Nevermore - The Tragic Life of Edgar Allan Poe

Welcome bats and girls. What if I were to tell you a tale of darkness, magic, mystery, and nightmares? A scary story, but not the kind of scary story you tell around the campfire. An actual real spooky tale straight from history. Welcome to Night of the Living History, a podcast where we talk about real spooky and macabre things that happened in real life. If you're ready to hear a real scary story, then settle in bats and ghouls because it's time for Night of the Living History. Welcome back bats and ghouls. It's been a little while since I've uploaded an episode. It's just been a crazy summer. It's been kind of tricky for Annie and I to coordinate how we're going to meet up and record episodes. So, you know, just bear with us, be patient and we're busting out as many as we can. So this episode today is going to be just me alone. Again, apologies if you hear my snoring pug at some point. You already know he's going to be somewhere in the background. Today's episode is going to be all about Edgar Allan Poe, the real master of horror in my opinion. He is one of my favorite authors of all times. I'm sure many of you have come across his works at some point in middle school and high school. If school wasn't really a rare thing and you don't really remember much, I highly encourage you to go back and check out one or two of his stories. Super recommend looking up Vincent Price reading the Raven that still haunts me to this day. So, let's go ahead and hear all about Edgar Allan Poe. Let's jump in and let's get spooky. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19th, 1809. His parents were both actors who often traveled for their work, Elizabeth and David Poe. He had a brother named William and a sister named Rosalie. His father abandoned the family early on and left Eliza to kind of care for the kids by herself. Now, one thing you're going to hear about a lot in Edgar Allan Poe's life is a lot of people in his life who he loved die from consumption. Also known today as tuberculosis consumption was the more common term use in this time. His mother unfortunately contracted consumption. Some of the symptoms include weight loss, fever, night sweats, coughing, coughing of blood and chest pain. She unfortunately died December 8, 1811. At the age of 24 and left the three young kids to kind of fend for themselves, it was really tricky to kind of find out what happened to Edgar Allan Poe's siblings. However, Edgar himself was only around three years old. He went to live with John and Francis Allen. John, at this point I believe, is speculated to be his godfather. There's a lot of accounts that state that. He becomes very close to John's wife, Francis, but unfortunately, according to a lot of the things that I read as well, John and him kind of had a difficult time forming a connection, most likely due to the fact that Edgar's real father abandoned his family when he was so young. Under the care of John and Francis Allen, Edgar Allan Poe was given a classical education and at the age of 17. He actually traveled to Charlottesville to attend the University of Virginia. Now, Edgar was never officially adopted as there was a lot of tension between him and John, so he never took their last name. Instead, he made his middle name, so he became Edgar Allan Poe. That's where his middle name comes from. Around this time, when he goes to attend the University of Virginia, he kind of developed a bit of a gambling problem. After a few short months there, he actually accumulated about $2,000 worth of debt from his gambling. Mind you, at this time, it was $18.26. Today, $2,000 in 1826 would be equivalent to about $50,500. So, it was a lot of money. He came back home a disappointment to John specifically. To top it off when he got home, his teenage childhood sweetheart Elmira Roister was engaged to someone else. See, before he actually left to the University, Edgar Allan Poe and Elmira promised to marry each other once Edgar graduated college. While he was away, her father actually intercepted his letters, never actually gave them to her, very notebook-ish, and instead encouraged her into the arms of a man who had more financial promise, a guy that was set to become a very successful businessman. So, he was heartbroken, he then went to Boston, and he wrote and published a pamphlet titled "Tammerlane and Other Poems." At this time, poverty kind of forced him to join the US Army, which he actually joined under the name Edgar A. Perry. Not really sure why he joined under a different name, although I think it was pretty common for whatever reason. A lot in history, you will see that people will change their names. Once again, after joining the Army, consumption would cast its shadow over Poe's life. His foster mother, Francis Allen, was killed by consumption or tuberculosis in 1827. Her death actually allowed him release from the Army. He briefly amended his broken relationship with John Allen, and he joined the US Military Academy at West Point. He was able to join actually because John kind of helped him get in. After a while, he was doing extremely well. He was actually promoted just after a few short years and just seemed to be climbing the ranks. But then he started to fight with his foster father again, and it started because John actually remarried without telling Edgar Allen Poe. So, at this point, he got kicked out of the school out of West Point for poor performance. A lot of people speculate that this is because of his relationship going sour with John. They think that he did it to actually spite him since he was the one that helped him get into the Academy. So, Poe moves back to Baltimore, Maryland. He moves in with his aunt Maria Clem and her daughter Virginia. Around this time, he also begins to write more of his short stories rather than poetry. He began to publish his first horror stories with a magazine called "The Southern Literary Messenger." One of his stories, Baronese, was so graphic and horrifying that a number of readers actually complained and wrote in complaints to the magazine. Despite the complaints, he was offered a job. His writing was just that good. So, he was offered a full-time job with the magazine and he took it. In 1822, Edgar Allen Poe married his first cousin, Virginia Clem. Yes, I'm sure a lot of you have actually heard this. It's true. It's gross. I don't get it, but whatever. She was only 13. He was 27 at the time, which definitely makes him a pedophile. And the fact that this was a family member, I think, makes it a little bit more disturbing. Edgar Allen Poe also suffered from extreme nervousness, mostly when speaking in public settings. So, he would have a drink to kind of help settle his nerves. However, his having a drink led to a drinking problem. In 1837, he was dismissed from his job for his alcohol problem. He then moved to. Now, this is kind of where it gets modeled, because some accounts that I read say he moved to Philadelphia and others say that he moved to New York. He bounced around a lot, so I couldn't