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The Truth Behind Edgar Allan Poe's Death

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The Truth Behind Edgar Allan Poe’s Death
Edgar Allan Poe was a great write, but a mysterious person. Edgar Allan Poe was a famous horror story writer. His stories were known for being morbid, gruesome, and mysterious. But perhaps something that was more mysterious than his stories was his death. Poe had gone a trip from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia Pennsylvania, but he never completed his trip (Geiling). He was found in a bar in Baltimore, seemingly delirious, by a mutual friend of his publisher (findingDulcinea Staff). He was taken to a hospital, where he died a couple days later. There are many possible reasons for Poe’s death. Cerebral problems have emerged as a possibility, but not with much evidence. Some of the more stronger arguments …show more content…

The doctor who treated Poe didn’t find proof of alcohol in his body (findingDulcinea Staff). There was proof that he had symptoms of rabies however. Poe had become hydrophobic after being found and was able to drink very little water, a common sign or rabies ("Poe’s Death Is Rewritten as Case of Rabies, Not Telltale Alcohol"). One sign of alcohol abuse is withdrawal (“Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse”), but with Poe having hydrophobia, he refused alcohol and could drink very little water ("Poe’s Death Is Rewritten as Case of Rabies, Not Telltale Alcohol"). (Other symptoms that showed he was suffering from rabies were perspiring heavily, hallucinating, shouting at imaginary companions, and short term memory ("Poe’s Death Is Rewritten as Case of Rabies, Not Telltale Alcohol"). These symptoms make it obvious that Poe had rabies, not alcohol …show more content…

A vaccine for rabies was not invented until Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux did so in the mid-1880s. Edgar Allan Poe died 1849, about 35 years before a vaccine for rabies was made (findingDulcinea Staff). Pets were not common at the time that Poe died, all pets had to be registered and any animals that were not registered were allowed to be shot on the spot (Kemp). Today there is an estimated 50,000 deaths due to rabies per year (“Rabies”). No exact numbers exist for the amount of deaths due to rabies during the mid 1800s, but numbers are estimated to have been more than eight times higher than now (Kemp). Rabies was a much more common cause of death back then than alcohol abuse was. This simply increases the probability that Edgar Allan Poe died of

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There are multiple theories postulating Edgar Allan Poe’s death. Finding concrete evidence for his death theories is difficult, as there are very few accounts of the events that occurred prior to and after his passing. Edgar Allan Poe was constantly troubled during his life, and wanted to extricate himself from his excruciating emotional pain. In order to numb his pain he resorted to excessive drinking. The alcohol theory clarifies the cause of death of Edgar Allan

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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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Edgar Allan Poe was an all around admired poet, but very few tend to actually learning about what made his horrific stories come to life. Many can say it was the loss of loved ones, including his parents and his wife. Others will argue that it was under the influence of alcohol. Although the reasoning is not written on paper, there is a worldwide assumption that all of these more than likely played a key factor in his dark

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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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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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The death of Edgar Allen Poe has been a mystery quite sometime as the details surrounding it are very few and the few we do have are quite vague. Through all of the unclear details two theories have arisen. The first theory of Poe’s death was alcohol poisoning. Poe was found outside of a tavern in a disoriented state of mind and for an unknown reason was wearing someone else’s clothes. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was put into a room where he could recover from his apparent drunken state.

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Poe was a drunk but he could also be genius at some points in time. I think Poe died from too much alcohol. I think this because Poe was known as a drunk. And, it would be pretty obvious if he had rabies because you would be able to tell. If Poe died of rabies he would have most likely got it from his cat but, his cat didn't have it.

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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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Poe’s death explanation of rabies seems to fit in the mystery of his death. For example in the article “Poe’s Death is Rewritten as Case of Rabies, Not Telltale Alcohol” it claims, “Poe refused alcohol and could drink water only with water. Rabies victims frequently exhibit hydrophobia, or fear of water, because it is painful to swallow”(The New York Times). This is an exceptional piece of evidence as it shows a symptom of rabies and it matches Poe’s actions of his last days. This is also the only logical piece of evidence that works for it as alcohol intoxication wouldn’t work for it or any other theory in that matter.

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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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Second, Poe also could’ve died from alcohol poisoning because of his past history of alcoholism. Before being found delirious outside of a tavern, Poe had an addictive personality, such as to gambling and over drinking. Poe also

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The reasons people believe Poe died from rabies is because in one of the letters Dr. Benitez says “Poe refused alcohol and could drink water only with great difficulty, rabies victims exhibit hydrophobia”. If Poe had been drinking he would have taken the alcohol, this shows he may have had something else. Another thing that Dr. Benitez said was “there was no evidence of a bite but some rabies victims don’t remember being bitten”. This shows that he could have been bitten a long time ago and couldn’t remember.

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(http://www.eapoe.org/ ). From this you can conclude that Poe might have just drunk, because his brother and dad were doing it so he followed in their footsteps not knowing any different. All these things show how Poe wasn’t using drugs and his alcohol

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In the story, the narrator becomes addicted to alcohol, causing his many violent acts. He describes it as a disease that, “...grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.” (Poe, 2) Addiction is most likely one of the most dangerous of human nature because it can consume your life. Poe even includes that the narrator’s, “...original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” (Poe, 2) Poe takes this idea to an extreme, but brings the attention to the detrimental effects of letting any one thing have too much possession of your

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Poe died under very suspicious circumstances in 1849 when he failed to arrive in Philadelphia. He was found in Richmond completely disoriented and died in a hospital from “congestion of the brain” which could have been chronic alcoholism, drug use, poisoning or mental illness (biography.com). Both Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe wrote about characters who were monstrous and very frightening. In many ways they were both monsters and not human.

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