Gaston Leroux did what he could to make the story attractive. In the foreword he mentioned “Erik” — the Phantom of the Opera — was a real person, based on his (that is, the author’s) independent research. And the Phantom may yet haunt the Palais Garnier in Paris, said Leroux, before introducing his heroine and her travails. And at the end of the story Leroux broke in again, in his voice recounting the discovery of Erik’s mortal remains, near the spot where he first took her in his arms. “I say that the place of the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National Academy of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton.”

On this day, September 23, in 1909 the first part of the serialized novel Phantom of the Opera was first published in the Le Gaulois, a French daily newspaper. Its reception was underwhelming, and was altogether overshadowed by the later film and stage productions.

The Phantom musical as we known it today came from an Andrew Lloyd Webber production in 1986. Webber composed the music, and most of the lyrics were supplied by Charles Hart. Phantom fit the part of the romantic play he was looking for, but after watching both the previous movie adaptations (the first one a silent film starring Lon Chaney), he still had no idea how to turn it into a play. Webber had to dig up a secondhand copy of the original book for his inspiration.