About This Episode
What is this episode about?
The episode "HAUNTED HALLOWEEN! Edgar Allan Poe - Part One" from The Devil Within covers the unexplained final days of Edgar Allan Poe, who vanished for five days after boarding a steamship in Richmond, Virginia on September 27, 1849, with plans to marry Elmira Royster Shelton. He resurfaced in Baltimore on October 3, delirious, gravely ill, and wearing clothes that weren't his own, found outside a tavern used as an election polling place. He died four days later at age forty, and the circumstances remain unresolved.
The episode examines competing explanations for his death, including alcoholism, disease, robbery, and the practice of cooping, a nineteenth-century election fraud scheme in which men were allegedly kidnapped, drugged, disguised, and forced to vote repeatedly at multiple polling stations. It also traces what happened after his burial: twenty-six years later, Poe's remains were exhumed and moved to a more prominent Baltimore grave, giving rise to the legend that scratches found inside his coffin suggested he had been buried alive, a grim irony for a writer famous for exploring that very fear. The episode also touches on the historical practice of premature burial and the invention of safety coffins designed to prevent it.
This is Part One of a series, with the next installment following Poe's reputed hauntings in Baltimore, including his former home, his gravesite, and the taverns of Fell's Point.
Hosts and release
Branden Morgan hosts the show, released on October 19, 2026, running 24 minutes. The Devil Within is available on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
