Vasaria

Vasaria (sometimes spelled Visaria), is a fictional village featured in several films produced by Universal Pictures in the 1940s. It first appeared in 1942's Ghost of Frankenstein. In 1943, it appeared in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and in 1944, it appeared in House of Frankenstein.

History
Vasaria is a small, quaint town nestled in the mountains of Eastern Europe. Its exact location is unknown, but it is positioned somewhere in either Switzerland, Austria or Germany approximately three days journey by carriage from Frankenstein Village.

Vasaria was the home of two scientific geniuses who gained notoriety. During the early 1930s, a man named Gustav Niemann was inspired by the works of Henry Frankenstein and expanded on Frankenstein's work by attempting to perfect the world's first human brain transplant. Using the recently deceased for his experiments, Niemann attempted to place a human brain inside the head of a dog. His work was discovered by the local Burgomeister and Niemann was put on trial. His own assistant, Ullman, testified against him, and another man, Herr Strauss, witnessed Niemann confiscating cadavers for his work. Following the trial, Gustav Niemann was given a life sentence at Neustadt Prison. He spent fifteen years there before escaping in 1944.

More infamous than Niemann however were the members of the Frankenstein family. Ludwig Frankenstein, the youngest son of Henry Frankenstein, lived at the family castle estate in the hills above the town. In 1942, the town of Vasaria received a scare when the original Frankenstein Monster came to the village accompanied by the diabolical Ygor. The Monster assisted a young girl in reclaiming her toy ball which had been stuck atop a nearby roof. The villagers however, perceived the Monster's presence as a threat, and although he did not make any threatening gestures towards the girl, they attacked him anyway. The Monster was then placed on trial and imprisoned, but later escaped with the help of Ygor. Ygor and the Monster soon found their way into the home of Ludwig Frankenstein and Ygor blackmailed him into performing an experiment to place his brain inside the body of the Monster. But when the different blood types ensured that Ygor's brain was blind within the Monster's body, the creature went berserk and destroyed Ludwig's laboratory. Ludwig was killed in the resulting fire.

A short time later, resurrected werewolf Larry Talbot came to Vasaria along with the aging gypsy, Maleva. He sought out Baron Frankenstein, hoping that his scientific genius would cure him of his condition or, failing that, enable him to die once and for all. Talbot inquired about the Frankenstein family at a pub in Vasaria, but the villagers angrily discouraged him, telling him that they had no wish to be associated with anyone named Frankenstein. Having once been plagued by the Frankenstein Monster in the past, the townspeople were outraged even further when Talbot began prowling the streets as the Wolf Man.

He journeyed to Castle Frankenstein and discovered the Frankenstein Monster trapped in a block of ice in a glacial cavern. He freed the monster and befriended the creature, hoping that it might help him locate Frankenstein's journals. When that strategy failed, Talbot enlisted the aid of Ludwig's daughter, Elsa Frankenstein. Elsa, along with English surgeon Frank Mannering, returned with Talbot to Castle Frankenstein and labored to find a way to either cure or destroy both the Wolf Man and the Monster.

Several of the townnspeople gathered together to discuss what should be done with all this activity taking place at the castle. A pub owner named Vazek drunkenly suggested blowing up the nearby dam and letting the flood waters destroy the castle and everyone in it. The mayor of Vasaria admonished Vazek for his idea, telling him that he was drunk and didn't know what he was saying, otherwise he would have to arrest him for conspiracy to endanger the community.

Vazek was not swayed by the mayor's threats however. As Doctor Mannering performed his experiments on the Frankenstein Monster, Vazek placed several sticks of dynamite at the base of the dam. The explosion destroyed the dam and the flood waters rushed in, demolishing most of Frankenstein Castle.

A year later, Doctor Gustav Niemann, having only recently escaped from prison, returned to Vasaria to continue his life's work. He found the ruins of Frankenstein Castle as well as the inert bodies of the Monster and the Wolf Man. Reviving them, he made a promise to Larry Talbot that he would succeed in curing him whereas others had failed.

This time it was the Wolf Man who caused an uproar in the village when he killed a local man on the moors. The villagers found themselves drawn towards activity taking place in the ruins of Frankenstein Castle and raided it. They encountered the Frankenstein Monster and an injured Doctor Niemann. Brandishing pitchforks and torches, they drove the monster away from the castle and into a patch of quicksand where he (supposedly) died.

Appearances

 * Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
 * Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
 * House of Frankenstein (1944)