A Haunted Halloween

As soon as September ends and October begins all thoughts turn to Halloween. Everyone looks forward to the costumes, parties, candy, and haunted houses. What would Halloween be without horror movies or scary stories of ghost filled houses, grotesque murders, creepy voices, and supernatural beings? Who is the ultimate teller of such tales? Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is remembered as a “morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles” (Poe Museum Website). Poe’s short stories have gone down in history as some of the most creepy, scary, and macabre of all time. His most famous works include “The Raven”, “A Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. 

This last one, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, is available in Special Collections! In addition to the story, this 1931 copy contains engravings by Abner Epstein which make the story even creepier! Epstein’s drawings are all done in black and white. They also are all of very skeletal figures which adds to the spookiness of the story.

 

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a story told by an unnamed narrator who arrives at the house of his friend Roderick Usher after receiving a letter from him claiming he is ill and needs help. The house, noticeably, has a crack running down the face and into the lake. The narrator during his stay realizes that Roderick’s twin sister, Madeline, is also ill and goes into deathlike trances. He attempts to make Roderick feel better by listening to his songs and reading him stories. Eventually creepy things begin to happen which, as any Poe enthusiast knows, has extremely terrifying results. 

Edgar Allan Poe’s poetic genius has ensured that these fabulously creepy tales will be told again and again. For me, Halloween would not be the same without Edgar Allan Poe’s hauntingly spooky and macabre stories. There is no scary campfire story or scary movie that can get your heart racing or spine tingling like Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. His work never fails to make me shiver and raise the hair on the back of my neck. In fact, the creepiest part of his short stories are that they all could happen in real life. Not one of them contains an actual ghost. Instead, his descriptions of the environment are what make his stories feel eerie and supernatural. All of the horror comes from the minds of his characters and the psychological terror that they and the reader experience. Poe’s imagination is like no other when it comes to stories of morbid, gruesome murders or dark, creepy graveyards or crumbling castles with a disturbing past. There are no better stories to read on Halloween than those of Edgar Allan Poe. 

For further information or just a fun trip, I recommend trying to go see the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. I learned quite a lot from their website so I can only imagine that the museum itself would be incredible and full of information about one of the most outstanding and well-remembered American authors. In addition, visit the Special Collections Department in the Library to check out “The Fall of the House of Usher” and to learn about more spooky stories!

--Ariel Wilks, Class of 2016

Bibliography:

Poe, Edgar Allan. 1931. The Fall of the House of Usher. New York: Cheshire House.

2014. The Poe Museum: The Museum of Edgar Allan Poe. Accessed October 14, 2015. http://www.poemuseum.org/index.php