Edgar Allan Poe

11 Stories

'Impossibly Rare' Books Are Now on the Auction Block

First editions from Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, and more currently on offer at Christie's New York

(Newser) - Calling all book lovers: Christie's New York is teasing the sale of "the best collection of early American literature to come to market in a generation," per the Wall Street Journal . On offer is the nation's first spy novel, as well as its first bestseller written...

Edgar Allan Poe Likely Didn't Kill Himself
Edgar Allan Poe Likely
Didn't Kill Himself
new study
Feb 25, 2020 7:59 AM CST

Edgar Allan Poe Likely Didn't Kill Himself

Researchers study his language, don't think he was suicidal

(Newser) - Psychologists looking into the death of Edgar Allen Poe are disputing a widely held theory that the famous author committed suicide. The 40-year-old Poe died in a hospital in 1849 after what has been described as days of delirium, notes Fast Company . The cause of his death remains unclear to...

Here Are the 10 Most Popular Americans

Johnny Depp manages to make the list

(Newser) - MIT researchers recently released Pantheon , which analyzes data (including Wikipedia page views, among other things) in order to determine the "global popularity of historical characters." From that, the San Francisco Chronicle compiled the study's top 25 Americans. Here are the top 10, though Pantheon warns that data...

Mysterious 'Poe Toaster' Once Again a No-Show

For 5th year, no roses, cognac left on grave

(Newser) - Yesterday was Edgar Allan Poe's 205th birthday, but there were no roses and cognac left on his grave to mark the occasion. For years, a mysterious man known only as the "Poe Toaster" visited the Baltimore grave, leaving behind three roses and a half-drunk bottle of Martell, but...

The Ravens—Letting Edgar Allan Poe's Legacy Die?

The city closed Poe House, and the Ravens did nothing

(Newser) - The city of Baltimore and its high-flying football team rely heavily on Edgar Allen Poe's legacy—yet they're letting it fade away, writes A.N. Devers at Salon . City officials shut down the Edgar Allan Poe House last year, citing its $85,000 annual cost, even though it...

'Poe Toaster' Tradition Is Really Done

Mysterious guest does not appear at grave for third consecutive year

(Newser) - For the third year running , the mysterious "Poe Toaster" failed to show up at Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore grave on the anniversary of his birthday today, and the Poe House and Museum curator says he's declaring the tradition "over." Fans waited for hours past the...

Poe Fans Hope Mystery Birthday Visitor Shows

After two no-show years, this could be their final vigil

(Newser) - Beginning on Jan. 19, 1949, a mysterious visitor marked Edgar Allan Poe's birthday by laying three red roses and a bottle of cognac on the author's Baltimore grave. But fans of the gothic scribe worry that the tradition may be resting six feet under as well: The birthday...

Has Edgar Allan Poe's Mystery Admirer Passed On?

Visitor bearing roses, cognac doesn't appear for second year

(Newser) - For the second year in a row , the mysterious visitor who marked Edgar Allan Poe's birthday each year by leaving three red roses and a bottle of cognac on the author's Baltimore grave has failed to appear. The tradition, which began on Jan. 19, 1949, was last carried out on...

Poe's Mystery Birthday Visitor a No-Show

Cognac and rose-leaving 'toaster' doesn't arrive for first time since 1949

(Newser) - On every one of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthdays since 1949, a mysterious visitor has arrived at his grave in Baltimore in the wee hours and left roses and a bottle of cognac—but no more. The unidentified admirer failed to turn up today. “There was no indication he...

World's Priciest Fake Homes
 World's Priciest 
 Fake Homes 
GLOSSIES
Dec 25, 2008 1:53 PM CST

World's Priciest Fake Homes

Forbes list features fake mansions from movies, books, and video games

(Newser) - Forbes has put together its first list of the world’s most-expensive fictional homes. Including literature, video games, and Monopoly, the editors had a few ground rules—no castles, and take it easy on the country estates.
  • Xanadu, $135 million: A perfect mountaintop retreat for Citizen Kane, “a tragically
...

New Lead on Poe's Death Excites Buffs

Accounts of Poe's brain may solve 'biggest literary mystery'

(Newser) - Accounts of Edgar Allan Poe's exhumed brain may prove how he died, says Matthew Pearl, author of The Poe Shadow. He found reports of Poe's "dried and hardened" brain, "diminished in size," in old newspapers—and confirmed them as signs of a tumor. One Poe descendant says...

11 Stories