0:00

To make switching to the new Boost

0:02

Mobile risk free, we're offering a 30-day

0:04

money-back guarantee. So, why wouldn't you switch from

0:06

Verizon or T-Mobile? Because you have nothing to lose.

0:08

Boost Mobile is offering a 30-day money-back

0:10

guarantee. No, I asked why wouldn't

0:12

you switch from Verizon or T-Mobile. Oh.

0:14

Wouldn't. Uh, because you love wasting

0:17

money as a way to punish yourself because

0:19

your mother never showed you enough love as

0:21

a child? Whoa, easy there. Yeah.

0:23

Applies to online activations, requires port-in

0:25

and auto-pay. Customers activating in stores

0:27

may be charged non-refundable activation fees.

0:30

Selling a little? Or

0:32

a lot? Shopify helps

0:34

you do your thing however you chiching.

0:37

Shopify is the global commerce platform that

0:39

helps you sell at every stage of

0:41

your business. From the launch your online

0:43

shop stage, to the first real-life store

0:46

stage, all the way to the did

0:48

we just hit a million orders stage,

0:50

Shopify is there to help you grow.

0:52

Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers

0:55

with the internet's best converting checkout. 36%

0:58

better on average compared to other leading

1:01

commerce platforms. Because businesses that grow,

1:03

grow with Shopify. Get a $1

1:06

per month trial

1:08

period at shopify.com/work.

1:11

shopify.com/work. They say opposites

1:13

attract. That's why the Sleep Number Smart Bed

1:15

is the best bed for couples. You like

1:17

a bed that feels firm, but they want

1:20

soft? Sleep Number does that. You want to

1:22

sleep cooler while they like to feel warm?

1:24

Sleep Number does that too. J.D.

1:26

Power ranks Sleep Number number one

1:28

in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased

1:30

in store. And now during Sleep

1:32

Number's biggest sale of the year,

1:34

save 50% on the Sleep Number

1:36

Limited Edition Smart Bed, plus special

1:38

financing for a limited time. For

1:40

J.D. Power 2023 award information,

1:43

visit jdpower.com/awards. Only at a

1:45

Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com.

1:49

See store for details. October

2:00

3rd, 1849, Baltimore. It's

2:04

a cold, wet day, and underfoot

2:06

the first of the season's dead

2:08

leaves have already turned to mulch

2:11

beneath the boots of the city's

2:13

inhabitants. We're on East

2:15

Lombard Street, flanked on

2:17

either side by tall, brick-fronted,

2:20

flat-faced buildings, straining

2:22

against the constant rain that slicks

2:24

the cobbles and glides down the

2:27

windows of passing carriages. And

2:29

yet, despite the darkening skies,

2:31

the streets are busier than usual

2:34

this afternoon. It's Sherrith

2:36

Election Day, and those who have

2:38

a vote are turning out to

2:40

use it. Ahead

2:42

of us is Gunners Hall,

2:44

currently in use as Cornelius

2:46

Ryan's fourth ward polls. Watch

2:49

a while as men come and go

2:52

casting their votes before turning their coats

2:54

upwards at the neck and

2:56

braving the weather again. Of

2:59

course, for those with no democratic rights

3:01

to exercise, it's a

3:03

day like any other. Certainly,

3:06

the boys selling papers on the

3:08

corner, the crossing sweep shoveling mess

3:10

from the horses, the

3:12

girl hovering by a warm grate,

3:14

her hands shielding a steaming pie

3:16

like treasure, do not notice

3:18

anything out of the ordinary. At

3:21

least, nothing election-related.

3:25

While in warm parlours up and

3:27

down the city, the talk is

3:29

all of politics and the future, out

3:32

here on the street, a different

3:34

drama is, for the eagle-eyed, unfolding

3:37

in real time. Having

3:40

just cast his own vote, Joseph Walker,

3:42

printer of the Baltimore Sun, and no

3:44

stranger to a good story, is

3:47

heading home when he notices a shape

3:49

moving in the gutter. Evening

3:52

is some way off yet, but

3:54

already the autumn light is dying and

3:57

Walker leans in to take a better

3:59

look. It's a man. He's

4:02

fallen, perhaps. Is

4:05

he drunk? He's staggering,

4:07

on his hands and knees now, looking

4:10

around wildly, swinging his arm to feel

4:12

for the wall behind him. Walker

4:16

catches a glimpse of his face, beneath

4:19

dark, shaggy curls, even

4:21

darker eyes, sunka, shallow

4:24

cheeks, and a thin

4:27

mouth twisted in distress. The

4:30

clothes draped on this pitiable

4:32

figure are filthy and tattered.

