name unknown) who lived there with his son Henry and daughter-in-law, Elizabeth. Baron Frankenstein was a respected member of the community, though he had little tolerance for politics or what he perceived to be foolishness perpetuated by the local Burgomeister (who at the time was a man known as Herr Vogel).

Adjacent to the family manor was an ancient watchtower. It was here that the adult Henry Frankenstein performed a series of controversial experiments – experiments that would ultimately bring the family name into ruin. In the upper chambers of the tower, he challenged the laws of both nature and science by bringing to life a creature stitched together from body parts confiscated from the recently deceased. This creature, who has since become known as the Frankenstein Monster, was responsible for terrorizing the nearby village, and the death of a small girl named Maria. The monster seemingly met his end when he confronted Frankenstein at an old windmill, but would later rise to terrorize the village once again.

Henry returned to his family estate to recuperate from the ordeal, at which time he married his fiancée, Elizabeth. A short time after the wedding, the old Baron died, passing his title on to Henry. The only known member of the household staff at this time was a housekeeper named Minnie.

It was at this time that Henry Frankenstein was reunited with his old mentor, Doctor Pretorius. Pretorius was the one who inspired Henry to unlock the secrets behind life and death and urged him to continue on with his work. When Henry refused, Pretorius called upon the aid of the Frankenstein Monster to pressure Henry into relenting. It was Pretorius desire to usher in "a new world of gods and monsters" by having Henry construct a mate for his creature. Henry reopened the old watchtower and began working. The experiment was a success, but when the female creation rejected her "betrothed", the Frankenstein Monster pulled a lever which caused the watchtower to explode.

With another crisis seemingly averted, Henry and Elizabeth remained at Castle Frankenstein for many years where they bore a son named Wolf. When Henry Frankenstein died, his remains were buried in a secret crypt at the base of the watchtower ruins.

As the years went on, the family moved out of the castle and it remained empty for quite some time. By the late 1930s, the watchtower had become the adopted home of a squatter named Ygor. Rumors of the castle being haunted began to circulate throughout the town.

In 1939, Wolf von Frankenstein, his American bride Elsa, and their son, Peter, returned to Frankenstein Village and moved into the castle. Wolf discovered Ygor who had been keeping watch over the surviving Frankenstein Monster for many years. In the hopes of restoring his family's honor, Wolf labored to heal the Monster from the injuries he suffered in the watchtower explosion. At this time, the castle household included a housekeeper named Amelia and a butler named Benson.

The second Castle Frankenstein

Castle Frankenstein could also refer to the home of Wolf's brother, Ludwig Frankenstein. This version of Castle Frankenstein was located atop a hill near a dam in the village of Vasaria. The castle was partially destroyed when the Frankenstein Monster, along with Ygor, came to Vasaria in order to blackmail Ludwig Frankenstein into transplanting Ygor’s brain into the body of the creature. This incident led to a fire that consumed most of the estate. The Frankenstein Monster fell through a crevice into an underground glacial cavern where he remained frozen for many months. With the death of Ludwig Frankenstein, the estate came into the ownership of his daughter, the Baroness Elsa Frankenstein. She had little interest in the upkeep of the property and preferred to live elsewhere outside of Vasaria.

Baroness Frankenstein found herself called back to the family ruins when she received notice that someone named Mister Taylor had an interest in purchasing the property. Mister Taylor turned out to be werewolf Larry Talbot who used the alias to bring Elsa back to Vasaria. The suicidal Talbot wanted Elsa's help in finding her father's notes so that he might develop a means of ending his immortal, hellish existence. Talbot had found the frozen Frankenstein Monster and revived him. Larry and Elsa returned to the castle along with a surgeon from Cardiff named Frank Mannering. Mannering renovated the laboratory, restoring most of the original equipment and went to work on trying to both heal the injured monster and cure Larry Talbot.

