On Oct. 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died mysteriously. While there are many theories about why or how he died, my belief is that he died as a result of alcohol induced madness otherwise known as mania-a-potu. In a letter to Poe’s biographer, Marie Louise Shew, Poe’s nurse and friend, writes of Poe’s pre-existing condition in which he couldn’t consume alcohol without “producing insanity”. With Poe’s condition he wouldn’t have been able to control himself after consuming alcohol. In a letter to his mother in law, Maria Clemm, four months before he died, Poe states he had a manic episode in which he was taken to prison for intoxication. Poe was already headed down apath of destruction as he had been drinking months prior to his death. Joseph Snodgrass
