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Edgar Allan Poe Rabies Theory

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Edgar Allan Poe’s Mysterious Death Have you ever been watching a movie so scary that it gave you nightmares? The father of all scary movies, Edgar Allan Poe, was a very mysterious man even at his death. Poe wrote very many mysterious and spooky stories that set the standard for the horror genre as we know it today. It seems almost fitting that even Poe’s real life was mysterious, as nobody know for sure how he actually died. The cause of Poe’s death is still widely debated today. Poe died of encephalitic rabies because of the likeness of Poe’s symptoms and those caused by rabies, Dr.Benitez backs his rabies theory up with irrefutable scientific evidence, also Pollin and Benedetto try to disprove the scientific evidence provided by Dr.Benitez with false information that portrays them as unreliable sources. Poe’s symptoms were very similar to those of rabies. Benitez says that Poe refused alcohol and could barely drink water: “Rabies victims frequently exhibit hydrophobia, or fear of water, because it is painful to swallow” (“Poe’s Death” 187). This statement by Benitez shows that he was hydrophobic and was not drinking anything. Also, Dr. Henry Wilde said Poe “had all of the features encephalitic rabies,” so the symptoms of encephalitis …show more content…

Benitez backs his rabies theory up with irrefutable scientific evidence, also Pollin and Benedetto try to disprove the scientific evidence provided by Dr. Benitez with false information that portrays them as unreliable sources. This all seems to point to the idea that Poe died of rabies. With all of this evidence pointing towards Poe dying of rabies, it is very likely that this was the cause of his death, but nobody can know for sure, which seems fitting for the man who is responsible for every fright a scary movie will ever give you. This is why he is widely regarded as the father of the horror

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This online article reviewed the many theories that surround the death of Edgar Allen Poe to date. The articled emphasized that the alcohol theory is the most commonly accepted cause of death recognized by majority of people. Even Poe’s good friend J.E. Snodgrass felt binge drinking caused his death. Other critics argued Poe was a victim of cooping, a practice that entailed bribing him with alcohol, thus forcing him to vote repeatedly in polling booths for a particular candidate, as Balitmore’s elections were notorious for political uproar and extortion. This would explain the conditions under which Poe was foundOthers suggested Poe died of other medical ailments ranging from brain tumors, heart disease, tuberculosis, rabies, epilepsy,

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286 Words | 2 Pages

There have been many theories about the death of Edgar A. Poe. Many of these theories includes brain tumor, heart disease, flu, alcoholism, rabies, etc. The stories have been supported but, how accurate are they? Out of all the different theories, alcoholism and rabies are the most accurate ones. But, the most common and accurate one is that Edgar A. Poe died because of rabies.

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Poe struggled with alcoholism for most of his life(Geiling). With this in mind, it is not surprising that someone related to cooping could easily tempt Poe with alcohol and get him drunk to a dangerous point. Another factor that could have contributed to his death is illness. Whilst preparing for his departure for Richmond during his final days, Poe contacted a physician due to weak pulse and fever; the doctor told him he was not fit for travel, yet Poe traveled anyway (Geiling). In addition, years later after having Poe’s body exhumed and reburied, a mass was found rolling around inside of his skull (Harris).

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The author writes, “The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them.” (Poe, 1843) This text describes that the killer has a mental disorder. Poe also writes, “‘Villains!’ I shrieked, “dissemble no more” I admit the deed! - tear up the planks - here, here!

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There are days when the world feels like it 's falling down in fiery bits and pieces on top of one’s head, and then there are the days when the world is actually falling to pieces. Humans have often constructed their own protective barriers, and carried on amidst what would be deemed apocalyptic circumstances. These circumstances are viewed as having no other purpose other than making life extraordinarily hard and discouraging humanity to continue their existence. Instead, tragedy and suffering through it serves to unite all of the human race by tugging on the heartstrings. Compassion and empathy makes suffering a continually melding experience of humanity.

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Although some people feel that Poe was killed by Rabies. Evidence:The text states, “ On his fourth day at the

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702 Words | 3 Pages

Poe is actually seem to displaying symptoms of Rabies in this moment. The same article also says “ After an infection, the symptoms can take up to a year to appear. But when the symptoms do appear, the disease is a swift and brutal killer. Most patients die in a few days”(The New York Times). This goes along with Edgar Allan Poe’s sudden death.

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Poe 's Cause of Death Edgar Allen Poe 's death has been the topic of discussion for many historians and scholars for many years. The reason for his demise has been unsolved, because of the many different sources explaining his death. From what I 've learned from reading counts of Poe 's death, I 've concluded that Edgar Allen Poe died of rabies, rather than alcoholic intoxication. The reason why I believe it is rabies is because his symptoms were too severe and life threatening to be related to just alcohol. One reason of why I believe Poe died of rabies is because he exhibited signs and symptoms of late effects of rabies.

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1470 Words | 6 Pages

Gathering all the evidence, I believe that Edgar Allan Poe was a victim of schizophrenia. Although no one can be sure, considering no one was able to diagnose him, the symptoms do add up. Without all of our medical advances, no one can imagine what Poe went through his life. He may have let his feelings and thoughts flow into his numerous pieces of writing. Whether his feelings and emotions flowed into his writing, or he purposely wrote his stories like that, which would make him an even better writer.

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The scary tone has a trend through all of his stories which makes the reader more engaged. In “The Tell Tale Heart” Poe talks about death and how an eye viewed as, “an evil eye” could cause someone to kill. It took some time, but Poe lead the whole story up to the gruesome murder scene. “First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and then the legs.

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Many people go through horrors in their life. However, most don’t record them in the way Poe did. From a young age Poe experienced death in his family. As Poe lived his life, he started using his feelings and life experiences in his work. He based his feelings in his poems such as Annabel Lee and Alone.

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Poe was found and brought into the hospital in a trance-like state with symptoms matching alcohol poisoning. Dr. Moran treated him up until his death where he observed and evaluated him for alcohol poisoning. Dr. Moran said, “He remained thus unconscious. . . when he developed a tremor of the limbs. . .

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Edgar Allan Poe was a great but tortured poet that had a terrible life. He also had a terrible and mysterious death. An opinion on how Poe died was from encephalitic rabies. The evidence is from letters sent to a collage supporting the theory on how he died. How he could have died from it, is because the symptoms can stay in your body without showing symptoms.

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855 Words | 4 Pages

Though Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories like, The Cask of Amontillado, to his poems like, The Raven, Poe’s shows his writing style to use physical imagery and connotative syntax to show ,imagery in his writing. Throughout his life, Poe had always lived through the most chaotic and evil of time. His parents died while he was 3 years old. After his parents died, he lived with another family member who never accepted him as their own son. Later on in life, Poe had served in the military and at that point he started writing poems.

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2063 Words | 9 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author; he mainly focused in genres such as short stories and poems. Poe didn’t have much of an academic background in literature but, he excelled in it. Some people believe that his success was mostly due to the fact that his life was very sad, filled by a series on misfortunate events, such as being an orphan, suffering from poverty and being constantly surrounded by death. In his works, Poe portrays narratives that are characterized by their mystery and macabre. The topic of death was ever present in his work, constantly describe with dark moods and somewhat terrifying settings.

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