Poe’s Death
How did Edgar Allen Poe die? On October 3, 1949 Poe was found by a bar. When he was found they took him to the hospital where he died four days later. The cause of his death still remains a mystery. They have two main theories of how he died. The first cause that they believe is alcoholism or rabies.
The first reason of why they thought it was alcoholism is because while he was in the hospital his family member said that he had a past history of having alcoholism (Silverman 223). Since he was found out side a bar it is very while possible that Edgar Allen Poe died from alcohol poising. Poe had alcohol problems as a child, but by his time he died at forty he almost avoided alcohol. Poe would get sin every time he would drink alcohol (Pollin and Benedetto 226). He had an inflammation in his brain from alcohol and when he was found by the bar they think that he was wearing someone else’s clothing (Silverman 224).
He had some symptoms that led to their thinking of Poe dying from alcohol. He felt dizzy, he was delirious, unaware of what was going on in his life, confused, and he had encephalitis (Silverman 222-224). “Encephalitis is a disease that causes inflammation of the brain,” (What is Encephalitis n.p.)
His doctors also think that Edgar Allen Poe could have died from rabies. They found a bite mark from his cat when they had found his body. Some of the doctor’s say that it couldn’t have been rabies because they treated him for the four days in rabies, though you can not cure rabies in four days he would however show improvement which he did not show hardly any at all.
The symptoms of rabies are: fever, sore throat, pain, burning sensation, itching and even numbness of where the bit had taken place. There is the other symptoms of rabies that will occur later in days. Examples are that you could go into a coma, muscle spasms, fear of water, delirium, hallucinations, and if you get bit by an animal with rabies you could become paralyzed...