Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein in Bath offers a thrilling blend of literary history and immersive horror, making it an essential stop for fans of dark tourism, writes PM BUCHAN
Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein, in the centre of Bath, is a multi-sensory museum and escape room complex that celebrates the legacy of Mary Shelley and all things Frankenstein-related.
Bath today is synonymous with Jane Austen, who lived here from 1801 to 1806.
But the city has a darker literary claim: Mary Shelley wrote the majority of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus here between September 1816 and early 1817, creating the iconic novel and monster at only nineteen years old.
The novel’s origins trace back to that famous summer at Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva, where Mary, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori challenged each other to write ghost stories.
But it was in Bath, living at 5 Abbey Churchyard, that Mary developed her nightmare into literature. She attended Dr Charles Wilkinson’s lectures on galvanism in the nearby Kingston Lecture Room, where he suggested electricity might one day bring inanimate matter to life.
Combined with personal tragedy—the recent suicide of her half-sister Fanny—these months in Bath proved transformative.
The House of Frankenstein, which opened in 2021, is striving to reclaim Bath’s association with Mary Shelley and put her legacy back on the map.
The Museum: Four Floors of Romantic Horror
Spanning four floors in a period building on Gay Street, the House of Frankenstein divides between a moody, atmospheric museum dedicated to Mary Shelley’s life and career, and a celebration of Frankenstein‘s legacy across every medium imaginable.
The Mary Shelley sections paint such a vivid picture of her life that it feels almost inevitable the combination of world events she experienced could only have led to the creation of a story like Frankenstein.
The displays are genuinely entrancing. I came home and immediately began reading a massive Mary Shelley biography I’d bought years ago and never previously opened.
For context, this stands in interesting contrast to the more restrained Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome, which I also visited this summer.
That museum, preserving the room where Keats died in 1821, functions primarily as a library and shrine, with a peaceful, contemplative atmosphere. Bath’s House of Frankenstein takes a more maximalist approach, embracing the creature’s pop culture legacy alongside its literary origins.
The upper floors house collections of Frankenstein memorabilia that celebrate the story and monster that has inspired over 400 feature films, 200 short films, nearly 100 TV series, and more than 300 TV episodes featuring Mary Shelley’s most famous creation.
The collection includes toys, film posters, and even a working pinball machine based on Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 adaptation.
The top floor features a small cinema screening one of the first filmed versions of Frankenstein.
The Basement: A Miniature Walkthrough Horror Experience
If the combination of Romantic museum and multi-sensory celebration wasn’t enough, braver visitors can descend to the basement, home to a miniature walkthrough horror experience.
It will put a smile on the face of hardened gorehounds and terrify families with children who’ve never encountered anything like it.
Escape Rooms: Victor’s Lair and The Shallows
For an additional fee, visitors can book one of two Frankenstein-themed escape rooms or two additional escape game puzzles.
We tried Victor’s Lair, the headline escape room that begins with a torch in a dark room and eventually involves rebuilding Frankenstein’s monster in a thoroughly immersive experience that had at least one of our party jumping in shock.
If you’re travelling any distance to visit, one of the escape rooms or escape games is really a must.
You can see the whole museum comfortably in an hour, but adding an escape experience doubles your time at the attraction, making for a much more compelling reason to travel.
Planning Your Visit
Combine the House of Frankenstein with an exploration of Bath’s gorgeous Regency architecture, eating out in one of the many nearby options, or a stop at the world-famous Theatre Royal Bath, and you’ll have an unforgettable trip for any horror or literature fan.
The attraction’s creators are wary of billing the house too heavily as a family attraction because the basement terrifies children. But this is actually ideal for families with teenagers.
You’ll find education if you’re interested in Mary Shelley’s history, toy collections and pinball for casual fans, skulls and science experiments and dismembered bodies for the macabre-minded.
Interactive elements are everywhere—from electric shocks and funeral scents to ominous music and miniature scare mazes.
Come October, the House of Frankenstein turns off all the lights and fills the building with a cast of actors guaranteed to terrify you and chase you through the darkness, screaming.
The Jane Austen Centre just doors down might coordinate a very civilised Regency festival, but there’s considerably more fun to be had here in the dark.
The Verdict: A Must-Visit for Horror and Literature Fans
If you’re asking whether Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein is worth visiting for fans of horror or Romantic literature, the answer is overwhelmingly yes.
It would be a crime for anybody with more than a passing interest in either to spend time in Bath without making a trip here.
If you’re visiting the UK from further afield and have a passion for dark tourism, the House of Frankenstein should be reason enough to add Bath to your itinerary.
This is that rare visitor attraction where multiple interests converge: literary history, horror culture, interactive entertainment, and genuine scares.
Whether you’re a Romantic poetry scholar or just fancy being chased through a 300-year-old building by actors in the dark, Bath’s House of Frankenstein delivers.
P M BUCHAN is a writer whose stories have featured in Rue Morgue, Kerrang!, and SCREAM: The Horror Magazine. He writes about culture, horror and dark art here.
