"Frankenstein" is a tale of corpses, killings, diabolical revenge, dismembered body parts. You know: girl stuff.

How could she? How could Mary Shelley — 18, female — have written the most blood-curdling of all horror stories, basis for the classic 1931 Boris Karloff film and the upcoming Guillermo del Toro blockbuster, set to be released Oct 17 in theaters and Nov. 7 on Netflix?

So men, for 200 years, have been asking.

Well, hang on to your 10-gallon hats, guys. There's more.

"Frankenstein," as we know it today, is actually the creation of, not one, but two women. Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.

The Frankenladies

Mary Shelley, author of the 1818 novel, was one of them. But Peggy Webling's stage version of "Frankenstein," produced in London in

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