In this month of October, with the days growing blustery and Halloween creeping towards us, I thought it fitting to spotlight the father of the modern horror story, Edgar Allan Poe. First published in the late 1800’s, his works such as “The Pit and The Pendulum”, “The House of Usher”, “The Raven”, and “Annabel Lee” remain relevant, influential, and scary as ever.

The first story I ever read by Poe was “The Cask of Amontillado” in grade school. After our teacher explained to us what Amontillado was, we were shocked! A story about wine and it was supposed to be scary? How adult sounding! I grew up reading, so I knew the tales of Sleepy Hollow, I knew where the Wild Things were, and I had devoured Kathryn Tucker Windham’s 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. I could handle a story about two guys in a dank basement, couldn’t I?

This story scared me. It was the first book I had read where the villain was a real person, not a supernatural being or a figment of the narrator’s imagination. The story has only two characters, our narrator Montresor and our victim Fortunato. Willing to forgive or excuse  Fortunato for ‘a thousand injuries’, Montresor has vowed revenge upon the man for an insult. We never learn what this perceived insult was. Did Fortunato accuse him of illegal business ventures? Did he insult the honor of a member or Montresor’s family? Did he criticize the cut or color of a jacket Montresor wore?

Whatever the crime, Montresor intends for Fortunato to pay. He, however, does not. He goes to great length to plan the perfect crime. We journey with the two men as Montresor locates his intended victim among the revelers of a carnival party, then guides him to a dark cellar on the hunt for the titled Amontillado wine.

What punishment does our narrator decide upon for Fortunato? I projected my adolescent, 1970’s mentality to the plot. A quick gunshot or a club on the head? I am going to stop here. You shouldn’t know more than that now because you really should go into the tale ignorant.

The beauty of Poe’s legacy is that his stories are easily available. If you want, you could try and buy the rare first edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems which recently sold at Christie’s for $662,500.00. If you are on a budget, however, Poe volumes are available at most bookstores and online for much less money. Several of his books are available through Kindle Unlimited.

So I urge you, on a dark, bleak autumn night, with bony tree limbs tapping, tapping at your door, settle into a comfy chair and pick up a volume of Poe’s work. If “The Cask of Amontillado” doesn’t give you a chill, I guarantee one of his tales will.

Have a scary reading night!

#Edgar Allan Poe is the perfect October read!