The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Open Here I Flung the Shutter. Illustration to The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, print, Edouard Manet (MET, 24.30.27(4))

Edgar Allan Poe, left his home in Richmond Virginia on September 27, 1849, bound for Philadelphia where he was expected to edit a collection of poetry for a friend. Poe never arrived in Philadelphia, instead, he was found six days later confused and dirty, wandering the streets of Baltimore. Poe was wearing ill-fitting clothes, which didn’t appear to belong to him. Poe was unable to explain his presence in the city, the location of his luggage, or how he came to be in such a state. All he could do was ask for his friend and editor, Dr. J.E. Snodgrass. Snodgrass brought Poe to Washington College Hospital, where Poe fell into a fever, ranting and hallucinating for four days, repeatedly calling out the name Reynolds, while falling in and out of consciousness. On October 7 Poe passed away, the official cause of his death was listed in the Baltimore Sun as “phrenitis” or swelling of the brain, a condition often used as a euphemism for alcoholism. 

Several aspects of Poe’s death are mysterious. What was the exact cause of death? How did he end up in Baltimore? What was he doing for the six days between leaving Virginia and being found in Baltimore? Who was Reynolds? 

Alcoholism

At the time it was rumored that Poe had died of drinking. Poe had been known to struggle with alcohol, and it was believed that he was a notorious lightweight, drunk after one glass of wine. In the months before his death, Poe became involved with an anti-drinking organization known as the Sons of Temperance and pledged to abstain from alcohol. Did Poe merely fall off the wagon? Dr. J.E. Snodgrass, the friend Poe called for when he was discovered in Baltimore, thought so. Snodgrass was a passionate and outspoken advocate of the temperance movement, he would go on to lecture on the evils of drinking, using Edgar Allan Poe’s death as a cautionary tale.

However, the physician who attended Poe at his death, John Moran, refuted the claim that Poe had died from binge drinking. Moran stated that Poe "had not the slightest odor of liquor upon his breath or person." However, Moran’s credibility has been questioned due to his seeming attempts to romanticize his involvement in Poe’s death and his multiple conflicting accounts, which vary in important details such as the times and dates of important events. Moran claimed to have contacted Poe’s aunt, Maria Clemm, immediately after Poe’s death. When in actuality, Moran contacted Clemm nearly a month later, and only after she wrote to him requesting details of Poe’s death. Moran also claimed at different times that Poe was brought to the hospital on October 3 at 5 p.m., on October 6 at 9 a.m., or on October 7 (the day of his death) at "10 o'clock in the afternoon." Moran seemingly embellished Poe’s final words, claiming that Poe said, "The arched heavens encompass me, and God has his decree legibly written upon the frontlets of every created human being, and demons incarnate, their goal will be the seething waves of blank despair." The editor of the New York Herald, which published Moran’s account, stated, “We cannot imagine Poe, even if delirious, constructing such.” Moran’s inconsistencies have been attributed to senility, a lapse of memory, or an attempt to capitalize on and romanticize his involvement in Poe’s final moments.

Two of the last people to see Poe alive had competing accounts as to whether or not Poe was drunk in his final moments. Snodgrass and Moran both had their own reasons to promote their version of the story. Snodgrass, seemed to want to use Poe’s death as a cautionary tale on the dangers of alcohol abuse, whereas Moran wanted to romanticize and capitalize on his involvement in Poe’s death. Death by alcohol poisoning also fails to explain Poe’s five-day disappearance or his unusual attire. 

Cooping

The cooping theory, however, does explain Poe’s outfit. “Cooping,” was a common form of voter fraud at the time. Election gangs would kidnap people off the street, forcing their victims to consume alcohol. The gang would then force their victim to vote for a selected candidate multiple times, wearing different disguises and in multiple locations. Supporting the cooping theory is the fact that Poe was found on election day in front of a tavern across the street from a polling location.

The Flu

In the days before his ill-fated journey, Poe had been sickly. Poe’s fiance, Sarah Elmira Royster, noted that he was feverish with a weak pulse, she urged Poe to visit a doctor. The doctor declared Poe too ill to travel, advice which Poe evidently ignored. The weather in Baltimore was cold and rainy, possibly exacerbating Poe’s illness and eventually leading to pneumonia. A high fever could explain Poe’s hallucinations and confusion.

Mercury Poisoning

Earlier that year Poe had been exposed to cholera and was treated with mercury, tests of his hair revealed elevated levels of mercury 

Murder

In his 2000 book, Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, historian John Evangelist Walsh theorized that Poe, who was soon to be married for the second time, was murdered by his fiancee’s disapproving family. Walsh believes that Poe did, in fact, arrive in Philadelphia, where he was confronted by Royster’s three brothers. Frightened, Poe disguised himself and hid in Philadelphia for several days, before heading back to Richmond to marry Sarah, despite her brothers’ threats. Walsh believed that the brothers intercepted Poe in Baltimore, beat him, and forced him to drink whisky, which they knew would affect him disproportionately, because of his low tolerance for alcohol. There seems to be little evidence for this dramatic theory.

Other theories of Poe’s cause of death include cholera, a failed suicide attempt, and rabies. It is unlikely that we will ever know the exact cause of Poe’s death, but perhaps it is only fitting that the father of the detective story should expire in such a mysterious manner. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe