Trying to sort through the acres of contradictory evidence about how Edgar Allan Poe lived and died, one is inevitably reminded of a bit of advice found in his satirical short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether”: “Believe nothing you hear, and only half that you see.”
That’s certainly something to keep in mind when considering some of the more unreliable witnesses who left behind accounts that for generations have shaped—or misshaped—our view of the enigmatic writer’s stormy life and mysterious death.
