Christopher P. Semtner

Murder Mayhem Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe has had a busy afterlife. The author of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" might have died back in 1849, but some claim that did not stop him from composing poetry for another four decades. Others say he still makes appearances in no fewer than five cities, and that his ghost is a regular at a couple of different taverns, one of which saves a seat for him. Like a character from one of his short stories, Poe refuses to stay buried. Author Christopher Semtner explores the ghost stories and hauntings associated with his life--from the supernatural legends that inspired his writing to the alleged paranormal activity inspired by those terror tales.

His Afterlife in Richmond & Beyond

Haunting Poe

Although he is one of the world's most popular authors who continues to thrill and chill readers of all ages, Edgar Allan Poe's life is as enigmatic as his sudden, unexplained death. In a quest for solutions to the mysteries surrounding the poet's life and work, a group of Poe devotees founded the Poe Shrine in 1922. This body included the world's most prolific Poe collector, a psychiatrist who believed Poe was clairvoyant, and the grandson of Poe's worst enemy. Within four years of the Shrine's opening, one of the founders had committed suicide, another was committed to a mental hospital, and a third had been banned from ever entering the Shrine again. Somehow, over the course of 95 years, their museum has managed to assemble to world's finest collection of Poe artifacts and memorabilia featuring the author's boyhood bed, clothing, walking stick, and hair clipped from his head after his death. Drawing on the museum's archives, The Poe Shrine tells the story of these coveted objects, the people who collected them, and the institution that serves as their repository.

Building the World's Largest Edgar Allen Poe Collection

The Poe Shrine

Haunting Poe: His Afterlife in Richmond and Beyond

The fascinating story behind the nineteenth-century artist who illustrated Poe’s classic poem—and the rediscovery of the drawings decades later. One of the most popular poems in the English language, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” has thrilled generations of readers. In 1882, the Anglo-American artist James Carling decided to produce the definitive series of illustrations for the poem. Carling’s bizarre images explore the darkest recesses of Poe’s masterpiece, its hidden symbolism, and its strange beauty. Although the series remained unpublished at the time of the artist’s early death in 1887, the drawings reemerged fifty years later, when they entered the collection of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond. There they lined the blood-red walls of a Raven Room dedicated to their display. For the first time, Poe historian Christopher P. Semtner reproduces the entire series—and tells the story behind these haunting works.

Poe's Classic in Vivid View

The Raven Illustrations of James Carling

Keshia A. Case

Edgar Allan Poe, the renowned author of tales of mystery and madness, arrived in Richmond in 1810 at the age of one and left the city for the last time just two weeks before his death. Of his 40 years, he lived in Richmond for 13 years--far longer than in any other city. While other cities may claim him, Poe himself boasted in 1841, "I am a Virginian . . . for I have resided all my life, until within the last few years, in Richmond." It was in Richmond that Poe was orphaned at the age of two and where he was reared in the home of the tobacco exporter John Allan. In this city, the young Poe first fell in love, wrote his earliest poetry, began his career in journalism, and married his 13- year-old cousin.

Christopher P. Semtner

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