Examining Poe’s Death:How Edgar Allan Poe Died

From Poisoning

Ms. Dymek

Table of Contents1. Possibilities for Poison in Poe’s Time

2. Hair Sample Evidence

3. Mercury Poisoning

4. What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?

5. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Evidence in Poe’s Works

6. Possible Theory: Alcoholism

7. Possible Theory: Tuberculosis

8. Sources

Possibilities for Poison in Poe’s Time

Heavy metal poisoning was possible from:Drinking waterAlcoholFood CosmeticsMedicinesGas lighting (Carbon Monoxide

poisoning)

Hair Sample EvidenceLock of Poe’s hair was cut after his death

in 1849 in order for heavy metal analysis

Poe’s 2.5’’ sample analyzes the 2-5 months of his life

Hair tested for levels of:ArsenicLeadMercuryNickelUranium

HAIR

SAMPLE

EVIDENCE

Mercury Poisoning• Poe’s levels increased by 264% over

several months towards the end of his life

• Poe was taking calomel• Also known as Mercury Chloride (popular

from 1830-1860)• Used as a laxative, diuretic, and disinfectant• Also used as a horticultural fungicide

• Still more than 30 times below level associated with mercury poisoning

What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?

Popular during 1800s due to gas lanterns, burning

wood and charcoal stoves

being used

Symptoms include:NauseaVomitingChest PainWeakness ConfusionFacial Paralysis

(drooping)

Poe’s drooping eye and mouth are “tell-tale

signs” of CO2 exposure and poisoning.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Evidence in Poe’s Works

“The Tell-Tale Heart”"And have I not told you that what you

mistake for madness is but overacuteness of the senses?”

“The Premature Burial”“In this condition, without pain, without ability

to stir, or strictly speaking, to think, but with a dull lethargic consciousness of life… until the crisis of the disease restored me... “

“I grew sick, and numb, and chilly, and dizzy, and so fell prostrate at once."  

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

"struggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me"  

"irrepressible tremor gradually pervaded my frame"  

"there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror”

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Evidence in Poe’s Works

There are over 30 quotes from just this

story that correspond directly

with the CO poisoning theory!

Possible Theory: Alcoholism

Alcoholism ran in Poe’s family Father and brother both alcoholics

Poe’s Public DrinkingRecords of drinking came from “literary

enemies”Came to office intoxicated in April 1845July 7, 1849: Wrote letter to Maria Clemm

about jail timePoe drank mostly because depression brought on by

of Virginia’s death

Possible Theory: Alcoholism

Went to Sons of Temperance meeting a month before his death“Poe’s flirtation with alcohol was

intermittent” “a few days of drinking followed by

months or even years of abstinence”

Poe’s 1841 letter to Snodgrass admits single deviation, showing Poe’s honesty

http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poethair.htm

Possible Theory: AlcoholismApril 1841 Letter to J.E. Snodgrass

“. . . I am temperate even to rigor. . . . At no period of my life was I ever what men call intemperate. . . .

For some days after each excess I was invariably confined to bed.

But it is now quite four years since I have abandoned every kind of alcoholic drink — four years, with the exception of a single deviation . . . when I was induced to resort to the occasional use of cider, with the hope of relieving a nervous attack” For more information about Poe and

alcoholism, click here.

Possible Theory: Tuberculosis

Extremely contagious bacterial infection

Spreads mostly through lungs, lymph node, blood stream

Many in Poe’s family died from TuberculosisVirginia contracted TB in 1842—died in 1847

Many who are exposed never develop symptomsTB can lay dormant for years in a person’s bodyDisease will not spread unless it becomes

“active”

Possible Theory: Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis Symptoms Immediately Present

Prior to DeathChillsFeverNight sweatsPoor appetite

At The Time of His Death:in and out of

consciousnessSpeech was incoherentCalled out for an unknown

person named “Reynolds”

CO PoisoningPersistent

HeadachesConfusionMemory LossLoss of

ConsciousnessPoe’s symptoms that were present at his death coincided more with Carbon

Monoxide Poisoning than with

Tuberculosis.

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Click on the following links if you would like to know more

about:

Edgar Allan Poe

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Poe’s Alcoholism and Tuberculosis

SourcesDonnay, Albert. ”A Edgar Allan Poe and The Tell-Tale Face of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning." POE: The Tell-Tale

Face of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Referral and Resources, 2006. Web. 07

Mar. 2013. <http://www.mcsrr.org/poe/>.

"E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore - Poe's Death." E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore - Poe's Death. Edgar Allan Poe

Society of Baltimore, 1 May 1997. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poethair.htm>.

Hartshorn, W.S., and C.T. Tatman. Cropped Image from the Famous E.A. Poe Daguerrotype. 1848. Photograph.

Wikipedia Commons. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File

%3AEdgar_Allan_Poe_crop.jpg>.

Klimas, Anne, David Tauriello, Ben Graff, Mary Esselman, and John Sullivan. "MPT: Knowing Poe: Home." MPT:

Knowing Poe: Home. Maryland Public Television, 2002. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.

http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp.

Poe, Edgar A. "The Fall of the House of Usher." 18 Best Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Dell, 1965.

21-40. Print.

Poe, Edgar A. ”The Premature Burial." 18 Best Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Dell, 1965. 58-72.

Print.

Poe, Edgar A. ”The Tell-Tale Heart." 18 Best Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Dell, 1965. 138-143.

Print.

PoeStories.com. Edgar Allan Poe. N.d. Photograph. PoeStories. 2005. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.

<http://poestories.com/images/poe_portrait.jpg>.

Poe's Grave. N.d. Photograph. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Baltimore. Pics4Learning.

Www.eapoe.org. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. http://pics.tech4learning.com/details.php?img=poesgrave.jpg.

”What Is Tuberculosis? Picture, Diagnosis, Causes." WebMD. Ed. Melinda Ratini, DO. WebMD, 25 Apr. 2012. Web.

07 Mar. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/lung/understanding-tuberculosis-basics>.

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Cathryn_dymek@hcpss.org