Pfungstadt is a German town of 25,117 inhabitants, in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in the state of Hesse.

The town was first mentioned in 785 as property of the Monastery of Lorsch and got its town rights in 1886 due to its railway station. It is situated just west of the Odenwald hills, one of the closest being Frankenstein with its castle ruin of monstrous fame (Mary Shelley) on its summit. It is said, Shelley used the name after asking a sailor on a Rhine trip to tell her the name of "this yonder castle".