Please enjoy this article written by a student in DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!
Due to the circumstances of his death, Edgar Allan Poe’s demise is shrouded in mystery and speculation. Edgar Allan Poe was a famous writer and storyteller. Most famous for his macabre stories, he wrote countless pieces and became known world wide. How he died is still to this day a mystery. We may never know the full truth.
It was election day on October 3, 1849. A man by the name of Joseph W. Walker was approaching Ginners hall to vote. Before he could enter the building, he saw a delirious man dressed in shabby clothes lying in the gutter. As he approached he saw that the man was Edgar Allan Poe, fading in and out of consciousness. Joseph immediately asked Poe if there was anyone in Baltimore that he could contact for assistance.
A week before, Poe had left Richmond en route to Philadelphia to collect some editorials. Poe never made it to Philadelphia. He stayed in Baltimore for his four remaining days. He never gained enough consciousness to explain what happened to him before he was found outside Ginners hall. The only things that he could communicate in his final days was on the night before his death, he repeatedly called out for a man named “Reynolds,” who to this day remains a mystery. While the facts of his death are extremely sparse, there are still plenty of theories that could explain his untimely demise.
There are many theories surrounding Edgar Allan Poe’s death. One of the most widely accepted causes of his death is alcohol poisoning. It has been widely accepted that Poe was weak when it came to alcohol. It was known that both him and his sister could become incredibly drunk after only a glass of wine or champagne. This theory suggests that he would have gotten incredibly drunk, found his way to Ginners hall, and collapsed in the gutter where he would soon be found.. It should be added that alcohol is involved in many of the following theories.
The second theory also somewhat involves alcohol. This theory is that Poe ran into some friends in Baltimore that he went out drinking with. After he only had a few drinks, he then in his drunken state began to wander through the town. This also suggests that the robbers then beat Poe so badly that he then soon lost consciousness and never regained it.
Another prominent theory is that Poe was a victim of Cooping. Cooping was a common voter fraud tactic by many gangs in that time period. Gangs would often kidnap an unsuspecting victim and force them to vote for a specific candidate. They would then force the victim to put on different disguises and vote again. This theory is particularly strong as he was found in unusual clothing outside of a voting place. It was also a common practice for the gang members to give their victims alcohol as a sort of reward after they voted, which would explain Poe's delirious state when he was found. After voting, many gangs would beat their victims and leave them in the street to die. This theory may answer many mysteries surrounding Poe's death. However, it is far from clear cut and there is still plenty of evidence pointing away from this theory.
This Fourth Theory suggests that Poe died as a result of a brain tumor. When Poe was first buried, he was buried in a common grave in a cemetery. However, a statue was erected in a different location in Poe's honor twenty-six years later. But, when his corpse was being moved to the new location, over 20 years of decay had not done Poe kindly. While moving him, his skull fell out of the coffin. The worker that picked it up noted that there was a rolling mass inside the skull. The local newspaper said that it was Poe's dried and shriveled brain. We now know that the mass inside his skull could not have been Poe’s brain. It is now known that the brain is one of the first things to rot after death. When a forensic pathologist was asked about what this clump could be, he said that while it could not be his brain it could be a brain tumor. Certain types of tumors can calcify and harden after death. If Poe really did have a brain tumor, This could explain why he had little tolerance for alcohol. It could also explain why Poe was in such a delirious state in the hospital.
The final theory that we will go into any depth into is that Poe was murdered. Poe was engaged to a woman named Elmira Shelton. Shelton's relatives were openly against her marrying Poe. This theory suggests that Poe actually made it to Philadelphia, where Shelton’s brothers warned Poe against marrying their sister. Poe, having been shaken by the incident, fled to Baltimore and dressed himself in shabby clothing as a disguise. Shelton's brothers found Poe, beat him, and forced him to drink as they knew it would send him in a downward spiral. It should be noted that this theory is based almost entirely on speculation and circumstantial evidence. Many scholars looking into Poe’s death have ruled this theory off.
In truth, until we learn quite a bit more about the circumstances of Edgar Allan Poe’s death, we will never know how the author died in a fashion that sounds like it came right out of one of his stories. It should be noted that I chose not to include several theories because they are based purely on speculation. It should also be noted that there is a likelihood that many of these theories may have happened such as that Poe had been the victim of cooping, and that his brain tumor kept him from recovering. While we may never know what happened to Edgar Allen Poe in the days and nights leading up to when he was found by Joseph Walker, it is still fun to think of theories and have the real life thrill of mystery and the macabre that his stories give us.
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