On October 7, 1849, prolific horror writer Edgar Allan Poe died of mysterious causes in a secluded hospital room in Baltimore, Maryland. His death caused a stir and created many sensational theories as to how he died, including murder, suicide, and disease. Despite the theories and first-hand accounts of Poe’s condition from doctors and the people acquainted with him in the days leading to his death, no one has ever been able to determine the real answer as to what happened. The Father of Mystery would forever be entrenched in his own mystery, with an ending as macabre as one of his stories.
Before his death, Poe was set to marry his childhood love, Elmira Shelton in Richmond, VA. His fiancé noticed that Poe didn’t look his best, and she insisted that he visit a doctor before his work trip to Baltimore and New York. When Poe visited a doctor, the doctor advised him not to leave Richmond; however, Poe disregarded the doctor’s orders.
Poe would venture to Baltimore and disappear for 5 days before a stranger discovered his disheveled body lying outside of Gunner’s Hall Pub. Poe was drifting in an out of consciousness, but alive. He couldn’t explain how he got there, or what happened to him. So, the stranger phoned Poe’s friend J. Snodgrass.
When Snodgrass arrived in Baltimore he was horrified by his friend’s appearance. Poe looked haggard and he was wearing someone else’s clothing. He admitted the writer to Washington College Hospital where he was placed in a small, dark room with bars on the windows as if he were a prisoner.
While at the hospital, Poe continued to drift in and out of consciousness, occasionally having violent outbursts and shouting things that didn’t make sense. One of the things witnesses claim to have heard Poe shout was the name “Reynolds.”
Reynolds was believed to be Henry R. Reynolds, a judge at a polling station at Ryan’s Tavern—a location Poe was reportedly spotted at before his death. This information led to the theory that Poe had been a victim of cooping, a practice where individuals were kidnapped by election gangs and forced to vote repeatedly. Victims were forced to binge-drink and given new clothing to hide their identities, and they were beaten or murdered if they did not comply.
Gunner’s Hall—the place where Poe was found—was reportedly a notorious location where cooping was commonly utilized.
While the theory did prove to be interesting enough to be a plotline in one of Poe’s stories, not many people agreed with it. Some believed the most likely possibility was that Poe died of alcoholism due to the condition he was in when he was found.
No one knows where Poe was for 5 days, but this point could have been when the writer went on a bender and drink to excess. Author John Evangelist Walsh claims that Poe did not get along well with his fiancé’s family, and they may have contributed to his death by causing him to go into a downward spiral out of control.
Walsh theorized that Shelton’s three brothers followed Poe on the boat from Richmond to Baltimore and confronted him. They told him never to return to Richmond, and to stay away from their sister. This could have set Poe off into a depression and led him to drink, causing him to die.
Another author who researched Poe’s death believed he died from brain cancer. When Poe died his body was exhumed 26 years later. Reports explained that his brain appeared hardened and shrunken inside his skull. If this were true, it could support the idea that Poe possibly had a brain tumor, which led to his hallucinations and erratic behavior before his death.
The theories are seemingly endless and more elaborate as they grow over time, but they can never really be substantiated. After Poe died, his medical records and death certificate disappeared. That’s right—there is absolutely no record left for Poe’s hospital stay or examination of his body.
Along with strange circumstances surrounding his death, the story takes an even sadder turn at Poe’s funeral. Even though Poe had a successful career as a writer and had many acquaintances, only 8 people showed up to mourn him at his funeral. And it gets worse: people viewed Poe’s body as a collector’s item and many tried to get pieces of his hair.
In 1999, a piece of Poe’s hair was tested by a public health researcher named Albert Donnay, who believed Poe died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The test did find traces of coal gas, but it couldn’t conclusively determine if carbon monoxide was responsible for Poe’s death.
Poe’s death will likely remain a mystery forever, which only adds to the allure of his tension-filled horror and science-fiction tales that have frightened readers for decades—and decades to come. What do you think caused Poe’s death?
Source: Biography; The Guardian; CBS; Atlas Obscura