The villagers from Vasaria had a great dislike for all things related to Frankenstein. One villager in particular, Vazec, decided to put an end to this legacy of horror by blowing up the nearby dam. Tons of water came flooding in, destroying most of the castle ruins. The monster and the werewolf were swept down into the subterranean catacombs where they were frozen in blocks of ice.

A short time later, an escaped convict named Doctor Gustav Niemann and his hunchbacked assistant, Daniel, came to Vasaria in the hopes of recovering Doctor Frankenstein's records. They found no cooperation from the local constabulary, who denied them access to the castle. Niemann and Daniel trudged onward however and found their way into the ruins. Daniel slipped through a weak patch of earth and fell into the frozen cavern where the Monster and the Wolf Man remained inert. Niemann immediately recognized them and revived them. The Wolf Man changed back into Larry Talbot and offered Niemann Frankenstein's notes in exchange for helping him find a cure. They left the ruins in order to work in Niemann's personal laboratory.

The Bride

Castle Frankenstein was also the primary setting for the 1985 Franc Roddam film The Bride. In this film, Doctor Charles Frankenstein creates a monster in his castle laboratory and goes on to create a mate for the monster, which he names Eva. Unlike the original Bride of Frankenstein, Eva is not scarred or deformed, but she rejects her intended mate nonetheless. Echoing the climax from The Bride of Frankenstein, the original Frankenstein Monster destroys the tower room after being rejected by the mate that Frankenstein creates for him. Charles Frankenstein develops an obsessive lust for Eva and this emotional spiral culminates in a battle between the Frankenstein Monster and himself atop the parpapets of the castle. Ultimately, Doctor Frankenstein is hurled to his doom and Eva and the Monster go off with one another.

Household

• Charles Frankenstein
• Eva

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The 1994 film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein also included the family estate, but like the novel, this was in fact an elaborate mansion and not a castle. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is truer to the original novel then most other film adaptations, though some differences do arise. It is one of the few films to incoporate the original family household from the novel.

Household

• Alphonse Frankenstein
• Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein
• Victor Frankenstein
• Elizabeth Lavenza Frankenstein
• William Frankenstein
• Justine Moritz

Marvel Comics

Castle Frankenstein is the name commonly attributed to the ancestral home of the infamous Frankenstein family. There have been several edifices that have been called Castle Frankenstein, but the most famous of which exists in Geneva, Switzerland. The original castle was a massive fortress erected by Arbogast von Frankenstein, the progenitor of the Frankenstein family line. Located in the mountains south of the Rhine, it was the scene of epic jousting tournaments and savage battles between Frankish warriors and neighboring aggressors.

In 1662, Hans von Frankenstein abandoned the castle following an incident concerning the Scheusslischer Lindwurm and the Puritan, Solomon Kane. The castle remained empty for several decades. In the early 18th century, alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel developed a meager version of a Philosopher's Stone which he dubbed Arcanum Chymicum. He sold it to the Landgrave of Hesse in exchange for the title to Castle Frankenstein. Dippel became the first individual to hold the title of Baron von Frankenstein.

In the mid-late 18th century, Castle Frankenstein was the home of Alphonse Frankenstein and his wife, Caroline Beaufort-Frankenstein. Alphonse and Caroline raised four children in the mansion. Their oldest son was Victor Frankenstein, followed by Ernst and William. They had also adopted a young orphaned girl named Elizabeth Lavenza. Elizabeth would one day marry her adoptive brother, Victor. Victor Frankenstein earned a cursed reputation in the history books as the creator of a monstrous creature that has since become known as Frankenstein's Monster. Contrary to popular belief however, the monster was actually created in a laboratory in Ingolstadt, and not at Castle Frankenstein.

