Most of us know of Edgar Allan Poe through our English classes. The poems and stories he’s most often known for are dark, twisted, and frightening. “The Raven”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” are just some of the works you likely know of his, and I bet you can even quote them.

You may also know some of his life. Mr. Poe was a profusely unlucky man, losing his first wife (and cousin), Virginia Clemm, to tuberculosis when she was but 24-years-old, divorcing a second wife, and finally being engaged to a third before his own untimely death.

Even in his early life, his father abandoned his family when he was but two-years-old, and his mother succumbed to tuberculosis when he was three-years-old. In fact, many more of his family died from the disease, which he called the “red mask”, and his brother essentially drank himself to death.

Perhaps it’s only fitting, then, that his death is so bizarre and mysterious. He died on October 7, 1849, after four days of delirious and incoherent, and even today no one knows quite what to make of it.

The Mysterious Death

The beginning of the end began on October 3, when he was discovered acting strangely near a pub in Baltimore. His speech was slurred, and he was wearing another man’s clothes. Perhaps fearing he was drunk, a friend of his was summoned; but by the time the friend arrived, Poe was delirious and had to be taken to the hospital.

There he lingered, his body wracked by fever and suffering from hallucinations. He allegedly would call out the name Reynolds, although no one knows who he was referring to. Dr. John Moran tried to ask him what had happened, but the poor man was now completely incoherent. His last words were reportedly, “Lord, help my poor soul,” although this has never been known for sure.

All medical records, and even his death certificate, have since been lost.

Theories – What Killed This Famous Author?

Theory 1: He Drank Himself to Death

The newspapers of the day used euphemisms such as “cerebral inflammation” to politely point towards alcoholism or just getting too drunk to explain what had happened. Indeed, Poe was, at one time, a very heavy drinker. When his first wife, Virginia, was dying from tuberculosis, he reportedly increased his drinking. Allegedly, his attempts to court a fellow poet failed due to his increasingly erratic behavior and heavy drinking. Also noteworthy, the friend that was originally summoned, Dr. Snodgrass, testified that he believed Edgar to be in a state of “beastly intoxication.”

According to him, Poe, who was usually very well-dressed, was “repulsive” with an unwashed face, unkempt hair, a dirty shirt with no vest, unpolished shoes, and a bamboo hat to top it all off. To him, this was another way to signal that he’d been drinking horribly and had taken complete leave of his senses.

However, he was engaged to a woman named Sarah Royster when he died, and she had demanded he give up drink. By all accounts, he had and even became a member of the Sons of Temperance. What’s more, hair samples analyzed after his death showed that he had not been drinking lately, for the lead that was often added to 19th-century wine was absent.

Theory 2: Voter Fraud

This is an old theory that first cropped up around 1872. You’re probably thinking, “Voter fraud? How can that kill you?” Well, fear not, my fine readers, because I’ll explain this.

Once upon a time, there was a form of voter fraud called cooping. It involved basically kidnapping a man (they were the only ones who could legally vote) and dragging him from polling station to polling station, getting him drunk, and swapping out his clothes so they wouldn’t recognize him. The kidnapped men were often beaten so as to be unable to accurately report the fraud.

According to this theory, it explains perfectly why he looked so awful and was wearing someone else’s clothes. He was found on an election night, and the pub he was found outside of was serving as a polling station that day. Moreover, Baltimore was known for a lot of fraud of this nature. The stars seem to align on this one!

Of course, it doesn’t explain everything. Poe was easily recognized in the area, and even wearing different clothes wouldn’t have disguised him very well. This particular election was also known for not having much fraud in the area.

Theory 3: Murdered

Naturally, a rumor of murder is going to crop up at some point! According to some, Poe was greatly disliked by his fiancee’s family. Sarah had been his first love, but he had been untrue to him when he’d gone off to university, so the relationship failed. Now, he was with her again, and perhaps her family was less than pleased that this poor man, one of the first to make a simple living solely from writing, was once again in love with her.

Sarah Royster’s brothers managed to get him wasted and then beat him close to death in an alley somewhere in Baltimore.

There are people today who swear by this theory, but it doesn’t quite explain his clothing, and one would think that if he was so severely beaten, there would have been obvious signs of it.

Theory 4: Rabies

Another popular theory, this time gaining prominence in 1996, was that Edgar Allan Poe succumbed to the rabies virus. His symptoms of confusion, incoherence, delirium, and hallucinations all point in that direction. Moreover, the rabies virus can have a four-day incubation period, sometimes much longer than that. This means that Edgar Allan Poe could’ve been a ticking time bomb and not known it.

He’d arrived in Baltimore about five days before he was found, so he could’ve contracted the virus when he first arrived. He could’ve even contracted it before he left for Baltimore, and it was pure luck that the worst of the symptoms took hold of him on that particular evening when people were out and about, some sweeping the streets in search of election night drunks.

The thing that people argue over is his drinking of water. People in the throes of the rabies virus tend to develop hydrophobia at the end of its course, and whether Poe did or not is up for debate. He refused alcohol but reportedly continued to drink water up until the day of his death. For some, this points towards diabetic ketoacidosis, perhaps aggravated by alcohol.

Others, however, point out that he was described as drinking only reluctantly. For them, this means he may have been suffering from some form of hydrophobia but was persuaded to drink at least some water anyway.

In the End

Despite all of his hardships, however, he’s still a household name almost 200 years since his mysterious death. He is considered to be the father of detective fiction, was one of the earliest short story writers, and even dabbled in science fiction – a genre that was hardly well-established in the early to mid-1800s.

There's a good deal of people whom we know only because of the manner of their death or mysterious disappearance; Edgar Allan Poe has the distinction of more people being acquainted with his life and works than his awful end.