Lord Byron rocketed to fame with the publication of his autobiographical poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812. He became an instant sensation in his native England, but his skills as a poet only played a part in his fame. Put very simply, Byron was a mysterious figure, and his beliefs and actions both fascinated and repulsed many of his admirers. Born with a clubbed foot, he often played up the notion that the Devil shared the same deformity. In his writings, he variously indentified himself with Lucifer, Cain and the Faust figure. At his haunted ancestral home of Newstead Abbey, he was rumored to run Black Masses. Although there is no proof that Byron practiced Satanism in any serious way, we do know that he had an old skull crafted into a chalice so he could drink wine from this grisly cup.

Byron was someone who knew how to play to his fame, and he had fun building upon his natural aura of mystery. But, from at least a few reports, it is possible that there was more to Byron's involvement with the supernatural than just show. A report by the distinguished person of Sir James Peel suggests that Byron possessed the power of bilocation. In 1810, Peel met Byron on the street and held a brief conversation with the poet. At the time, however, Byron was nowhere near England. His physical body lay in Patras, Greece, desperately ill with a fever. Did the fever enable Byron somehow to astrally project? If so, he was able to produce such a solid phantom that Peel mistook it for the real thing.