4:35

Mud and horse-muck, cake, the legs of

4:37

his trousers and the coat. The

4:40

coat is shredded, with pockets ripped

4:42

open to the wind, and

4:44

as empty as they are unsightly. The

4:48

wearer lunges at Walker, as though to

4:50

grab hold of him. He's whispering something

4:52

now, though the words don't quite come

4:54

out. He's angry. No,

4:58

not angry. Terrified.

5:01

Is there someone I can fetch for you? Walker

5:03

ventures in as polite a tone as

5:06

he can muster. Snodgrass,

5:09

comes the reply, as the figure sinks

5:11

to the ground, the effort of speaking

5:13

too much for him. Who?

5:16

Snodgrass, Doctor. And

5:19

you, sir? Who are you? Poe.

5:23

Edgar. Edgar A. Poe. Oh,

5:31

I'm excited for this one. Hello

5:33

and welcome back to After Dark.

5:35

My name is Anthony. And

5:52

today we are looking

5:54

at a mystery and some dark

5:57

history. This is perfect after dark

5:59

material. And actually one of my

6:01

favorites, I kind of love Edgar Allan Poe. I have

6:03

such a soft spot for him. I'm not really sure

6:05

why. But before

6:08

we continue, I want to just reference, get it out of the way, because in

6:10

my head, constantly during this episode, the

6:12

Eurovision Song Contest song that I've just played for

6:14

Maddie before this episode of Edgar Allan

6:16

Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe,

6:19

like it's a tune. So you're going to have to

6:21

play that after you've just, it's on YouTube, just play

6:23

it. Maddie, give us some context

6:26

as to what's happening around

6:28

this time when Edgar

6:30

is lying in this gutter and struggling for his life,

6:32

it seems. So we're in 1849 in Britain, obviously

6:34

we're in the early years of the Victorian era.

6:40

In Ireland, the Great Famine is happening.

6:42

And if you don't know about that, go

6:45

back and listen to our three-parter that we

6:47

did on that. In

6:49

London, the first Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Exhibition

6:51

is taking place at the Royal

6:53

Academy. And Karl Marx

6:55

has just arrived in the city.

6:57

Now in America, which is

7:00

of course where this is taking place in Baltimore, there's

7:03

real change happening and there's some fascinating

7:05

societal shifts, political shifts going on. So

7:09

in May, these are just some of the events,

7:11

in May of that year, 1849, there's

7:13

the Aster Place Riot in Manhattan. Now

7:15

this is where 30 rioters are killed

7:17

and 120 are injured. So

7:20

this is a huge event. And it's

7:22

basically a clash between immigrants and

7:24

the so-called nativists, the people

7:27

who feel they are Americans and that are

7:29

resentful of the people coming in. Nothing ever

7:32

changes. Nothing ever changes. And look at the

7:34

riots that have just happened in Britain, it

7:36

doesn't feel all that different. In

7:38

California, we're at the start of the

7:40

gold rush in which eventually 300,000 people

7:42

approximately are going to

7:45

travel from all over the US and from

7:47

overseas to go there. Yeah. And we should do an episode

7:49

on the gold rush, in fact. So there's that going on,

7:51

there's that moment, everyone's being

7:53

drawn to that place, this idea

7:55

that you can make your fortune

7:57

from the land if you're brave

7:59

enough to do it. do it. In Maryland we've

8:01

also got Harriet Tubman who escapes

8:05

from being enslaved. She frees herself and she

8:07

goes on to free other people in what

8:09

becomes known of course as the Underground Railroad.

8:11

So many people I love at this time. Like

8:13

Tubman, Edgar Allan Poe, it's a great, well it's not

8:15

a great time necessarily, but it's a really interesting time.

8:17

There's some really interesting people. It

8:19

feels a really fiery time. Yes. There's lots

8:21

of change and there's lots of

8:24

people fighting back. And a lot of people

8:26

still doing the oppressing, to be honest. Like it's

8:28

not a crime you would want to go back to.

8:30

Yeah. But it's huge change going on.

