Edgar Allan Poe— the writer who invented the detective story— also left behind one of America’s strangest unsolved deaths. In this Time & Tales dark history episode, we follow Edgar Allan Poe’s final week in 1849: from his disappearance in Richmond to his sudden reappearance in Baltimore outside Gunner’s Hall on election day, delirious and dressed in another man’s clothes.

We walk through the scant hospital records and all the main theories, to discover what the evidence really supports—and why no single explanation can close the case.

If you’re drawn to Edgar Allan Poe, 19th-century true crime, and historical mysteries, this episode is for you.

**We had a few sound issues with this episode. Our apologies! We had to use our backup mics and their gain is factory set to broadcast t ...