American writer Edgar Allan Poe (Born January 19, 1809 – Died October 7, 1849) died on this day in 1849, at the age of 40 years old. His styles and genres of writing included poetry, mysteries, horror and detective stories (Invented ?). Poe is best known for his dark scary tales and poems, many of which have been adapted into horror films, such as "The Masque Of The Red Death" , "The Pit And The Pendulum" and "The Raven" . All types of his works have been an influence on some of the great writers since his time, but he lived in modest means during his short lifetime.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but lived in many different places. Most of those areas have some sort of museum or landmark in his honor, and several held special events on this, the 40th anniversary of his death.
In Baltimore, MD, where he died after a long period of very poor health and is buried, they finally gave him a "proper funeral". For a fiver, you got to visit his very small former home (museum now) and pay your respects while viewing his "body" (manikin). I imagine it would be about as disappointing an experience for me as when I visited the Sherlock Holmes house in London, England many years ago. I didn't go thousands of miles just for that, but there are people who spanned the globe just to visit Poe House today. Most will probably enjoy it. To see a local news report, click here.
In remembrance of Mr. Poe, I picked a song for the 'Today's Tune' that carries a title similar to his famous story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" . Released in 1981, here's Iron Maiden with "Murders In The Rue Morgue".
Iron Maiden - "Murders In The Rue Morgue"
