On October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found in Baltimore in a condition that still leaves more questions than answers today. Four days later, the American writer and poet died at Washington College Hospital. He was 40 years old.
Poe was found near the Gunner's Hall tavern, which was used on the day of the local election and as a polling place. He was semi-conscious or delirious, wearing clothes that were not his. He was unable to explain where he had been or what had happened to him in the previous days.
Editor Joseph W. Snodgrass was called to help, who organized his transportation to the hospital. Poe remained there for four days. Information about his final state is fragmentary, and the writer fails to provide a reliable explanation for what happened.
The last days remain without a clear answer
Between September 27 and October 3, 1849, there is no certain information about Poe's whereabouts. This blank space in his biography later gave rise to numerous theories. Among them are alcohol poisoning, various illnesses, violence, and the hypothesis that he was forced to vote repeatedly by political groups - a practice known as "coping".
None of these versions has been definitively proven. In contemporary accounts of his death, the cause was described as "brain congestion" or inflammation of the brain - formulations that do not provide a clear medical answer.
The unclear circumstances make Poe's death an extension of his literary world. The author of "The Raven," "Annabelle Lee," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Goldfinch" is among the writers who shaped Gothic literature and the modern detective story.
This is the beginning of "The Raven" — the poem with which Poe's name remains forever associated. He himself was buried in Baltimore on October 8, 1849, but the cause of his sudden end remains unknown.
Sources: history.com, pbs.org, washingtonpost.com