The Macabre Death Of Edgar Allan Poe

[Music] this week on the season premiere of BuzzFeed unsolved we look into the death of Edgar Allan Poe a case as mysterious and McCobb as the infamous writers stories she's season premiere I mean Luzi astok I don't know much about Edgar Allan Poe I was really bringing the energy this yeah that's good that's good he wrote some fun yarns a gloomy fella didn't know he had an untimely death quite honestly I don't know seems like a cool guy they named the football team after him sorta did the Ravens I didn't realize that till a few years ago I was like I don't think they named it after the Baltimore Ravens they did not name it but was from Baltimore are you kidding me wow that's the whole thing holy [ __ ] I just not they like Raven the Ravens a scary bird it is this is the this is the second time we've talked about like a tortured artist type when we did old Vincent back in the day was Poe truly tortured tortured tortured I'd say he did kind of look the part yeah he kind of looks like wood you're donning right now facial hair wise I don't hate to hear it Edgar Allan Poe was born on january 19 1809 in Boston to a pair of actors Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe Jr within the first three years of his life both his parents were dead and the we Poe was brought to Richmond to live with his presumed Godfather John Helen how do you a presumed Godfather I don't know people get kind of fast and loose with that right what you're is it it's just eighty nine eighty no no I got other stuff to worry about tea bees out there they're like oh yeah so we definitely will pick a godfather don't worry about it uh-oh we're dead now in 1826 Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia where he was an excellent student though John Allen was a wealthy tobacco merchant he was also a tightwad who sent Poe to school with less than a third of the money needed to try to make up for the shortfall post started gambling as you might expect this strategy didn't quite pay off and by the end of his first term Poe was so poor he was burning his furniture to stay warm I think it's okay that John el and wasn't just handing him piles of money what does he want I mean you could hand him the adequate amount no make him work for it make him strong you know get him out there get him working getting burned in his own furniture I agree we teach him a few lessons the the experience of losing both of his parents probably didn't make him stronger at this time Ellen was actually angry at the young student for gambling while Poe was likewise upset at his Godfather for refusing to contribute more to his education with no other options Poe was forced to drop out of school thus began a tumultuous time in Poe's life upon returning to Richmond Poe discovered his fiancee Elmira Shelton had become engaged to another man despairing poem moved to Boston and enlisted in the US Army to support himself so he could write his Godfather however then bought Poe's way out of the military which was apparently something you could do Poe then enrolled in West Point only be expelled eight months later after making himself absent from all drills and classes for a week with nowhere to go po attempted to seek out his father's relatives in Baltimore where he was promptly robbed by one of his cousin's bad bad cousin I don't that's rough this guy is being followed by a dark cloud yeah it just seems like what do you do when when life throws curveballs at you know have a nice cry you you feel my gone to season of BuzzFeed unsolved supernet yeah I make BuzzFeed unsolved that's what I do finally Poe fell into the care of his aunt Maria Clem and established some semblance of stability Poe started to publish poems around the time when he moved in with his aunt Poe also began publishing short stories one of which won a contest that grew his notoriety and led to an editorial position at the southern literary messenger in Richmond gotta feel good right yeah win a contest if all this happened to me my life is just the pits and then I won a contest I'd be like back on top it still feels like the scales have not tipped but yeah but this is the beginning it is the beginning is the beginning this is a little a little pebble on the scale it's true nice darkest before the dawn Poe's luck was finally turning around in addition to his newfound career traction Poe had fallen in love with a girl named Virginia grossly Virginia was his cousin even gross leer Virginia was half his age despite these circumstances Poe and Virginia married in Richmond in 1835 when Poe was 27 in Virginia was 13 can I say yeah can't be doing that you know obviously but it is a tie it is a thing of the times you kept doing this I mean usually what I'm saying though right don't need to condemn from our vantage point in history and so we do condemn wholeheartedly well their marriage was said to have been a happy one it was also largely marked by money troubles you tell me she wasn't out there in the raking in the dollars as a turning in her finger paintings to City Hall get in a nice little quarter poke continued moving about the eastern seaboard piecing together different writing jobs but finding it nearly impossible to make an adequate living when his first collection of short stories tales of the grotesque and arabesque which contained his famous story the Fall of the House of Usher was first published in 1840 PA's pay wasn't even in money but instead 25 copies of his own book five years later in 1845 the New York mere published Poe's poem The Raven which catapulted him to national acclaim