Mystery of Mysteries: the Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe

 

Edgar Allan Poe is a fascinating man. Dawidziak argues that our modern day image of him: a melancholy, tortured poet, hunched over a candle in a cobwebbed garret, a black raven perched on a bookshelf behind him--is not entirely accurate. Poe, while best known for his thrilling horror stories and poems, wrote quite a bit in his lifetime, from humorous pieces to literary criticism and yes, horror. People who knew Poe described him as an entertaining companion. He went to West Point and served in the military, and enjoyed swimming and other physical pursuits. 

Poe's mysterious death has only added to the legend. Poe was found in a daze in Baltimore, wearing clothes that were not his. His cause of death is still unknown, although many theories have been put forward. One of the most popular is that Poe was a victim of a practice called "cooping", where during an election, gangs would roam the streets and kidnap people, take them to polling places, and have them vote the way they wanted them to, change their clothes, and take them back to vote again. Usually these gangs would use alcohol or drugs to make their victims compliant. It's possible that Poe suffered from tuberculosis (which killed both his parents, his older brother, and his wife). It was dormant until a severely stressful situation (such as cooping) and then swiftly ended his life. It's just a theory, and there are many others that are equally plausible. It's just interesting to contemplate.