The Mysterious Final Hours of Edgar Allan Poe

In October 1849, legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe was discovered in a disturbing state on the streets of Baltimore—disoriented, incoherent, and wearing someone else’s clothes. Taken to a hospital, Poe never regained enough clarity to explain what had happened to him. He died just days later, uttering vague, cryptic words that only deepened the mystery surrounding his final moments. No official cause of death was ever confirmed, and theories have ranged from alcohol poisoning and rabies to foul play or even political kidnapping schemes like “cooping.” Over 170 years later, Poe’s bizarre and tragic end remains one of the most haunting literary mysteries of all time, fittingly shrouded in the same gothic darkness that defined his work.