five years later five years later rough that's five years five years ago we started working up buzz I know imagine or even five years later imagine all we have to show for it is your video dogs watching TV for the first time it's a classic a copy of it an MPEG it's a classic I don't know why that is glued to every internet biography of me because it's a master television for the first time it is a good video for the record and the dogs and that's all you have is that MOV file for five years that's all you have to show for it no money not bad just a copy of the video a cat comes on screen and they're like for a brief period Poe was finally living relatively comfortably in the life of Edgar Allan Poe however tragedy was never far off in the winter of 1847 Virginia died of tuberculosis at age 24 Poe was devastated and literary critics assumed that Poe himself would be dead before long in two years time they'd be proving right by 18-49 Poe is said to have embarked on a wild spree presumably relating to alcohol abuse by the summer however he'd made his way back to sobriety back to Richmond and back to his first fiancee Emira Shelton so is he going back to her now with like a copy of the Raven be like how about this now huh would you would you give Almira a second chance no you wouldn't no you don't believe in the capacity to forgive she I mean I would forgive I wouldn't forget they were soon and once again engage aged with plans to marry after Poe returned from some business in Philadelphia on September 27th Poe left Richmond by steamer stopping the next day in Baltimore for the next five days Poe's whereabouts are unknown easy to disappear back then though is the thing not hard yes it is easy it was easier to do nowadays we got this surveillance date yeah go get your money out of the ATM and they don't care I'm on the Internet you know everybody famous birthdays calm that's right where it says that I am the producer of television there it is we're back on October 3rd Poe was found by an employee of the Baltimore Sun Joseph W Walker delirious immobile and dressed in shabby clothing Poe was discovered in a gutter outside of a public house that was being used as a polling place what do you think about polls being in bars do you think that helps voter turnout yeah that's actually not a bad idea it is right I thought that's a pretty good idea dude pretty good you got to get the kids out there oh my god uh register to vote that's a good debt we registered to vote talk to your friends about registering to vote scream at them and celebrate with a nice brewski yeah if you're here to over 21 oh it's a a PO si rapping at desk chamber door-- po was taken to Washington College Hospital that afternoon assumed to be drunk the weak and weary PO was brought to a special room reserved for patients ill from intoxication PO never fully regained consciousness to be able to detail what had happened to him dr. John J Moran wrote two Poe's aunt / mother-in-law Maria Clem that Poe's last days were filled with quote vacant converse with spectral and imaginary objects on the walls his face was pale and his whole person drenched in perspiration end quote on October 7th 5 hours past midnight dreary at the age of 40 Edgar Allan Poe died some reports claiming he used his last breath to calmly say quote lord help my poor soul the official cause of death was for nightís or brain swelling po was buried in a pall temor graveyard two days later in an unmarked grave with little ceremony and nothing more it's a sad story and hopefully that doesn't happen to any of us or the people we care about I would hate to sweat for that long which part not getting married or dying in a gutter or getting buried in an unmarked grave all of the above sure yeah all of them yeah let me if you don't want to get married live your life if you maybe you don't have a significant other it's not the end of the world you know find some obvious just trying to make everybody feel good out there with po unable to explain what happened while in the hospital and no autopsy ever performed theories abound regarding what happened to the famous gothic writer today we're going to address some of the most interesting ones so without further ado let's get into the theories our first theory is that Edgar Allen Poe died of some alcohol-related syndrome such as dipsomaniac alcohol dehydrogenase or delirium tremens Poe had a problem with alcohol yeah sounds like not only did he possibly struggle with alcoholism but it appears he was genetically predisposed to not be able to handle booze according to Chris Symphony curator of the POE Museum quote it has been documented that after a glass of wine he was staggering drunk his sister had the same problem it seems to be some hereditary end quote some say fern itis may have been a common euphemism to politely attribute a death to alcohol a few months before his death Poe had a traumatic experience after becoming ill from drinking in Richmond according to biographer Susan Archer Tali Weis posed doctor apparently warned him that quote another such attack would prove fatal quote this may have contributed to him becoming an active and vocal member of the temperance movement for the months leading up to his demise if PO had fallen off the wagon during his five-day disappearance that could have explained the disheveled and terminal State when he was found temperance was dumb as hell can I say that you know don't wait you got it babe just cuz you don't like a chili boy here and there you gotta go tell other people how to live their lives you know I don't like heroin I don't