The Poe Mystery

Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered, weak and weary,
over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
while I nodded, nearly napping, 
suddenly there came a tapping,
as of someone gently rapping,
rapping at my chamber door. 

And that is the beginning of one of the greatest poems of all time. Can you name it? Do you know who wrote it?

The Raven was written by Edgar Allan Poe. Love his writing or hate it, either way his stories leave an imprint on the reader. He was a master of mystery with his pen...and with his death.

No one knows what exactly happened to him. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found in a Baltimore street. He was semi-conscious, but not enough to explain how he'd got there, and get this...He was dressed in clothes that weren't his.

That got me to thinking, what if a character showed up in clothes that weren't his own? What if that character were the hero? A bad boy hero who shows up in the clothes of an upstanding vicar? Ah yes, you got it, another shameless plug for A HEART DECEIVED, for indeed that is one of the scenes and you'll have to read it to find out what happens.

Now then, back to Poe. He was rushed to a hospital where he remained in a delirious state for four days before dying on October 7, 1849. He was only 40 years old. What happened?

No one knows. There are a few theories. He was known to be an alcoholic. Perhaps he simply drank himself to death. But that doesn't account for the odd clothes.

Which leads to the next theory...that he'd been the victim of "cooping". This is a kind of election fraud where gangs would drug a victim, dress them in different clothes, then haul them from polling site to polling site to vote for the candidate of their choice.

No one really knows for sure, though. Poe's death remains a mystery - just like his writing.