The death of Poe?

Question

Do you think Edgar Allen Poe died of alcoholism or rabies and why? I think rabies.

Answer 1

There are those that say that. I didn't hear that he was bit by anything that could have caused rabies.

"No one can say conclusively that Poe died of rabies, since there was no autopsy after his death," says Dr. Benitez, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But the historical accounts of Poe's condition in the hospital a few days before his death point to a strong possibility that he had rabies."

Answer 2

Rabies seems more unlikely, especially as Dr. Benitez appears to have read Charles Scarlett's article from 1978 that was based on a 1875 New York Herald article from Poe's doctor (Dr. Moran) and not Dr. Moran's 1885 book in which Moran stated Poe drank half a glass of water. That much water is apparently contradictory to symptoms for rabies.

Answer 3

I don't think it was either . . . the strange clothes and other circumstances seem to suggest something a little more involved . . . foul play, etc. I like to think he didn't drink himself to death.