I have never understood his work, let alone his genius. But the world famous American writer Edgar Allan Poe was a rather controversial person. And the older he got, the contradictions that arose within the master of riddles and secrets, intensified and strengthened. Therefore, the gloomy death of the writer is, most likely, a worthy end to the bright life that Edgar dedicated to the creation of chilling detective stories.
Edgar Poe was not only a storyteller, he also wrote poems, the most famous of which, The Raven, was written in 1845, and was a renowned literary critic and editor. The writing career has never been stable. He was at the peak of popularity, then he arrived in a deep crisis and sometimes for a long time could not write a single line.
The great writer died on October 7, 1849. It happened in a hospital in Baltimore. The doctors, in a few days of stay, did not manage to establish the cause of such a distressing condition of the patient. And for almost 200 years, scientists and doctors have been trying to understand what happened, why the famous Edgar Allan Poe was accidentally found in Baltimore Park on a wooden bench in a semi-faint state and with such dirty clothes that it was almost impossible to recognize a wealthy person in him?
So what happened?
On October 3, 1849, passers-by found Edgar Poe walking the streets of his native Baltimore in a completely inadequate state. According to his contemporaries, "he was terribly depressed and needed immediate medical attention." The writer was taken to hospital, where he died five days later.
During all this time, Edgar could not clearly explain what happened to him. Even more suspicious was the fact that the writer was wearing clothes that he had never worn before. On the night before his death, Edgar repeated the name "Reynolds" only a few times - but it was not possible to find out who it belonged to.
All medical records, including Edgar Poe's death certificate, have disappeared. The newspapers of that time attributed the death of the writer to "brain disease" and "inflammation of the central nervous system" - diagnoses that in the 19th century were often made to people who died of alcoholism. What actually caused Po's death is still unknown.
Promotional video:
After Poe's death, Poe's longtime enemies immediately spread the rumor that Poe was addicted to alcohol and drugs, rumors spreading widely thanks to Ryan's Fourth Ward Polls, an entertainment venue close to where the insane Poe was found. This theory is considered not consistent, since none of the eyewitnesses, as well as the doctor who observed Poe in the hospital, did not smell alcohol. Many are inclined to believe that Po was the victim of an attack.
There are witnesses who managed to notice that Poe's clothes and shoes were all dirty and clearly not in size, and it is also believed that delirium, loss of consciousness and coma were the result of a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from a traumatic brain injury. It is this theory that the researchers of the remains adhere to, who managed to conduct a series of tests when the body was reburied in 1875. The writer's hair was also examined and the theory of poisoning and suicide, which was very popular at that time, was also considered fiction: no traces of poison and narcotic substances were found.
For several days in the hospital, Po did not come to his senses. He was tormented by hallucinations and convulsions, he mentioned his long-dead wife, and also repeatedly pronounced the name Reynolds loudly. There was no one with that last name among Po's friends, so no one was able to identify the stranger. Other possible causes of death include cholera, syphilis, meningitis, and epilepsy.
There are several main theories. Many biographers have studied this issue, but have come to various conclusions, from Jeffrey Meyers and his belief that it was hypoglycemia, to John Evangelist Walsh and his theory of conspiracy to kill. It was also assumed that the cause of Poe's death was suicide due to the onset of depression. Two years before his death, he was often visited by thoughts of suicide. The doctors diagnosed her as having brain inflammation and palpitations. Poe suffered from severe headaches, was bedridden, and could neither read nor write. Perhaps, the desire to get rid of excruciating pains for at least a while explains his passion for alcohol, morphine and opium. In 1848, he was already dying of an overdose of laudanum, which was widely used as the most affordable sedative and pain reliever available. While it remains unclear whether this was a serious suicide attempt or just a miscalculation on his part, it is clear that this was not the cause of Po's death a year later.
Snodgrass was convinced that Poe died of alcoholism, and made great efforts to convince others of this. He was a supporter of the Temperance Movement and believed Poe's story to be a perfect example in the fight against drunkenness. Snodgrass's work on this issue, however, has been found not credible. Moran, in his own 1885 report, disputed Snodgrass's position and argued that Poe did not die under the influence of any intoxication. Moran argued that "not the slightest smell of alcohol emanated from Po." However, some newspapers at the time reported that the cause of Poe's death was “brain hemorrhage” or “craniocerebral inflammation,” which is a euphemism for death from shameful causes such as alcoholism. In his book Edgar A. Poe: A Neuropathic Study, psychiatrist John Robertson suggested thatthat the cause of Poe's death was chronic drunken alcoholism - dipsomania, a condition in which a person does not remember what happened to him.
