Myths & Mischief

Welcome back to Myths & Mischief! This is your Lovable Lord of Lore, today’s mischievous myth is the fourth installment of the tale of the death of America’s master of the macabre, Edgar Allen Poe. 

This is the 4th part of a short story that gives a possible explanation of famous author Edgar Allen Poe’s demise.  

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Upon arrival to Richmond Virginia, Thompson and Wilson didn’t waste time as they made their way to Poe’s house. They knocked on his door with no answer, but as soon as they knocked a neighbor came jogging over.

“Are you here to take the animals?” The neighbor asked.

“Not exactly.” explained Thompson, “We are here to observe them and gather information.”

“Are you with the police?”

“We are inspectors from Baltimore, and we are investigating the death of Mr. Poe.”

“Edgar asked me to tend to his animals while he was away, but he should have been back by now. I heard that he died, but I don’t know what to do with the animals.”

“We will reach out to his family and ask them to take care of it, but you may need to tend to them until we can get someone out here. Do you have a key to the house?”

“Yes.” answered the neighbor, a bit out of breath from his jog over to them.

Wilson chimed in, “What animals are we talking about?”

“Edgar loved animals. He has a tortoiseshell cat named Katarina, a large black cat named

Pluto, a dog, birds, goldfish and some rabbits.”

“Wasn’t there a story about one of his cats sitting on his shoulder as he wrote?”

“Yes, that was Katarina.”

“We are here to see if any of his pets have rabies. We are trying to determine if that was his cause of death. Have you noticed any of the animals behaving strangely, being abnormally aggressive, or foaming at the mouth?”

“No, the pets are passive and people friendly.”

“Has he had each of the pets for a while, or did he have a pet that died, let’s say, in the last year?”

“Not that I am aware of. I took care of his pets while he was lecturing. He came home for a bit, then left again.”

“When you spoke with him, did he mention where he was going or what he was doing?”

“He said he had a personal matter that he was excited about, and he said he had a new job.”

“Did he say what the nature of the personal matter entailed.”

“No, sorry.”

“Can you let us in, so we can confirm the animals are healthy? Then we will work on getting someone out here to collect them.

“Sure.” said the neighbor, a bit disappointed that he would have to continue caring for the multiple animals.

Thompson and Wilson entered Poe’s house. They confirmed that the animals were friendly and behaving like animals. The two inspectors then made their way to meet with Thomas Dunn.

“Do we know anything about this guy?” asked Wilson.

“The only thing that his note said was that he was a doctor and that he knew Poe.”

“Where are we headed?”

Thompson pulled the note out of his pocket and looked at it. “We are looking for the Swan Tavern on Broad Street on Shockoe Hill. It is right next to the train station, which will be convenient after the meeting.”

At the Swan Tavern, Thompson and Wilson asked the bartender if they had seen a man named Dunn, he pointed at a table with 2 men chatting. They approached the table as the men gestured for them to have a seat. They introduced themselves and had a seat.

“Thank you for coming, I am Dr. Thomas Dunn, I hope you don’t mind, but I have invited this gentleman to join us as well.”

“Hello, my name is William Glenn.”

We read in the paper that Mr. Poe died from the overconsumption of alcohol, which we both have insights that we believe will aid your investigation.”

“We’re listening.” replied Thompson.

“For starters, I did not like Mr. Poe, and we disagreed about a good many things.” Dunn explained. “With that said, Mr. Poe was not a drug user. Had Mr. Poe the opium habit when I knew him, I should both as a physician and a man of observation, have discovered it during his frequent visits to my rooms, my visits at his house, and our meetings elsewhere – I saw no signs of it and believe the charge to be a baseless slander.”

“When was it that you were last in contact with Mr. Poe?”

“It was a good while after his wife had passed, about 3 years ago.”

“What about alcohol?”

“He may have had the occasional drink, but I never saw him have more than a couple of drinks.”

“I was with Mr. Poe recently, I administered Poe’s pledge to the Sons of Temperance.” said Glenn. “He had stopped drinking all together and was attempting to improve his image. He saw it as a battle since there were so many rumors that smeared his image. In his attempt to prove himself as respectable, he took up the temperance cause and I never witnessed him wavering. To be honest, I was mad when I read his obituary and even more upset when I read Griswold’s Memoir of the Author which was nothing but slander.”

“Griswold?” said Wilson, surprised to hear the familiar name.

“That guy has done nothing but smear Edgar’s reputation, and caused him a great deal of stress. That was nothing new for Edgar, and I don’t know of any reason he would break his pledge. The last time I spoke with him, he was excited to be here and he told me that for the first time since the passing of his wife that he could envision happiness in his future.”

“Of course we cannot reveal any details of the ongoing investigation, but these are not the first reports we have that describe Mr. Poe’s sobriety favorably.

“Mr. Glenn, when was the last time you spoke with Mr. Poe?”

“It was a few weeks ago now, after his return from the lecture circuit.”

“Have you heard anything from him since he left?”

“I have not.”

Mr. Dunn,” said Thompson switching his focus, “I take it since you are staying at the inn, you hail from elsewhere, where exactly?”

“I am from Philadelphia, but when I read the paper’s reference to Poe’s death being tied to drugs and alcohol, I made my way here, to where he lived, figuring that people who would care what I had to say may be located here. I sent you the note once I heard there was an investigation pending.”

“As a doctor, can you provide us with a more plausible answer to what happened to Mr. Poe?”

“Of course I couldn’t say for sure, but his change of appearance from when I knew him and his more recent pictures in his books or the newspapers, I would guess that it had more to do with coal gas poisoning. Pictures of Poe’s face exhibit the tell-tale slanting of the eyes and mouth, a hallmark of low-grade CO exposure.”

“What about rabies, we checked his pets, but there was nothing we saw that looked suspicious.”

“From what I understand he was delirious when admitted, that could be rabies. Tell me, did he have an aversion to water?”

“Water?”

“Yes, people who have contracted rabies repel water like its toxic.”

“From what we understand, he repeatedly drank his water at the hospital.”

“That makes rabies much less likely.”

“Thank you for coming forward, we do still have a lot of pieces to put together but we appreciate your input. If you’ll excuse us, we have other business here before we return to Baltimore. Feel free to send us a letter if you can think of anything else pertinent to our investigation”

The two men nodded as the inspectors left and returned to their interrupted conversation.

“There didn’t seem to be much new information, but it did cast more doubt on the substance abuse cause of death.”

“Well put Wilson.”

“Where are we heading?”

“Our next stop is Philadelphia where we will call on Ms. Sarah Elmira Royster.”

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That’s it for today’s installment, this is your Lord of the Lore signing off.   

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