Since Edgar Allan Poe’s death, society has celebrated him as a master of the macabre short story, king of darkly atmospheric poetry, and creator of the detective genre. It’s fitting, then, that his death has become a nearly 200-year-old puzzle.
He was in Baltimore four days after he should have passed through the city on his way to New York. He was disoriented when found shortly before his death, and some believe he was drunk or high. Others disagree. Researchers have even speculated that he had rabies. And why was he wearing someone else’s clothes? Who was Reynolds? All this and more defines the enduring mystery that is the death of Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Final Journey: Why He Was in Baltimore
Edgar Allan Poe, who had been editor and critic at several periodicals, decided to launch his own magazine—The Stylus—in 1849. To fund the new project, he initiated a lecture tour—one that would be his last.
Poe’s tour began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and included a stay in Richmond. There, he renewed acquaintances with old friends, many of whom reportedly gave or pledged money to support his new venture. In total, as some reports claim, he had $1,500 in his possession by the time he was set to leave for New York via Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Poe encountered some of his old acquaintances while dining at Saddler’s Restaurant late on the night of September 27. Around midnight, they accompanied him to a steamship bound for Baltimore.
“According to their account he was quite sober and cheerful to the last, remarking, as he took leave of them, that he would soon be in Richmond again,” wrote Mrs. Susan A. T. Weiss, a friend of Poe.
Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore.
—Edgar Allan Poe
No reports explain what happened to Poe after that night until he was found dazed and confused outside a Baltimore saloon on the afternoon of October 3. What occurred during those six days likely holds the missing clues to the mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s death.
The Note That Sparked the Mystery: Witness Accounts of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death
On the evening of October 3, Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, a Baltimore physician and magazine editor, received a note that read:
“Dear Sir, — There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan’s 4th ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, & he says he is acquainted with you, and I assure you, he is in need of immediate assistance, Yours, in haste, Jos. W. Walker.”
Walker, a pressman for the Baltimore Sun, found Poe in front of Ryan’s, also known as Gunner’s Hall. Poe was disoriented. When Walker asked if there was anyone he could contact to help Poe, the writer gave him Snodgrass’s name.
October 3 was election day, and towns often used taverns such as Ryan’s as polling locations. This detail holds significance, which we’ll explore later.
Following the death of Edgar Allan Poe, writers rushed to produce biographies—and they didn’t let facts stand in the way of an entertaining story. As a result, unsubstantiated information has taken root in Poe mythology.
Was Poe Found In a Gutter?
One repeated story claims that Poe was discovered in a gutter. However, the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore states that “There appears to be no foundation” for this tradition.
In fact, Dr. John J. Moran, who claimed to have treated Poe in his final days, reported that the writer “had been found lying upon a bench…” It should be noted that Moran’s information actually comes secondhand. In truth, Moran didn’t see Poe until the author arrived at Washington College Hospital around 5 p.m.
Moran and Snodgrass knew each other well, and it’s possible that the former got his information from Snodgrass.
Here Is What The Evidence Says About the Death of Edgar Allan Poe
When it comes to Edgar Allan Poe’s death, there are few things we can say for certain. We know Walker found Poe in a confused state and that some accounts say Poe was babbling incoherently. However, Poe was coherent enough to refer Walker to Dr. Snodgrass, so he couldn’t have been entirely out of his mind.
Snodgrass, accompanied by Poe’s uncle Henry Herring, then came to the writer’s aid at Ryan’s. Here, they confirmed he was disoriented and arranged for a carriage to take Poe to the hospital. Curiously, as Snodgrass would later note, Poe was wearing someone else’s clothes—one of the many mysteries surrounding Poe’s death.
Dr. Moran’s Place in Edgar Allan Poe’s Death
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From the hospital onward, Moran took over the narrative. However, his accounts of what happened to Poe—and there were many—changed repeatedly.
Moran was as prolific as he was inconsistent in his versions of Edgar Allan Poe’s death. He even orchestrated a lecture tour about the event, gaining both fame and ridicule.
Eugene Didier, a nineteenth-century Poe scholar, claimed Moran wasn’t even Poe’s primary physician. Instead, he maintained that Dr. William M. Cullen filled that role and that Cullen’s account of Poe’s final moments directly contradicted Moran’s.
“Dr. Moran was the resident physician of the hospital, but Poe died in the arms of Dr. William M. Cullen,” Didier wrote in his 1909 book The Poe Cult and Other Poe Papers.
Didier’s Story Claims Edgar Allan Poe Was Cooped
The old practice of “cooping” involved political gangs kidnapping citizens and forcing them to vote multiple times. Cooping is also one of the most popular theories surrounding the final moments of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. Often, these gangs used drugs and alcohol to more easily control their targets. Another common cooping practice involved forcing victims to wear disguises so workers at the polls wouldn’t recognize them. Sound familiar?
Eugene Didier was among the first to promote cooping as the root of Poe’s death.