think it's them getting on it you say what are you what I don't want why I say I don't like heroin why did you doubt how much heroin have you done today none I don't we try to convince here I don't enjoy this joke our second theory is that PO was fatally beaten perhaps after drinking since PO would become inebriated after only one drink he would have been an easy target for ruffians indeed if po was beaten and robbed that would explain his shabby state of dress as po hadn't been known to wear ragged cheap ill-fitting clothes there are even a couple theories that a potential beating would have been because of a woman biographer e oak Smith wrote in an 1867 article quote at the instigation of a woman who considered herself injured by him po was cruelly beaten blow upon blow by a ruffian who knew of no better mode of avenging supposed injuries it is well known that a brain fever followed end quote in author John evangelist Walsh's book from 2000 he posited that the Brothers of pose again fiancee Amira Shelton drugged Po with alcohol and beat him to death according to Walsh Shelton's three brothers had warned PO against marrying their sister while suggests that PO had made it to Philadelphia where he was ambushed by Shelton's brothers po would have been disguised himself in shabby clothing and gone into hiding Walsh contends that when po tried to sneak back to Richmond Shelton's brothers would have found him in Baltimore beaten him and drugged him with alcohol knowing it would have made him deathly ill was meek well-dressed man who wears clothes if you wanted them dead you didn't have to get it he was like a weird little spindly man with the head the size of a pumpkin you've seen or maybe I'm just thinking of the funk what you not want him who would I not want what PO as a brother-in-law ha no I wouldn't he's a beard our man I would not beat him to death I can't even imagine you throwing a punch no I mean either if I'm ever gonna throw a punch I could only imagine you like backhand except no no like I was like a lord it would be mid-conversation and I'd maybe set it up a little bit like there's there's a great line from The OC where Ryan yes the main character who's like from the rough-and-tumble parts ooh yeah yeah he says you know what I like about rich kids and the rich kid says he's like huh he goes nothing then he walks away but I might kiss my fist first I might be like you know so you're only fight then you've ever imagined as you sucker punch yeah well I'm a sucker puncher all right I'm a coward took a turn no function what is happening I'd run real fast got you get on a train that I'd moved to a different city and I changed my name our third theory is Edgar Allan Poe was the victim of cooping a violent form of voter fraud that was extremely common in Baltimore at the time whooping was when gangs would kidnap a victim and force him to vote multiple times in a variety of disguises strange that's strange when crimes were like this Groucho Marx yeah yeah it's weird it's a weird time also it's a crime and yet these people need to have some sort of trunk full of disguises walking around with a carrot top like hardened criminals be like we got you now put on this feather boa okay okay now they know the pink number put that one on how long with the spaghetti today like could you audition those glasses I don't know if that frame fits I'm off glass you know let's go with you I was I was right the first time ever thought it this was good this was good character work for us let's keep going this theory makes a lot of sense as it explains why Poe was not in his normal close and why he was found outside of a polling place during this time voters were often given some alcohol after voting as a celebration because of Poe's genetic sensitivity to alcohol if he had been forced to vote several times thus having to drink multiple drinks it could have explained the drunken stupor he was discovered in biographer JH Ingram during the late 1870s received several letters that caused him to believe this was how Poe met his demise a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins William Hannah Brown wrote Ingraham saying quote the general belief here is that Poe was seized by one of these gangs pooped stupefied with liquor dragged out and voted and then turned adrift to die end quote if you're gonna kidnap someone to coop them yes wouldn't you want to I don't know how recognizable he was but maybe don't Pig Edgar Allan Poe's author yeah I don't think these people were beating up Edgar Allan Poe inand one of them stopped Midway was like wait a second this dude wrote the Raven Scott wrote followed the House of Usher haven't you guys ever read yeah it's you read of the beautiful story you know what I'm about you I'm sorry man get up get up get up we love your prose we're sorry about we're really good we'll take it easy I don't think that's what happened I think it was just the I was just he was a guy no okay our final theory is that Edgar Allan Poe died as the result of a brain tumor which could have explained his odd behavior in the days leading up to his death though Poe was buried in an unmarked grave two days after he died 26 years later a statue was erected to honor his gravesite during which his coffin was dug up so his remains could be exhumed I used the term honor loosely as the marker lists his birthday as January 20th the day after Poe was actually born they tried to remedy their mistake from before with the unmarked grave and then they beefed it real hard beefed it literally etching it in stone you don't want to double-check that I guess