8:32

So that's the context. I'm going to tell you a

8:34

little bit about Edgar Allan Poe. Yeah, I do. Because

8:36

for anyone who doesn't know, I think he's got a

8:38

fascinating life, not an unproblematic one

8:40

at times. No. So

8:43

he's a- Nobody's little face. I know. And

8:45

he's a god. I mean he's distinctive looking right. I'm going

8:47

to make you describe him in just a second. So

8:50

for anyone who doesn't know, he is a writer, he's

8:52

a critic. He's born in 1809 in Boston to

8:55

David and Elizabeth Poe. I didn't

8:57

know this. Both itinerant actors. Oh,

9:00

I didn't know that either. That explains a bit, doesn't

9:02

it? Yeah, well, it doesn't- About him. So

9:04

David actually abandons the family the next

9:07

year. So he doesn't really know his

9:09

father. And then his mother, Elizabeth, dies

9:11

in 1811. So only just doing

9:14

some math. Two years. That was

9:16

complicated math there. Two years into

9:18

Edgar's life. But that theatricality kind of

9:20

running through his veins, that comes through

9:22

in his own work. His

9:24

works are nothing if not completely theatrical

9:27

and bordering on the slightly

9:29

ridiculous. Yeah. So then he's

9:31

fostered by a family called the Allens, John

9:33

and Francis of Virginia. Wait,

9:36

sorry, what were his parents? What was his biological parents? So

9:38

David and Elizabeth Poe. Poe, and now we're with the Allens.

9:40

And now he's with the Allens. So John

9:42

and Francis in Virginia. John

9:45

deals in the slave trade.

9:48

Oh wow. Yeah, that's where his money

9:50

comes from. Interestingly, now again, I didn't know this about

9:52

Poe. With the Allens. He actually comes to

9:54

Britain. I didn't know that. He spends

9:56

a lot of his childhood in Britain. He goes to

9:58

boarding school. Amy,

16:00

thinking back to Harriet Tubbe, being someone

16:03

who's very much active in this moment, that

16:05

I think his writing speaks

16:07

to the anxieties of the

16:09

time, not just of his own life, and

16:12

he was obviously a deeply anxious, troubled, gothic

16:14

person in his own right, but he is very much

16:17

plugged into the shifts

16:19

that are taking place. So he's a fascinating

16:21

sort of touch paper for America in this

16:24

moment in 1849. I want to now make

16:26

you describe the photo that we've got of

16:28

him. There are so many photos of him

16:31

that exist, which are incredible for early photography

16:33

and things, but... I mean, it's a

16:35

really early photography. Yeah, really

16:37

early. And really, I don't

16:39

know if this, the one that we're looking at has

16:41

been retouched in any way to make it clearer, but

16:43

really clear. I mean, this is someone you feel like,

16:46

feel like he is in front of you. Okay,

16:49

let me describe him. Here he is with

16:51

his little face that I keep. So he

16:53

has quite the large forehead, and his hair

16:55

is somewhat receding. Nonetheless, it's also quite tousled

16:57

and a little bit curly still. You can

17:00

see here, it looks to be kind of

17:02

brown-black. Obviously, this is black on my photo,

17:04

so you can't tell for sure, but I'm

17:06

going to imagine it's on the blacker side

17:08

of brown. Then he

17:11

has very close together eyes.

17:13

His eyebrows are very close to his eyes, so

17:16

it's giving a very intense look. And he's

17:18

looking directly at the viewer in this. His

17:21

mouth is a little skewed, as I'm looking

17:23

at it, to the right. And it's as

17:25

if it's not a sneer, but it's as

17:28

if it's a little bit like he's going,

17:30

I couldn't be arsed with this. He does

17:32

look slightly uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And

17:34

then he's dressed in black with a white shirt. It

17:36

looks like black velvet, but that could just be something

17:39

of the picture and of what we know about him.

17:41

Oh, mind you, I mean, there's plenty of velvet going

17:43

around in the 19th century. But he

17:45

is a striking figure. You will look

17:47

at this and instantly know it's

17:50

Edgar Allan Poe. And if you don't know who Poe is,

17:52

you'll look at this and go, who is that I need

17:54

to know about him? He's beguiling.

17:57

He is. He's so compelling. Yeah, yeah. really

18:00

is, he's fascinating, has such

18:02

a fascinating appearance. This photo that we're looking

18:04

at is known as the

18:06

the Annie image of him because it was

18:08

given to one of his friends Mrs. Annie

18:10

Richmond. It was probably taken in June 1849,

18:15

so just four months before his mysterious death as

18:17

well, and I think you can see something of

18:19

the haunted life that he's lived in his eyes and without

18:23

placing too much hindsight on it I do think

18:26

that you can read something of, you know, he's

18:28

coming to the end of his life. He doesn't

18:30

look well particularly. He doesn't. I've just read

18:32

that he's 40 in this picture and

18:34

he looks a lot older than 40.

18:36

Yeah, even by 19th century. Yeah, yeah.

