The Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe, the infamous creepy poet, died on October 7, 1849. Yet nobody really knows the exact cause, considering there was never an autopsy performed on his corpse. He was only 40 years old and had just proposed to marry his second wife. He was found unconscious one day; some say he was found in the basement of a public house, others say he was found on the streets of Baltimore. He was in the hospital for 4 days before he died, very ill with a fever and quite delirious.

Poe’s first wife, Virginia, battled illness for many years, which is most likely the cause of his engaging in drink. There is disagreement on the extent of his drinking. Some say that he was known for having an addiction but had been abstaining toward the end of his life and was going through withdrawal. Others say that he didn’t drink enough amounts nor often enough to be considered an alcoholic in the first place (or to die from liver failure from overconsumption). Perhaps he had a low immune system and a low tolerance for alcohol when combined with other sicknesses. Alcoholism is the main excuse for Poe’s death.

A few who deny Poe’s intoxication are described as unreliable and contradictory sources. But some do claim other causes, especially diseases. One theory is that he had some sort of neurological dysfunction or lesion in the brain. Some modern doctors point to a particular twist in his face that might confirm this. Another theory speculates an injury or disease from earlier in life that finally caught up with him. Many of his letters include a complaint of pain, perhaps from a rare enzyme disorder affecting his nervous system. Yet another theory comes from evidence that one of his own doctors diagnosed him with a heart problem. There is also an argument for rabies, that he had hydrophobia right before he died. Evidence for this points to his delirium, temperature and pulse swings, hydrophobia, and time spent in the hospital as potential indicators of rabies; evidence against this claims misinterpretation of the doctor’s account.

One of the more popular theories claims he was “cooped.” October 7, 1849 was Election Day. In that age, there were political gangs who tried to regulate the voting booth. Some did this by kidnapping citizens and cooping them up, making them change clothes to vote more than once. This often involved threats and physical harm; occasionally the gangs would make the citizens drink alcohol to make them compliant. Perhaps he was put through this and couldn’t take it physically (after all, Poe was not particularly youthful). This view explains why he may have been found in a public house where election polls were taking place, and why some say he was wearing clothes that didn’t belong to him.

Another very likely approach is carbon monoxide poisoning. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing and there were no qualms about polluting the earth. A great amount of carbon monoxide (CO) was released in cities of the time in the form of combustion fumes. Many people suffered from poisoning as a result of constant exposure in the cities. The symptoms he described in his letters and some of his stories are similar to the effects of CO poisoning. Also, recurrent exposure on facial nerves contorts one’s face similar to Poe’s famous sideways smile. CO poisoning symptoms are similar to other illnesses and can be hard to pinpoint, which is a good reason for the mass of theories on Poe’s death.

I personally believe it is a mixture of a few of these theories. I think carbon monoxide was definitely involved, perhaps mixed with sudden alcohol consumption after refraining from it for so long. He had gone through a lot of physical pain in life, as seen in his letters, as well as depression; not to mention that he constantly wrote about pain and tragedy. He was on a due course to die young. I think the real question is why an autopsy wasn’t performed on his body and why the doctor saw him die but didn’t pause to ponder the cause. Perhaps there’s more to that story. Perhaps something went on that the doctor didn’t want to admit! But let's be honest. Edgar Allan Poe didn’t die. His ghost haunts his own graveyard to this day.