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Hauntings of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allen Poe’s life is marked by tragedy and suffering, his death marked by an equal amount of confusion. Regarded as simply ‘a mediocre poet’ during the 1800s, Poe grew up orphaned, living with the Allan family until he attended college in 1826. He only stayed for a year before leaving for the army because of severe gambling debts. His life from there is marked with tragedy, marrying his 13-year-old cousin Virginia in 1835, losing her to sickness in 1847. He never held a steady job, fired from numerous jobs mostly due to a severe drinking addiction. Although he could never hold a job, editors held him in high regard with his ingenious poetry and short stories, including The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart. Nevertheless, his drinking and depression took hold of his life. He died two years after his wife, passed out in a street in Baltimore. He died hours later in the hospital, crying manically about someone called Reynolds. Although he was dead physically, his spirit lived on in his residences and final resting place.

Edgar Allen Poe’s Hauntings at His GraveDecades after his untimely death, people began reporting sightings of his ghost appearing at his grave site. On his birthday, January 19, people say they have seen a man shrewdly covered in black, walking towards the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. His face is unrecognizable because of the black scarf that disguises his face from view. Nevertheless, the black-coated man walks towards Edgar Allen Poe’s on his birthday, leaving a bottle of cognac and three roses. The black-coated man then disappears in the night, slowly meandering through the graveyard with a walking stick. People speculate that this is the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe, honoring himself with the ceremonial bottle of cognac and three roses. People are discouraged from approaching the ghost and not to disturb the spirit.

In 1990, the curator of the Edgar Allen Poe house, Jeff Jerome, permitted photographers to shoot Poe’s grave site on his birthday for any evidence of this mystery ghost. Sure enough, the ghost walked towards his grave, kneeling down. In the picture the ghost is clearly seen with his trademark black clothing and black fedora, scarf covering his face. The ghost then disappeared into the night.

Hauntings in Edgar Allen Poe’s House His grave isn’t the only place that is haunted by ghosts. During his marriage to Virginia Clemm, they lived in a small, understated house on North Amity Street, located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is believed this house is haunted as well. People have reported seeing a gray-haired woman wearing early-1800s clothing, reportedly overweight. Some people believe this in the ghost of Poe’s aunt, Maria Clemm. People have also reported feeling ‘cold spots’ (things mostly associated with the presence of ghosts), hearing voices, and seeing windows and door open without help from outside sources. No explanation is offered for this incidences.

Is Poe’s spirit alive where he once dwelled? It might his tortured spirit, seeking redemption from beyond the grave. Others say it’s mere fantasy, just like Poe’s stories. Although no one will know the true origins of these incidences, Poe will continue to live on through his stories and poetry. 

Icelandic Elves

The origin of the elves in Iceland (álfar in Icelandic) goes back to Germanic paganism and mythology. They were originally a race of minor gods associated with nature and fertility.

In Iceland, elves were mentioned in both the sagas and the Eddas (Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturlusson). They can be the same size as humans or even smaller, and are dressed like humans. Elves are usually invisible, but can be seen if they feel like it. They can be helpful and kind to those who do them no harm, and repay favors with favors. On the other hand, they can also be malicious and take revenge if harmed.

 Elves in Iceland are often pictured as splendid and beautifully dressed, especially in colorful silk. They usually dwell in nature, especially in forests, rocks, hillocks, wells and springs.

Mongolian Death Worm

The Mongolian death worm is a creature reported to exist in the Gobi Desert. It is generally considered a cryptid: an animal whose sightings and reports are disputed or unconfirmed.

It is described as a bright red worm with a wide body that is 2 to 5 feet (0.6 to 1.5 m) long.

The worm is the subject of a number of claims by Mongolian locals - such as the ability of the worm to spew forth acid that, on contact, will turn anything it touches yellow and corroded (and which would kill a human), as well as its reported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge.

Though natives of the Gobi have long told tales of the worm, the creature first came to Western attention as a result of Professor Roy Chapman Andrew’s 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man. The US paleontologist was not convinced by the tales of the monster that he heard at a gathering of Mongolian officials: “None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely.”

The Highgate Vampire

In the world of supernatural urban legends, they don’t come much more bizarre than the tale of The Highgate Vampire, which purportedly haunted London’s Highgate Cemetery in the early 1970s.  Abandoned and overgrown cemeteries are strange and evocative places at the best of times, but Highgate seemingly captured the over-active imaginations of several young people including Seán Manchester and David Farrant.

In December 1969 David Farrant appealed for witnesses after sighting “a grey figure” in Highgate Cemetery.  Several locals responded, but few sightings had any common traits.  Nevertheless, when Sean Manchester told the Hampstead and Highgate Express that “a King Vampire of the Undead” was buried in the cemetery in the early 18th century, the grey figure morphed into The Highgate Vampire and an urban legend was born.

Manchester claimed the vampire had been summoned by Satanists, and that its body should be staked, beheaded and burned – standard practice for disposing of vampires, but somewhat illegal nowadays.  Rivalry between Farrant and Manchester reached its zenith by 1970 and on Friday 13th March, an “official” vampire hunt saw a mob descend on the Highgate despite police efforts to stop them.  After this strange spectacle, things became even more bizarre, and Farrant – who, according to his website, always opposed the vampire interpretation of Highgate’s supernatural happenings – was arrested in August 1970 allegedly in possession of a crucifix and wooden stake.

Doppelgängers

Urban legend or scientific phenomenon?  A doppelgänger is said to be the ghost or double of oneself, usually considered an omen of bad luck, evil or even death.  Ghostly doubles and look-alikes have been woven into the fabric of folklore from the Ancient Egyptians to Norse mythology, but modern occurances and the tale’s perfect suitability to campfire storytelling have made it one of the scariest urban legends.  The sight of your own doppelgänger is said to be an omen of death, while a doppelgänger seen by a person’s friends or family is considered a sinister warning of impending doom.

Doppelgängers were reportedly observed by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Abraham Lincoln, while patients at a Bombay hospital claimed to see Indian mystic Osho on several occasions, despite his presence elsewhere.  Even today, some people report sensing or even seeing themselves in their peripheral vision where there was no chance of a reflection.  It sounds like the perfect urban legend, but a 2006 study reported in nature unexpectly reproduced similar effects in a patient suffering from epilepsy.  On several occasions, when electrical stimulation was applied to the left temporoparietal junction of the patient’s brain, she felt the presence of a person located immediately behind her with body posture identical to her own.