The Strange Death and Burial of Edgar Allan Poe

In 2001, a young Marisa watched a television show, “Scariest Places on Earth.” The television host was former child star Linda Blair from the movie The Exorcist. The show was narrated by Zelda Rubinstein, who played the spiritual medium in the movie The Poltergeist.  One of the episodes was about Westminster Hall, Burying Grounds, and Edgar Allan Poe’s spirit supposedly haunting the graveyard. I was probably too young to watch some of it because I was up after watching a few episodes that night. 

Throughout my years going to school, my reading class often brought up Edgar Allan Poe. I also always enjoyed artists inspired by Poe’s work i.e. Tim Burton. Edgar Allan Poe is often a name thrown around when talking about horror. He wrote books about gruesome acts done by human nature and horrific situations, either a swinging pendulum coming at them or a premature burial. It turns out his life was no different from his stories. Poe’s father abandoned his family and his mother died from tuberculosis at a young age. He was taken in by a man named John Allen, who, over the years, many things happened in his life. He lived in Richmond, Virginia, went to school in Scotland for a time, returned to Virginia, and attended college, where he quit after accumulating gambling debts. He eventually enlisted in the army. When Poe was 27, he married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia, which is very weird and illegal by today’s standards. Virginia died when she was 20 years old of tuberculosis. In the days following his death, he was last seen at a saloon, then a few days later turned up in a gutter dazed. He was taken to a hospital, where he died shortly after. The cause of his death still baffles many today. The deaths range from rabies and alcohol poisoning to a weird voting scam. 

A decade later, I rediscovered the episode on YouTube. This episode, though over-dramatized, piqued my interest in Poe, Westminster Hall, and Burying Ground. Over the years, I always thought about taking a visit down to Maryland to visit the famous poet’s grave. 

In October, I drove down to Baltimore to visit the grave of one of the best poets and authors. I stayed in the Lord Baltimore Hotel, which has a few ghost stories I’ll save for another time. Since the Poe house only took certain guests at a time, I decided to wait to go the next day. Instead, I went to Poe’s resting place. 

I went to the cemetery, people were taking pictures next to the grave where Poe was buried with his wife and aunt. Westminster Hall and Burying Ground began out as just a cemetery. Years later, the Presbyterian church was built on top of it. It no longer functions as a church and is currently used as an event space. The cemetery itself is definitely one of the strangest ones I’ve ever been to. It was strange seeing a church built over a cemetery. In 1786, the cemetery started receiving its permanent residents however, there was a problem. The cemetery was plagued by a shady man named Frank the Body Snatcher, who, as the name suggests, was a grave robber who would take corpses and sell them to medical schools.  In 1856, the church was built on top of the cemetery, which created one of the most unusual cemetery layouts in the United States. Catacombs were built around some of the graves. I could not get into the catacombs as it was closed to the public that day. The catacombs are typically opened on the first and third Friday of the month. In the back of the cemetery sat a grave marker where Edgar Allan Poe was originally buried. Poe was originally buried in the back of the cemetery, but in 1875, many school children raised money to move him to the front by the cemetery entrance. Virginia was also moved to the cemetery after the cemetery she was previously at was destroyed. A man found her bones and kept them in a box under his bed for safekeeping until she was moved there. 

The next day, I went to Edgar Allan Poe's house. It was a small, cramped house, as Poe lived a life of poverty. Interestingly enough, Poe’s house was right next to public housing. 

While talking to the museum guide, I asked him about Poe’s unusual autopsy results and what he thought of it. His theory is it is possible someone got Poe drunk and used him in a voting scam. What supports that theory is that Poe was found in tighter-fitted clothes, not his size. What possibly killed him was the alcohol poisoning. There will never be a clear answer because not only were his bones buried mixed with his aunts and wife/cousin with concrete on top, but his bones might not even be in there.  The tour guide reminded me that the cemetery had issues a long time ago with grave robbing, not only from shady individuals who wanted to sell bodies to medical schools but also from deranged fans of Poe. 

I also visited “The Horse You Came in On Saloon,” where Poe was last seen before he was found a couple of days later. “The Horse You Came in On Saloon” is one of the longest-operating bars since the late 1700s. There was live music and some Poe Memorabilia framed, reminding everyone of the author and poet's once favorite watering hole. 

We will very likely never have a clear-cut answer to what had caused Poe's death. All we know is that his body was possibly disturbed 3 times.  It is probably for the best that his death remains a mystery. Poe had been through a lot, both in life and death.

“Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from my heart, and take thy form from off my door!” Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.” Shall be lifted—nevermore”

                                        -Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven)