First Detective Story Published – (No, it’s not Sherlock Holmes…)

Today marks the publication of what is arguably the first detective story. Murders in the Rue Morgue was written by Edgar Allan Poe and published on April 20, 1841. Want to give it a read? Here it is. 

[Image via macworld]

  

Never say Nevermore

Today would have been Edgar Allan Poe’s 201^st birthday. The NY Times is reporting that an anonymous man known for visiting Poe’s grave dressed entirely in black on Poe’s birthday did not make his usual pilgrimage this year. For years, spectators have turned out to Poe’s grave in Baltimore on January 19th to watch as this unidentified man drank a toast to Poe before pouring the rest of the cognac out over Poe’s grave. This same man also brought three roses to place on the grave every year. I never knew this tradition existed, but somehow, it doesn’t surprise me. I wonder if he’ll return next year? If not, who will take his place?

"Darkness There and Nothing More" - The Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849 at the age of forty. Poe’s life was wrought with tragedy and little success. Poe had a failed military career and encountered difficulty when he attempted to live by his writing. In 1836, Poe married his first cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe. She was 13 at the time, he was 27. In 1847, she died of tuberculosis. Her illness and death had a profound impact on Poe’s writing. Poe himself died under mysterious circumstances. At times, his death has been attributed to “alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.” Supposedly, Joseph W. Walker found Poe on the streets of Baltimore wearing someone else’s clothes while acting incoherent and delirious. He was taken to Washington College Hospital where he died on October 7, 1849.

Check out Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry here.

[Image via BC]