Tonight’s extra-long Halloween special covers Edgar Allan Poe’s full life story, the crimes that influenced his writing, and the still-unsolved mystery of his death in Baltimore in 1849. This is the finale of 31 Nights of Frights! :-)
From his birth in Boston in 1809 and his mother’s death from tuberculosis, through his foster home, money struggles, army and West Point years, life with Maria Clemm and Virginia, magazine career, poverty, sudden fame with “The Raven,” and devastating losses. Then the five missing days, the election-day tavern, the clothes that weren’t his, the hospital, the name “Reynolds,” and the theories that still don’t add up.
Includes readings from Poe’s work plus personal stories: reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” in middle school, my animatronic raven candy dish that cawed “Nevermore,” a little easter egg in my fiction, and the Poe speakeasy I visited last fall. More personal than usual.
Last night of 31 Nights of Frights. Thank you for your support. Get comfortable. We’ll be back next week with all-new episodes of True Crime Sleep Stories. Stay safe, and lock your doors.
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