"Hello Darkness, my old friend" what a Halloween it has been, but what is Halloween without a scary story to make you shake in your boots? If you're a fan of detective stories, go on and thank Mr. Poe for his contribution to the genre. His story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" sparked the mystery genre we all know and crave dating back to 1841. It was the publishing of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque that unleashed "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "William Wilson" to the world.
The mind that brought us the beating heart beneath floor boards and the broken heart missing Lenore was born in Boston, but grew up in Richmond after tuberculosis took his mother's life when he was just three years old. Poe's father was out of the picture long before his mother fell ill, so he and his two siblings were separated from one another by foster families. He and his foster mother, Frances Allan, developed a quick bond early on while he struggled to relate to his foster father, John Allan. John wanted a son to carry on the family business, but he could rarely get the young Edgar to focus long enough on financials for the tobacco business; John Allan often found his ledger sheets scribbled with Poe's writing. As frustrating as it may have been for John, little did he know Edgar was establishing himself at a young age.
At age thirteen, Poe had enough work to create a compilation of poetry, but his headmaster and father wouldn't hear of it. Thankfully, that wasn't enough to make Poe put the pen down. He studied at the University of Virginia in 1826, where his writing grew stronger alongside his debt. For the sake of his passion, he happily embraced said debt and thus created a variety of favorites that many have become addicted to. Without further ado, let's take a walk on the dark side with a dear old friend of mine.
1. "The Raven"
"Once upon a midnight dreary," I realized that Edgar Allan Poe nailed it with this opening line because sometimes the craziest things happen in the dark of the night. If you haven't read the poem that caught everyone's attention in 1845, then you can't ever say you understand what heartbreak does to a man. You haven't experienced pain until you start asking birds for answers to life.
2. "The Tell-Tale Heart"
My personal favorite spark of insanity from Poe is a tale told by an unidentified narrator. He fights to prove his sanity as he recaps his recent murder of an old man. When you get the chance to gather some friends up to tell ghost stories around the campfire, make this one your story of choice. Don't tell anyone the title of it, but I bet someone will call you out for not giving Poe his credit on this one. It's too twisted not to have heard before.
3. "The Cask of Amontillado"
Feel free to laugh when I tell you this: When I first read this story I was a freshman in high school and I was so caught up on why a character was dressed as a sort of jester. If that doesn't pinpoint what age is appropriate for Edgar Allan Poe then I'm not quite sure what would. If you're ever feeling dramatic and think that murder is an option, put down your knife and read this story to get that fun-killing sensation out of your system.
4. "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Forget the haunted houses this Halloweekend, take me to the House of Usher. There's no spookier place to be on Halloween than in a house that's supposedly alive, but it's not a tale for the faint of heart. This is no comical haunted mansion like the one Eddie Murphy purchased in "The Haunted Mansion."
There are so many more amazing writings by Poe. My friends actually gave me an anthology of Poe's work for Christmas, if that gives you any idea of how many fantastic Poe options you have. Happy Halloween friends, get the campfire crackling and keep the spooky stories rolling. It's the only way Mr. Poe rests peacefully in his Baltimore burial ground.