18:40

Have you ever wondered if

18:42

the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

18:45

were actually real? Or what

18:59

made Alexander so great? Join

19:02

me, Tristan Hughes, twice a week

19:04

every week on the Ancients from

19:07

History hit where I'm joined by

19:09

leading academics, best-selling authors, and world-class

19:11

archaeologists to shine a light on

19:13

some of ancient history's most fascinating

19:15

questions like who

19:17

built Stonehenge and why? What

19:20

are the Dead Sea Scrops and why are they

19:22

so valuable? And were the

19:24

Spartan warriors really as formidable as the

19:27

history books say? Join

19:29

me, Tristan Hughes, twice a week every

19:31

week on the Ancients from History hit

19:33

wherever you forever.

20:00

After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower

20:02

speeds. Customers will pay $25 a

20:04

month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. Jewelry

20:07

can say many things on your wedding

20:09

day. As a wedding band, it can

20:11

say, this is a forever symbol of

20:13

our forever love. As a gift to

20:15

your wedding party, it can say, thanks

20:17

for standing up there with us. Blue

20:19

Nile can help you find the piece

20:21

that says it all and says it

20:23

beautifully with expert guidance and a wide

20:26

assortment of jewelry of the highest quality

20:28

at the best price. Go to bluenile.com

20:30

and experience the convenience of shopping Blue

20:32

Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999.

20:35

That's bluenile.com. Ryan

20:37

Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th

20:39

Mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

20:41

no. I

20:43

mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have

20:46

to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited premium

20:48

wireless for $15 a month. How are

20:50

there still people paying two or three times that

20:52

much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't

20:54

be victim blaming here. Give it

20:56

a try at mintmobile.com/save whenever

20:58

you're ready. $45 up from

21:00

payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers

21:03

on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra.

21:05

Speed slower above 40 gigabytes to see details. So

21:16

we then come to the question of

21:19

his mysterious death. Yes. Why? Why? Hold

21:21

on. Why is he in Baltimore at

21:23

this time? So a week before he's

21:25

found on the street outside Gunners Hall

21:27

on this election day, he leaves Richmond

21:29

in Virginia for Philadelphia. He's

21:31

traveling to Philadelphia for work. There's nothing

21:33

unusual in this. As we said, he

21:35

travels around to do readings, to write,

21:38

to work as a critic, all of that. Now, at

21:40

this stage in his life, his wife

21:43

has died. The 13 year old that

21:45

he he married so early on, she's died. I think she

21:47

dies of TB. And he's

21:49

looking to remarry. And his plan,

21:51

according to the letters that he writes, the people he

21:53

talks to before he sets out on this journey is

21:55

to go. When he gets to Philadelphia, he's going

21:57

to go on to New York and he's going to grab his aunt. so

22:00

the mother of his previous wife, and he's

22:02

going to take her back

22:04

to Virginia for

22:07

the impending nuptials. He's got someone in

22:09

mind to remarry. So he has stuff

22:12

to look forward to. He's nowhere

22:14

near Baltimore. And yet he's

22:16

found on the street in Baltimore a

22:19

few days after staying off on this journey. And

22:21

nobody really knows why. And this is

22:24

where this mystery comes in. And of course he

22:26

dies in mysterious circumstances. Like he couldn't

22:28

just slip away in the night. Anyway,

22:30

tell me what happens next. For

22:35

three days after Poe was discovered by

22:37

Walker in the gutter on East Lombard

22:39

Street, he moved in and

22:41

out of consciousness, never

22:44

fully aware of his surroundings and

22:46

all the time slipping further into

22:49

a kind of irretrievable darkness. Walker,

22:53

proving himself an adequate newspaperman,

22:55

had located the Dr. Snodgrass

22:57

Poe had asked for and

23:00

together the men delivered their strange

23:02

patient to the local hospital. There

23:05

they watched as Poe was gripped

23:08

by visions, screaming between fits of

23:10

delirium and all the time

23:12

calling out, Reynolds,

23:15

a name no one could make any sense

23:17

of at all. It was

23:20

strange, his watchers thought, as they picked

23:22

through the clothes he'd been wearing, in

23:25

which on closer inspection appeared

23:27

not to be his at all.

23:30

Finally, on the fourth day, the

23:33

light began to leave Poe's eyes and

23:36

the blood drained from his already pale

23:38

face. He fell still

23:41

and silent and slipped

23:43

quietly away. News

23:46

of his death and the strange

23:48

circumstances surrounding it soon

23:51

spread. Just days

23:53

later, an obituary ran in the

23:55

New York Tribune penned by an

23:57

anonymous author who signed up.