In his book, Didier records an account from “A former Baltimorean, now living in San Francisco” that describes a meeting with Poe on October 3 that went awry:
“It was drinking all around and repeat, until the crowd was pretty jolly. It was the night before election, and four of us, including Poe, started uptown. We had not gone half a dozen squares when we were nabbed by a gang of men who were on the lookout for voters to ‘coop.’”
Unnamed sources are always suspect, and many publications today refuse to use them without corroborating evidence. In Didier’s day, however, journalists and scholars exercised no such caution.
This source’s account of how Poe arrived at the hospital differs greatly from those of Walker, Snodgrass, and Herring—making it questionable at best.
“Poe was so badly drugged that after he was carried on two or three different rounds, the gang said it was no use to vote a dead man any longer, so they shoved him into a cab and sent him to a hospital to get him out of the way,” Didier quotes the mysterious “former Baltimorean.”
In contrast, Dr. Snodgrass claimed he and Herring took Poe to the hospital, and we have Walker’s note to Dr. Snodgrass to support this. The note wouldn’t have been necessary if a cooping gang had sent Poe to the hospital.
Dr. Moran’s Accounts of Edgar Allan Poe’s Last Moments Begin to Conflict
According to Moran, in a letter to Mrs. Clemm, Poe was unconscious when he was admitted to the hospital at 5:00 p.m. Around 3:00 a.m. the next morning, Poe began “…constant talking—and vacant converse with spectral and imaginary objects on the wall.” Later, Moran reported that he questioned Poe and received “incoherent and unsatisfactory” answers.
Fast forward twenty-six years… Here, Moran gives yet another, completely different account of Poe’s last day to The Baltimore Sun:
”He had no tremor, was not fidgety with his hands or impatient, but answered all my questions calmly and rationally.”
Beyond Poe’s near-death demeanor, Moran gave conflicting reports of conversations with Poe about his luggage. Originally, he described Poe as unable to recall what happened to his clothing trunk. In the Sun version, however, Moran reportedly asked Poe:
“Have you a trunk or a valise or anything there which you would like to have with you?”
To which Poe allegedly replied:
“Yes, trunk with my papers and manuscripts.”
In Moran’s early accounts, Poe thrashed about wildly before dying. In the Sun, Moran said the poet died peacefully. Again, Moran contradicts himself by describing Poe calling out for a man named Reynolds the night before his death only to omit the detail later.
Conflicting reports like the ones above—as well as those of Snodgrass and others—leave several unresolved mysteries for scholars to speculate about. Next, we’ll break down the main questions surrounding Poe’s death and see if there’s any part that might be solvable.
10 Unanswered Questions About Edgar Allan Poe’s Death
1) How did Edgar Allan Poe Die in Baltimore When he was Supposed to be Going to Philadelphia?
Poe’s travel itinerary was to leave Richmond for Baltimore by steamer. There, he would board a train for Philadelphia, where he was set to edit a collection of poems by Marquette St. Leon Loud. After that, he planned to continue by train to New York.
Ultimately, it was a simple layover that brought him to Baltimore in the middle of his journey.
2) Why Was Edgar Allan Poe Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes?
“He dressed always in black, and with faultless taste and simplicity,” wrote Susan Weiss in an 1878 issue of Scribner’s Magazine. But this isn’t how Jos. W. Walker found Poe outside of Gunner’s Hall.
Instead, Dr. Snodgrass described Poe’s attire during his final moments in this way:
“His clothing consisted of a sack-coat of thin and sleazy black alpaca, ripped more or less at several of its seams, and faded and soiled, and pants of a steel-mixed pattern of caseinate, half-worn and badly-fitting, if they could be said to fit at all. He wore neither vest nor neck-cloth, while the bosom of his shirt was both crumpled and badly soiled.”
Many have posed wild guesses attempting to explain Poe’s state of dress. Some have suggested that he sold his clothes to buy alcohol. In truth, he likely made enough money from his lecture tour to cover his drinking habit. Others have speculated that muggers got to Poe before he died, but if that were true—wasn’t it oddly generous of the criminals to leave him a change of clothes?
3) Who Was the Mysterious Reynolds That Edgar Allan Poe Called for on His Deathbed?
In one of his varied recountings of Poe’s death, Moran claimed Poe cried out for someone named Reynolds—something he fails to mention in the memorandum he wrote for the Baltimore Sun.
The answer to the question “Who was Reynolds?” receives almost unanimous agreement from both historians and Poe sleuths: no one knows. That said, there is a hypothesis.
One theory asserts that Poe wasn’t actually calling out for “Reynolds” at all, but rather for “Herring”—which sounds fishy. The “Herring,” in this case, refers to Poe’s uncle, Henry Herring. Though some may entertain this claim, we don’t buy it. Put simply, “Reynolds” and “Herring” sound nothing alike.
4) Why Was Edgar Allan Poe Delirious When He Was Found at Gunner’s Hall?
