Has anyone ever heard of the possibility that Edgar Allan Poe may have died from rabies?

Question

The common thought was that he died from alcoholism.

Answer 1

Scholars have speculated that he may have died of rabies, syphilis, the DTs (from excessive alcohol), or a drug overdose. I don't think anyone knows for sure.

Because he was an alcoholic, I imagine he had the DTs often, as his stories tend to have the shape of alcoholic hallucinations. But there is such an incredible novelty to his craft; he was doing what no one else had done. Because of him, we have the detective novel, which lead to noir, and which has been transformed, sadly, into terrible TV shows like Cops. His influence on American culture is immense. In order to get there, he had to be under the influence. Ah, life.

Answer 2

I actually just had a class involving Poe....my professor talked about EAP actually being found wounded in the streets of Baltimore (I think that was the city) he died a few days later. How the "wounding" occured, I'm not sure...could've been a bar fight or something seeing that he was a major alcoholic.

Answer 3

Yes, I have heard this but there is no way to know for sure. The guesses are that he died from overdose of drugs, alcoholism, cholera, suicide, or rabies. I like to think he died of rabies. It would have been an interesting ending to his tragic life.

Answer 4

Well, he was an alcoholic. But he was also addicted to opium and some other drugs. It could have been anything. But how would he have gotten rabies?

Answer 5

That's fascinating! Here's where it is discussed:
http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/eap3.htm
I visited the Poe house in Baltimore about 16 years ago. Really interesting to see.

Answer 6

No, but i used to lunch regularly by his mausoleum, while i was at law school in Baltimore. He never mentioned rabies :)))