It should be noted that Poe's portrayal as an unruly alcoholic is controversial. In particular, Thomas Mine Reed, the then drinking companion of Edgar Poe, admitted that the two of them were “pretty naughty”, but that Poe “never went beyond the innocent fun that no one denies himself … Recognizing that Poe had such a weakness I will honestly say it was not an addiction. Some researchers admit that Poe had a personal alcohol intolerance and that he was drunk from one glass of wine. According to other sources, he drank only in difficult moments of life, and then he could do without alcohol for several months. Also, Edgar Poe's membership in the Sons of Sobriety Society did not add clarity to the issue of alcoholism. William Glenn, who oversaw the fulfillment of Poe's obligations, wrote a few years later,that members of the temperance society had no reason to believe that Poe was in breach of his obligations at Richmond. Thomas Dunn English, who was Edgar Poe's physician and also had a medical degree, insisted that Poe was not a drug addict.
So, he wrote:
“If Poe used opium when I was in contact with him (until 1846), I would have noticed this both as a doctor and as an observant person during his frequent visits to my room and my visits to his house, as well as our meetings. in other places - I have not seen any evidence of this and I consider such accusations groundless"
Among a large number of other causes of death in subsequent years, various forms of brain diseases and brain tumors, diabetes, various forms of enzyme deficiency, syphilis, apoplexy, alcoholic delirium, epilepsy and meningitis were named. A certain doctor, John W. Francis, examined Poe in May 1848 and believed that he had heart failure, which the writer later denied. In 2006, a hair sample was examined, the results of which denied the possibility of poisoning with lead, mercury, and other toxic fumes of heavy metals. Cholera was also named among the reasons. Poe was passing through Philadelphia in early 1849, just when there was a cholera epidemic. He fell ill while in the city and wrote to his mother-in-law Maria Klemm that "perhaps he contracted cholera, or it was an attack of something no less terrible."
Since Po was discovered on election day, it was already suggested in 1872 that Po was a victim of so-called kuping. Baltimore at that time was notorious for political corruption, and the city was terrorized by gangs of "vote hunters" who, with the help of threats or promises, drove the poor fellows three days before voting to special places - "chicken coops", in which people were kept under the influence of alcohol and drugs until the beginning of the elections, and then everyone was forced to vote several times. The elections were supposed to take place on October 3, against which the version may be quite plausible that he, already in a helpless state, was forcibly placed in one of these "chicken coops", which was located just two blocks from the place where he was found. Cooping became the standard explanation for Poe's death in most of his biographies over the course of several decades. It should also be noted that Poe's position in Baltimore made him an easily recognizable figure and that such a scam was unlikely.
Recently, evidence has begun to emerge that Po may have also died from the bite of a rabid dog: refusal to drink, seizures, hallucinations, and fever are classic symptoms of rabies.
There is something mystical about the mystery associated with the death of the great writer, who himself fully devoted himself to creating bizarre webs of narration of all kinds of dark and mysterious stories.
But the mysterious story did not end there. Here is what American newspapers wrote in 2010: “A mysterious visitor who left roses and an open bottle of French cognac every year at the grave of the writer Edgar Poe in Baltimore,” did not bring this “gift” for the first time in 61 years, writes The Telegraph today. About 50 people from different parts of the United States were waiting for his arrival to celebrate the 201st anniversary of the writer's birth.
It is believed that the first stranger came to the grave of Edgar Poe on the eve of his 140th birthday, on the night of January 18-19, 1949, the year of the centenary of the writer's death. Since then, a man in a black coat and a hat with a cane with a silver head, as mysterious and gloomy as the heroes of Poe's stories and poems, every year secretly comes to the cemetery, leaves three red roses and an open bottle of cognac on the grave, and then disappears unnoticed under cover of darkness. The roses are believed to symbolize Poe, his wife Virginia and mother-in-law Maria Klemm. What is the symbolic meaning of the bottle of cognac left behind, we can only guess for now. In some cases, the secret admirer, in addition to performing the traditional ritual, left notes at the tombstone. Sometimes they just contained words of gratitude - "Edgar, I remember you."In 1993, a very mysterious note was left on the grave of the writer with the following content: "The torch will go to another." This sparked rumors about a serious illness or the impending death of the first secret admirer. A note left in January 1999 stated that the first secret admirer had died the previous year, and the obligation to continue the tradition was placed on his "heir". Later observers of the mysterious tradition noted that, apparently, the new secret admirer is much younger.and the obligation to continue the tradition was placed on his "heir". Later observers of the mysterious tradition noted that, apparently, the new secret admirer is much younger.and the obligation to continue the tradition was placed on his "heir". Later observers of the mysterious tradition noted that, apparently, the new secret admirer is much younger.