really get this one straight. But at this time, after he leaves his job at the magazine, this is around the time that he publishes some of his greatest literary works, including the murders in the Rumorg and the Raven. The Raven is, of course, his most well-known work. He only made about $15 from it when it was published, although it did kind of gain him some fame a little bit here and there. It didn't give him the actual money that he needed to survive, especially with his alcohol problem. In 1845, the well-known poet Francis Sargent-Lock Osgood pursued Edgar Allen Poe romantically. She would write him letters and would publish letters, and it created a really public scandal. Virginia Poe never actually objected publicly. That doesn't mean that she approved of it, but there isn't anything that I could find that where she ever discussed it with anybody. In January 1847, Virginia was taken by you guessed it, consumption. And that next year, I mean literally a year later, he went to try and pull it by the name of Sarah Helen Whitman. They were engaged briefly, but it didn't last very long, and he went back to Richmond. Now, when he got back to Richmond, he ran into an old flame, Elmira. At this point, Elmira was a wealthy widow, and despite her children's protests, she became engaged to Edgar Allen Poe once more. They actually spent a very happy summer together. He had one or two relapses, but it really seemed like he was on the road to recovery as an addict. However, after a bout of cholera, those of you who don't know history very well, cholera was a disease that went around back in the day. I mean, it still makes its rounds in some places today, although it's rare. The symptoms of cholera include diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, dehydration, and muscle cramps. So after this bout of cholera, his health was kind of on the decline to the past. point where El Maira actually encouraged him to go and visit a friend who he knew from back in the day that was also a doctor. So going along with her advice, he went to visit this friend, although it became more of a social visit rather than one that was meant for his health. At some point Poe eats a late meal at Sadler's Restaurant and gets on a ship at about 4am on September 27, 1849, that was headed to Baltimore, Maryland. Now this is where it gets weird. Between the dates of September 27 to October 3, the whereabouts of Edgar Allan Poe are unknown. There are no written recordings or recordings in general of him anywhere, so we really don't know what happens between these dates. However on October 3, which was election day, Poe was actually found in a tavern, delirious, from stating that he appeared drunk. He was wearing someone else's clothes and he was taken to a nearby hospital. For four days he drifted in and out of consciousness, alertness, and delirium, reportedly screaming at nothing, experiencing hallucinations, and on October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died. The cause of death was labeled as frenitis or inflammation of the brain. This cause of death was often used when the actual cause of death is unknown. It's used a lot specifically in this time of history. There are a lot of theories out there as to what really happened to him, but to be honest, nobody really knows what happened. A lot of people speculate that it could have been alcoholism, a brain injury, mercury poisoning, cancer, the flu. There is even the theory that Edgar Allan Poe was the victim of cooping. It was something that they did back in the day where they would kidnap a person for political reasons. They would dress them in someone else's clothes, take them to several different locations, and make them vote for the politician that they wanted. A lot of people speculate that if this did happen to Poe that they were giving him alcohol as a reward since he was an alcoholic and this eventually led to his death. This adds up in some ways because he was found on election day, however, again, this is still something that is unknown. Nobody really knows how he died. The theories are vast. I encourage you to check them out. There's a lot out there. They're interesting reads for sure. Unfortunately, this is where Edgar Allan Poe's very sad and tragic life ends. Now we're going to talk about books to read. Please read Poe himself. Everything he's written is amazing. I will admit that some of it is a little difficult to understand. If you don't like reading, again, Les I stated earlier, it definitely encouraged you to look up the recordings of Vincent Price actually reading like the Raven. I think he also has a recording of the Telltale Heart, although I'm not 100% honest. There's some really good ones out there. Even audio recordings of his readings just check them out. They're really good. They're really creepy. Places to visit. Rose Grave is located in Maryland. It's a pretty amazing gravesite. I've seen photos of it online. Definitely encourage you to check it out. I hope to one day go myself. There are also quite a few Edgar Allan Poe museums. Some located in Virginia, Maryland. I think when I googled it, there was some in New York as well. Check them out. I'm sure they're amazing. As far as movies go, the Masters of Horror, they actually have a short film about the Black Cat, where they kind of marry the story of Edgar Allan's post story, short story of the Black Cat, which is my favorite story, with Edgar Allan Poe's actual life. It's really cool. It's great. I would also encourage you to watch the special effects afterwards and how they talk about how they trained the cat, which is really cool. It's really great. I loved it. The Raven is also a really good movie. The one with Vincent Price, please don't watch the trash 2012 one. I tried to watch it. It was horrible. I hated it. Please don't watch it. It's stupid. I know that it's supposed to be fictional, but it's a bit of a reach for me. Honorable mention is of course the Simpsons. The Simpsons have a couple of Treehouse Horror episodes. I think one is based on the Telltale Heart, where Lisa has a project that she stills from somebody based on the book. And it actually haunts her the same way that the Telltale Heart haunts the man in the story. They also have a version of the Raven, which is hilarious. One of my high school English teachers had us watch it, my senior year of high school, and it was great, and I loved it. Definitely recommend checking it out if you're looking for a lighter version of it. But otherwise, that kind of wraps up everything as far as discussion goes for the very sad life of Edgar Allan Poe. You can kind of see where a lot of the darkness comes from. Edgar Allan Poe's life was one filled with tragedy, misfortune, and a lot of darkness. It explains where he comes from his brothers, his poems, and his stories go. Altogether, still literary genius. I still encourage you to check out his works. They are amazing. And I think that just about wraps it up. Thanks for listening guys, and stay spooky. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]