The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress (1828) by Elizabeth Caroline Grey is alleged by anthologist Peter Haining to be the first vampire story written and published by a woman.[1] Haining claims that it was first published in the English weekly paper The Casket in 1828 (no relation to other magazines of the same name) and that a collector brought him the only known copy of the story. No other editors have included the story in collections of vampire tales, and the provenance of the tale is suspect. Haining has espoused controversial literary positions before, most recently involving the alleged historicity of the popular penny-dreadful "Sweeney Todd." [2] Grey, a prolific author of so-called "silver fork" novels for women, is an unlikely author of such a story and many stories of the type have been falsely attributed to her. [3] Until hard evidence is forthcoming, her authorship is at best unproven. Indeed, there is no real evidence of the existence of "The Casket" magazine in which Haining claimed it appeared, along with other Gothic horror.