How can I explain this fear? It was not really a fear of something evil . . .
but then how else can I possibly describe it? Slowly, this strange fear grew
into horror. Yes, horror. If I tell you why, you will not believe me. You will
think I am mad.
`The Black Cat' is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous stories.
Why is the man in the story afraid of his own black cat? Why
does he kill it? And how does the cat punish him for his evil
ways?
In The Oval Portrait' a man finds a portrait of a beautiful
young woman in a lonely house. Who is this woman? Who
painted her? And why is the man so frightened of her picture?
What terrible secret does it hold?
In 'Berenice', a madman wants to marry his sick cousin with
the beautiful teeth. He cannot stop thinking about those teeth!
What really happens to Berenice in the end?
In The Mask of the Red Death', Prince Prospero tries to shut
his door against the face of Death. How does the 'Red Death'
get into his large and beautiful house? What will happen to him
and all his friends when they meet the stranger with the death
mask?
Four horror stories from the strange and terrible mind of
Edgar Allan Poe. Four stories that will stop you sleeping at night.
Four stories that you will never, never forget .. .
No writer knew more about pain and horror than Edgar Allan
Poe. He lived most of his life afraid of the things in his own mind.
And he wrote some of the most frightening horror stories ever
written.
He was born Edgar Poe on 19 January 1809 in Boston, USA.
When he was two years old his mother died and his father died
or left the family (nobody knows exactly what happened to
him). Poe went to live with a rich family called the Mans in
Richmond, Virginia. Mrs Allan loved him like a real son, but her
husband never understood Poe and was unkind to him. The
family moved to England for five years from 1815 to 1820, and
Poe went to one of the best schools in the country. In 1826 he
went back to Virginia and went to university there. But when he
was a student there his life started to go badly wrong. John Allan
refused to pay for his university education because the boy was
spending too much money. This hurt Poe very deeply. The
dislike between him and John Allan grew and in 1827 he left the
Allans' home for ever.
Poe became a successful soldier for a few years, and then went
to Baltimore to earn money by writing for newspapers and
magazines. He also worked on a magazine in Richmond,
Virginia but he didn't go back to his old home. In 1835, when
Poe was twenty-six, he married his young cousin, Virginia
Clemm, who was fourteen years old. Their married life
together was difficult. Poe worked hard but he didn't earn
much money and never stayed long in one job. He was a
nervous man, he drank too much all his life, and he believed
that he was mad.
In 1847, Virginia died after a long illness. Poe's home life
ended and he began to drink more than before. In September
1849, he disappeared and was later found in a street in Baltimore.
He was taken to hospital, where he died on 7 October 1849.
He was buried in Baltimore, next to his wife.
Poe had a very unhappy life, and when he died he was still a poor
man. But by the end of his life he was beginning to be a very
popular and successful writer. Many people were starting to read
and enjoy his stories and poems — stories like The Raven (1845).
vi
However, he never made any money from his writing when he
was alive. Since his death, Poe has become one of the most
funous of all American writers. His stories and poems are now
read by people all over the world.
Poe's stories, like the four in this book, are frightening stories
of horror and imagination. People read them in American
magazines from 1831, and in books called Tales of the Grotesque
and Arabesque (1840) and Tales (1845). Some of his most famous
stories are in this Penguin reader. Other famous stories are 'The
Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue',
and The Pit and the Pendulum'.
Poe had a strange imagination and one of the saddest lives in all
of literature. His terrible stories touch our deepest human fears
and are difficult to forget.
vii
This is a true story, as true as I sit here writing it — as true as
I will die in the morning.
The Black Cat
You are not going to believe this