The dark, baggy eyes. The mustachioed face. The slight, dubious smirk. Few literary names in history evoke such immediate imagery as Edgar Allan Poe.
His likeness has become a staple in the goth scene as well as pop culture in general, but his life — and particularly death 175 years ago this month — have remained a mystery.
The most well known theory surrounding Poe’s death is he died drunk in a ditch on the street. While this theory cannot be completely disproven, historian and author, Mark Dawidziak, provides evidence and information that suggests there was much more to the story.
In his new book, A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe, Dawidziak stresses that he doesn’t have a conclusive answer, but rather he rules out several of the more popular theories based on the information his research and interviewees provided him.
“I will not say that I can prove it, because that would be beyond irresponsible and it can’t be proven,” Dawidziak says. “So did I come up with a theory as to how Poe died? Yes. Do I think it’s a very compelling theory? Yes. Do I insist on it? No. Just because it cannot be proven and it never will.”
Dawidziak says this definitive answer to Poe’s death will never come as there were no reliable witnesses, no death certificate and no autopsy performed on his body, and even more so, autopsies done in 1849 were far from reliable.
“If they had done an autopsy on Poe it would have been done with the equivalent of machetes and butcher knives,” he says.
Dawidziak’s 43 years of experience in the journalism field resulted in his research relying heavily on interviews with other reliable sources. He spoke to other Poe biographers, forensic pathologists and anthropologists, homicide detectives and even an FBI agent.
“I have voices throughout the book from these interviews. I think that gives a book about somebody who’s been long dead, a very alive presence, but it is not the way most standard biographies are written. So I was taking a chance with both of these things,” Dawidziak says. “It’s sort of an act of faith once you decide to write the book the way you’re going to write it, somewhat like going off a very high diving board and just hoping there’s water in the pool when you get down there.”
Dawidziak’s risk paid off, as the book offers a refreshing, reliable, and honest take on the death and life of one literature’s most influential figures.
