Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe died on 7 October 1849 in Baltimore, aged 40. An American writer and critic, Poe was orphaned young and raised in Richmond, Virginia, and he struggled with poverty and gambling debts. He wrote poems and tales of horror and the macabre, such as The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart, and his poem The Raven of 1845 made him famous. His story The Murders in the Rue Morgue is widely regarded as the first modern detective story. He was also an influential literary critic and a pioneer of the short story as a form. He died in Baltimore in mysterious circumstances, and the cause of his death is still debated.

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