not imagine if your headstone said like Ryan Bergara loving wife you wouldn't care I mean I'm dead so yeah I mean yeah I mean you know my outlook on things it's like whatever leave me in the street for the dogs to pick up my bones that's another thing too I've always wondered what graves like when people things at the grave like flowers or even like food or things that they liked yeah if you die isn't your grave like one of the last places you'd want to go check out I mean that's where your body is maybe your spirit inside me knows a Dia de los Muertos it's like the cemeteries become like fun that is that's not cocoa it's just I don't want to hang out at a cemetery if I'm coming back to earth-2 should be a happy place may come happy places I'm just saying that most times ghosts haunt the house that they were in or where they died they don't or wherever is convenient for the story yeah I know understandably Poe's coffin and corpse were in terrible condition as workers tried to move the coffin it fell apart spilling pose remains I can't catch a break this is conical at this point it's what you get from marrying your 13 year old can't say that I don't know if that's fair you can't say that I think it's Oh dare you judge him for marrying his 13 year old it was historically accepted at the tide don't care I can I judge thee I could say that without condoning it I judge workers noted that there was a mass rolling around inside the poet's skull at the time news articles reported it was posed brain quote dried and hardened in the skull and quote claiming quote the cerebral mass evidenced no sign of disintegration or decay though of course it is somewhat diminished end quote so what happens to the brain that's gnarly I do not think the brain hardens into a funny little ball I don't think that what happens wouldn't be funny funny little mouse came out I guess however if there truly was a mass remaining in Poe's skull it is unlikely to have been his brain soft brain tissue would have been some of the first to decay after Poe's death it is much more likely any mass would have been a tumor which could have calcified and hardened after the expert testimony also suggests SPO had been told earlier in his life by a doctor that he believed Poe had a lesion on his brain that explained his inverse reaction to alcohol well I will say that the tumour does explain a lot of things it makes things make more sense because like all of the sobering-up and all that stuff it was you know it was all nullified by the fact that he just had a tumor that's why he wasn't getting any I mean they also said he was talking to spectres in his final hour you know it could have could have explained some we talked his person could explain some hallucinations or things that might not actually be there while his hallucinations weren't caught on cases what his hallucinations weren't caught on cantaloup Shinae shion's this is not the season to talk about ghosts also [ __ ] you as you may have noticed none of our theories rules out the others Edgar Allan Poe may very well have been beaten and kidnapped in a cooping scheme said to his stupor with alcohol after voting and unable to recover due to a brain tumor or any combination thereof well that's fun I mean sad but we've never had have we ever had a theory a case where that Theory's kind of served is like a mad lib of sorts or like yeah we're all series are possible but could also all have connected at the same time yeah interesting other theories such as rabies the flu carbon monoxide poisoning and syphilis epilepsy cholera and many others have also been posited though Poe was beginning to attract the literary credit he deserved he could not have known the impact his Gothic tales of the macabre and mysterious would have or that an annual prize for excellence in mystery the Edgar award would be named after him cementing his legacy evermore with the no autopsy and no official death certificate ever found what caused the death of Edgar Allan Poe one of America's most famous authors and poets will likely remain unsolved I will say the close thing does make me kind of give a little bit more credence to the the coupang theory in the sense that that involved disguises though you could also say the clothes were the results of getting into a drunk altercation and people robbing him that but also who's keeping tabs on which clothes he owns well it was never he had some raggy like some raggedy ones that he never wore that often it was like a I'll take these traveling I feel like if you showed up to work one day and raggedy ill-fitting clothes well actually that'd be kind of conducive to who you are right now because I mean you said yourself your goal in your 30s is to look weird it is so actually that was a bad example but anybody else that's normal it would be weird if they all of a sudden showed up in things I didn't make sense I'm different I guess it's just done small I guess [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 6,999,346

Rating: 4.9549146 out of 5

Keywords: PL-Unsolved, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime-S6, SffZ, The Macabre Death Of Edgar Allan Poe, bizarre, buzzfeed, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved network, cold case, cold-case, edgar allen poe, investigation, literature, mystery, poe, ryan and shane, ryan bergara, shane madej, the raven, theories, true crime, unexplained mysteries, unsolved, unsolved mysteries, unsolved mystery, unsolved network, unsolved true crime

Id: y4DTW4B3Sjs

Length: 23min 28sec (1408 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 13 2020