Probably no one’s death raised as many questions as the mysterious death of the American writer, poet, and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe. The circumstances of his death were so strange and incomprehensible, as if the author himself wrote the plot of his latest detective story. Alcoholism, drug overdose, cerebral hemorrhage, rabies, brain tumor, cholera, syphilis, meningitis, epilepsy and even murder were named among the reasons for the sudden death of the writer. What really happened?
On September 28, 1849, Edgar Poe arrived in Baltimore, a few days later he was found on the street, in a semi-insane state, in someone else's dirty clothes. He was delirious, shouting the name "Reynolds", refusing food and water. He was taken to the hospital, where he died on October 7. His reason never returned, so it is not known for certain where he was and what happened to him from September 28 to October 3.
according to the doctors, “Mr. Poe's response to the environment was inadequate; his eyes were deprived of life. An autopsy was not performed, and the cause of death was recorded as “brain inflammation,” which usually meant alcohol or drug poisoning, or an unknown cause.
Immediately after the death of the writer, his enemies began to spread rumors about alcohol intoxication. But doctors refute this version. The fact is that Edgar Poe really abused alcohol and suffered from pathological intoxication - a couple of glasses of wine was enough for him to lose control.
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Some of Poe's biographers claim that he started drinking because of the early death of his first wife. The writer married his cousin Virginia Clemm when he was 27 and she was only 13. But the girl died young, just like his mother. Poe took her death very hard. But in August 1849 the writer began to visit the anti-alcohol society "Sons of Sobriety" and did not drink.
The place where the ashes of the writer rested from the moment of death until 1875.
On October 3, 1849, when Poe was found, elections were held in the city. And in those days, vagrants were picked up on the streets, beaten, watered, and forced to vote several times for the right candidates. At the same time, they were disguised in order to pass off as different people. This could explain both someone else's clothing and the presence of a traumatic brain injury. But at the time of his delivery to the hospital, the doctors found no traces of alcoholic intoxication.
Tomb of Edgar Poe in Baltimore, at Westminster Cemetery.
Doctors argued that delirium and loss of consciousness could indicate a cerebral hemorrhage, possibly as a result of a traumatic brain injury. Others are convinced that hallucinations, seizures, fever and refusal to drink are typical symptoms of rabies, which could be caused by a stray dog bite. But in that case, doctors at the hospital where Poe died would have to recognize these symptoms. Poisoning and drug overdose options were disproved by a spectral analysis of the writer's hair in 2002.
Monument to Edgar Poe near the University of Baltimore.
None of the versions have been confirmed at the moment. There is even more mysticism in the circumstances of Poe's death than in his stories. In 1860, the medium Lizzie Loten published poems, claiming that they were dictated to her by Poe himself at a seance. And numerous witnesses claimed to have seen Po's ghost appear in the cemetery. The monument, which was about to be installed on his grave, was destroyed by a train when he derailed and crashed into a cemetery warehouse.
Monument to Edgar Allan Poe in Boston.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to identify the artistic world of works full of mysticism with the life of the writer himself. Moreover, there were enough riddles in it and without speculation. And his stories are included in the top 10 scary books, reading which it is simply impossible to remain indifferent.