Part 5/8:
The 18th century bore witness to electric experiments that blurred the lines between the living and the dead. Italian scientist Luigi Galvani discovered that electricity could animate dead muscles, causing frog legs to twitch as if alive. His findings inspired Giovanni Aldini, who controversially experimented on human corpses, applying electrical currents to create involuntary movements. During one public demonstration, Aldini made a corpse's eyes open and limbs jerk, convincing the audience that he had indeed reanimated the dead. His work not only intrigued spectators but directly inspired Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein," forever entwining the eerie prospect of reanimation within scientific exploration.