In 2001, some time before the upcoming meeting of the Baltimore Ravens ("Baltimore Ravens") with the New York Giants ("Giants of New York") in the fight for Super Bowl XXXV, secret admirer Poe left a note that read: "Giants from New -York ". And Darkness, Doom and Heavenly blue reigned supreme over everything. Baltimore Ravens. They will suffer numerous losses. Edgar Allan Poe Forever. " The content of the note created some sensation, for which there were several reasons. Never before had a secret admirer expressed his opinion on current events such as an upcoming sports match, and no one could find an explanation for why the Baltimore Ravens team, named after Poe's most famous poem, The Raven, fell out of favor with the stranger. The prediction (containing an allusion to the last line of Poe's story "The Mask of the Red Death" - "… and Darkness, Doom and Red Death reigned supreme over everything") did not come true - "The Ravens" won the Super Bowl with a score of 34: 7.
In 2004, Po's secret admirer, apparently for something, took a dislike to the French - among the roses he left behind, a note was found with the following content: “French cognac desecrates the sacred place of Po's final resting place. With a heavy heart and only out of respect for the family tradition, the cognac was left. Eternal memory to the great Po! It has been argued that in this way the stranger expressed his disapproval of the French opposition to the war in Iraq.
The news of the mysterious stranger quickly spread throughout America. Of course, it is not difficult to track down a night visitor and find out his name, but then the heady mystery and romance that brought well-deserved fame to the work of Edgar Alan Poe himself will disappear. This is what the true fans of his talent want the least. It is no coincidence that they entered into an unofficial agreement between themselves - not to try to reveal its secret.
Only once, in 1990, did Jeff Jerome, curator of the Writer's Museum in Baltimore, allow a professional photographer from Life magazine, armed with a powerful camera with special infrared night lenses, to take some pictures. They depict a short gray-haired man kneeling in front of the grave.
In 2007, 92-year-old US resident Sam Porpora appeared on CNN with a statement that he was the mysterious stranger. “This was done by us, me and my comrades,” he confessed, adding that the tradition he invented was a kind of “advertising hoax” undertaken to attract widespread interest to his beloved writer and save the old church graveyard where he rests from destruction. The idea of the mysterious Poe worshiper came to Porpoore in the 1960s, when he became the historian of Westminster Presbyterian Church, built in 1852. The church had only 60 members, and Porpora, who turned 60, was the youngest. The church cemetery with the grave of Edgar Poe fell into disrepair, becoming the favorite place of drunkards and criminals. Porpora decided to raise money for the restoration. In an interview with a local reporter, he said that every year since 1949, a mysterious admirer comes to Poe's grave, who brings 3 roses (Poe, his wife and mother-in-law) and a bottle of cognac, which Edgar Poe loved very much. The legend turned out to be fascinating. Beginning in 1977, Porpora began to invite small groups of Edgar Poe's admirers and easily curious people to the cemetery to watch the admirer who brought cognac and roses. Not everyone believes Sam Porpora's story. Some members of the Edgar Poe Society in Baltimore say they remember the stories of old churchgoers - now deceased - who said that the stranger appeared long before the time Porpora mentions.which Edgar Poe loved very much. The legend turned out to be fascinating. Beginning in 1977, Porpora began to invite small groups of Edgar Poe's admirers and easily curious people to the cemetery to watch the admirer who brought cognac and roses. Not everyone believes Sam Porpora's story. Some members of the Edgar Poe Society in Baltimore say they remember the stories of old churchgoers - now deceased - who said that the stranger appeared long before the time Porpora mentions.which Edgar Poe loved very much. The legend turned out to be fascinating. Beginning in 1977, Porpora began to invite small groups of Poe's admirers and easily curious people to the cemetery to watch the admirer, who brought cognac and roses. Not everyone believes Sam Porpora's story. Some members of the Edgar Poe Society in Baltimore say they remember the stories of old churchgoers - now deceased - who said that a stranger appeared long before the time Porpora mentions.that they remember the stories of the old parishioners of the church - now deceased - who said that the stranger appeared long before the time that Porpora mentions.that they remember the stories of the old parishioners of the church - now deceased - who said that the stranger appeared long before the time that Porpora mentions.