Edgar Allan Poe may not have been a well-known author during his day, but he is now one of the most prominent authors in history, writing works such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Cask of Amontillado. While Poe’s stories and poems drifted toward the weird, so too did his life. See if you know these five weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe.
5. Possibly named after a character in a play
Our fifth selection for weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe is focused on his namesake. Both of Poe’s parents were actors, and they were both performing in Shakespeare’s “King Lear” in Boston in 1809, when Poe was born. This has led to speculation that Poe’s name came from “Prince Edgar,” who was the Earl of Gloucester’s son and one of the characters in the play. Though this was never proven, it is quite a unique namesake.
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4. Married his 13-year old cousin
While most people focus on Edgar Allan Poe’s writing, our fourth selection of weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe is directed towards a part of his personal life. This fact is quite disturbing nowadays and isn’t referred to much, but Poe married his first cousin Virginia Clemm when she was 13 and he was 27.
In the 1800s, marriage between first cousins was not that uncommon, but the age difference between Poe and Clemm was unsettling. To make matters worse, the marriage license states Clemm was 21 at the time, not 13. They were married for around a decade before Clemm passed away from tuberculosis at 24 years old.
3. Allan is not part of his legal name
While we all refer to Poe as “Edgar Allan Poe” today, this was not his birth name. Ranking third on our weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe list, “Allan” was added years after he was born. When Poe was four years old, his parents died, and he was taken in by a wealthy merchant named John Allan and his wife, Francis. Poe was then christened with the name Edgar Allan Poe, and it stuck as not only his pen name but the name we refer to him now, too.
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2. Was portrayed as a drunk and addict posthumously
While Poe may be known for his stories, he is also unfortunately known for drinking and drug use, but some of this may not be true. In our second selection of weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe, rival Rufus Griswold helped cement this less-than-ideal image of Poe through an obituary.
Published in the New York Daily Tribune, Griswold claimed that Poe was a drunk, a drug addict, and his death would cause few to grieve. While Poe did dabble in both liquor and drugs, he might not have been as bad as Griswold claims. Nonetheless, his obituary has shadowed Poe’s image, making him into a brilliant author who succumbed to his addictions.
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1. True cause of death is unknown
Our last selection for weird facts about Edgar Allan Poe may also be one of the most peculiar. In 1849, Poe went missing for five days and was found delirious in Baltimore. He was then taken to the hospital and died soon after at 40 years old. The weird part? There was no autopsy, with the cause of death listed as “congestion of the brain.”
There have been many theories to explain how Poe passed, with some leaning toward his alcohol consumption, suicide, heart disease, and even syphilis. To this day, we still do not know what happened to Poe, creating an even more haunting legacy for a prolific horror author.