In the mid 19th century, Jason Frankenstein (presumably the son of Ernst Frankenstein), occupied the Geneva castle for an indeterminate amount of time. Very little is known of Jason's life at Castle Frankenstein, but for the fact that he left the castle at some point in the late 1870s. The castle eventually came into the hands of a military soldier named Colonel Blackstone. A sadist, Colonel Blackstone came into possession of a giant spider, that had the ability to absorb the souls of men. Blackstone used the spider's abilities to enslave dozens of misshapen freaks, forcing them do his bidding. These unfortunates lived in squalor in the depths of the castle dungeons. In 1898, the Frankenstein Monster returned to the lands of his creation in the hopes of finding any vestige of the Frankenstein family line. He came to the castle and fought with Blackstone and his giant spider. During this episode, the section of castle wall facing the sea was destroyed, and gallons of water poured in, drowning Colonel Blackstone and his abominations.

Near the turn of the century, Vincent Frankenstein, the great-grandson of Ernest Frankenstein, lived in a mansion in London, England, which has also become known as Castle Frankenstein. Like his ancestors, Vincent used the lower dungeons of the castle to perform mysterious scientific experiments. Vincent died before completing any of his work, but he was survived by a son, Basil.

Basil Frankenstein eventually moved back into the ancestral family home in Geneva. By the 1940s, Basil began collaborating with the Nazis and turned Castle Frankenstein into a Nazi proving ground. He inherited the notes of Victor Frankenstein and used them to create an army of undead Nazi warriors. One of his strongest warriors was a creature not unlike the original Frankenstein Monster. Unlike his ancestor however, Basil was able to maintain control over his monsters through the use of electronic implants. In early 1942, the wartime heroes known as the Invaders raided Castle Frankenstein and fought the Nazi zombies. The Frankenstein Monster broke free of Basil's control and sacrificed his own life to stop Basil Frankenstein.

The castle remained relatively unused in the post-war years, but in time, it became the home of Basil's son, Ludwig Frankenstein. Ludwig equipped the castle with an electro-ray barrier designed to prevent intrusion from the peasants of the countryside. Ludwig's neighbors knew well the legacy that spawned from Castle Frankenstein. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, Ludwig Frankenstein used his scientific genius to create Experiment-X. Experiment X was an artificial life form imbued with the Power Cosmic. Frankenstein had managed to siphon power from the Silver Surfer in order to give his creation great power. The Silver Surfer fought with this Frankensurfer, and the artificial being ultimately met an untimely end.

Years later, Veronica Frankenstein inherited Castle Frankenstein.

Household

• Elizabeth Frankenstein
• Victor Frankenstein
• Ludwig von Frankenstein
• Veronica von Frankenstein
• Victoria von Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein

The castle residence of the Frankenstein family from Young Frankenstein was not located in Switzerland as per other iterations of the location. Rather, it was nestled in the mountains of Transylvania, likely just a stone's throw away from a more infamous monster maison. Eccentric scientist Frederick Frankenstein inherited the estate from his father and journeyed there, where he discovered his father's journal on the reanimation of human tissue. Having previously divorced himself from anything having to do with the Frankenstein name, Frederick now embraced his family heritage and decided to duplicate his father's work. He even discovered the original laboratory, where Victor Frankenstein created his first monster. The caretaker of Frankenstein Castle was a strange woman named Frau Blücher, whose dry eagerness to please was matched only by the oddity of making horses whinny whenever somebody spoke her name. Helping Frederick in his scientific endeavors was a female assistant named Inga and a hunchbacked servant named Eye-Gor. With their humble aide, Frederick pieced together a man sewn together from the remnants of cadavers and created his very own Frankenstein Monster. The two became a smash hit on Broadway.

Household

• Frederick Frankenstein
• Frau Blücher
• Igor
• Inga
• Frankenstein Monster

Notes

• While often portrayed as an actual castle, more often Frankenstein's Castle is just a spacious mansion. The first time it is ever seen as a castle is in 1942's Ghost of Frankenstein.

Appearances

Films

• Bride, The
• Bride of Frankenstein, The
• Curse of Frankenstein, The - More of a Swiss chalet than a castle.
• Van Helsing

Comics

• Iron Man 102

External Links

• Castle Frankenstein at Wikipedia
• Castle Frankenstein at the Marvel Database Project