Celebrated writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe – known for his dark, mysterious, and macabre works such as The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Tell-Tale Heart – left behind one of the biggest mysteries of all when he unexpectedly died in 1849 at just 40 years old in Baltimore, Maryland.
The events leading up to Poe’s death are murky, but we know he was traveling from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia via a steamboat that stopped in Baltimore on Sept. 28, 1849. On Oct. 3, a printer for the Baltimore Sun, Joseph Walker, found Poe lying on the gutter near a tavern, Gunner’s Hall. The poet was in dire condition, seemingly intoxicated, and was wearing shabby clothes. Poe was rushed to the Washington Medical College hospital.
Dr. John J. Moran attempted to get answers about what happened from Poe, but he gave incoherent answers and was in and out of consciousness. At one point when Poe was awake, Dr. Moran said he was conversing with “spectral and imaginary objects on the walls” and was perspiring and had a pallid complexion. He died at about 5:00 am on Oct. 7.
Theories about his cause of death
Poe’s medical records and his death certificate didn’t survive, there was no autopsy, and his cause of death has been a subject of debate for decades. According to reports, Dr. Moran said the writer died of phrenitis — a swelling of the brain that causes delirium — due to alcoholism, but there are other theories as well.
Although many attribute Poe’s behavior before his death to alcohol, some historians believe that the hallucinations and delirium were not caused by alcoholism. Poe was known to partake in alcoholic beverages, but he was also able to stay away from alcohol for long stretches and was even an advocate of the temperance movement before he died. An article in The New York Organ on Oct. 13 read that Poe “broke his pledge, and died of mania a potu” or delirium tremens, a term for illness caused by excessive drinking. However, there’s no concrete evidence to support the theory.
Another theory is that Poe suffered from a brain tumor, and it is said that his doctor once told him that he had a brain lesion that resulted in his negative response to alcohol. A couple of decades after his death, Poe’s body was exhumed to move it to another gravesite. One worker who was at the exhumation noted a rattling noise inside the skull, which a pathologist said could be a brain tumor that had calcified. It’s a possibility, but no records exist that can verify the theory.
Perhaps the most common theory is that Poe was the victim of cooping, a type of voter fraud common in the 19th century. The practice involved snatching unsuspecting individuals off the streets, drugging and disguising them, and forcing them to vote several times. Throughout the years, many have accepted this as the most likely reason for his death, as it explains the unusual clothes he was wearing when he was found on Oct. 3 – election day – by Gunner’s Hall, which was a polling place. Voters were rewarded with alcohol, too, which may explain his drunken stupor when he was found.
In 2023, journalist Mark Dawidziak released the book A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe. He delved into the mystery surrounding Poe’s death and during his research, he interviewed several pathologists and medical experts about the writer’s possible cause of death, and the majority of them believed that Poe died of tuberculosis.
With no real evidence to back up the theories, it seems that Poe’s real cause of death will remain a mystery for years to come.
Published: Oct 14, 2024 04:08 am