Dr. Snodgrass attributes Poe’s delirium before his death to alcohol. However, some historians question Snodgrass’s conclusion, believing it to be biased by his strong support of temperance. Yet, by Dr. Snodgrass’ account, Poe’s uncle Herring agreed with his assessment.
Poe had joined the Sons of Temperance in Richmond the month before his disappearance but had a history of making sobriety pledges only to fall off the wagon later.
Other possible causes of Poe’s delirium include opium, rabies, and disease. All of which could very well cause delirium and death, depending on the circumstances—as we’ll discuss further on.
5) What Happened to the Hospital Records From Edgar Allan Poe’s Death?
Death certificates were not required in Baltimore until 1875, according to the Baltimore City Archives. As such, there was never an official certificate of Edgar Allan Poe’s death. Coincidentally, there is no certificate of Poe’s birth either.
Even without a death certificate, Moran alluded to other records surrounding the author’s death in the previously cited 1875 Sun article:
“I carefully examined his case, and, being in possession of all the facts in regard to the agents employed and symptoms presented—which were carefully noted down in a record book of the hospital…”
Scholars have yet to find the records Moran refers to—important pieces of the puzzle that is the death of Edgar Allan Poe.
6) Was Edgar Allan Poe’s Death Alcohol-Related?
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As noted above, Snodgrass fervently believed that Poe was drunk when he came to the writer’s aid at Gunner’s. In addition, one of Poe’s first biographers, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, pushed the same idea. It’s difficult to take Griswold’s word for it, however, since he adamantly despised Poe.
From the beginning, there was one key figure who maintained that Poe was unintoxicated on his deathbed: Dr. John J. Moran.
“Concerning the oft-repeated slander, I here affirm that Edgar Allan Poe did not die under the influence of any kind of intoxicating drink,” wrote Dr. Moran in a book defending Poe’s character.
Although Dr. Moran’s accounts of Poe’s death may have varied, his assertion that Poe was sober in the hospital remained unwavering.
7) Was Opium Involved in Edgar Allan Poe’s Death?
It’s a common belief that Poe was an opium addict, but there’s no evidence to support this claim. In fact, rangers and researchers at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site assembled a traveling exhibit in 1991 that directly refuted this myth.
So, how did this drug addiction rumor get started? You guessed it—Griswold.
Poe and Griswold were literary rivals. They criticized each other’s work and even vied for the affections of poet Frances Sargent Osgood. After Poe’s death, Griswold wrote a biographical sketch titled Memoir of the Author. In it, he made numerous unsubstantiated claims—including that Poe was a drug addict.
8) Did Edgar Allan Poe Die of Rabies Contracted From a Cat?
In 1996, a paper published in the Maryland Medical Journal theorized that Edgar Allan Poe died from rabies, possibly contracted from a cat. Poe was a cat lover and, at times, wrote with his calico Catterina lying on his desk.
Dr. R. Michael Benitez, then an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center, published his Poe–rabies analysis based on two key symptoms: hallucinations and hydrophobia.
Benitez points to Moran’s record of Poe experiencing hallucinations in the hospital. According to Benitez, rabies often produces similar symptoms in patients.
He also notes that Poe had difficulty swallowing water in his final moments. Hydrophobia—the fear of water—is another common symptom of rabies, caused by throat spasms that make swallowing painful. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore disputes Benitez’s hydrophobia claim, however, citing a later account from Dr. Moran. In this record, Poe drank a half-glass of water without difficulty while holding an ice cube in his mouth.
9) Did Tuberculosis Take Edgar Allan Poe’s Life?
Poe had been exposed to tuberculosis when he tended to his wife, who died from the disease. In addition, Poe exhibited fever and delusions before going to Washington College Hospital—both symptoms of the deadly illness.
Another argument for tuberculosis is a hereditary one. The disease is primarily contracted through contact, but genetics can inhibit a person’s ability to combat it, as Medical Life Science explains. From this perspective, we can follow a logical route to this theory: Poe’s mother died from tuberculosis, and the bacteria may have been a factor in his brother’s death as well. Remember Poe’s wife, who likewise died from tuberculosis? She was also his cousin.
While there’s a correlative link between the heredity argument and Edgar Allan Poe’s death, there’s no way to prove tuberculosis as the cause without exhuming the author’s remains.
10) Was Edgar Allan Poe’s Death Connected to Cooping?
The theory that Poe’s death was connected to cooping may be the most predominant among Poe biographers.
Cooping got its name because victims were commonly kept in a “coop” or hiding place. As we mentioned earlier, coopers commonly used alcohol and beatings to keep these victims in line. To conceal their victims’ identities on repeat visits to the same polling places, they’d swap out their captives’ clothes. This could explain the tattered and ill-fitting garments Poe wore when he was found.
While the cooping theory has merit, scholars lack sufficient evidence to fill in the missing details. In the end, Poe’s death is akin to something he would have written—a dark and tragic mystery that could last forever.