It is Fall 1848, and Edgar Allan Poe has begun to fall victim to his “inner demons”, causing increasingly erratic behavior, following the death of his wife Virginia in 1847. He is newly engaged to his sweetheart from his teenage years, Elmira Royster. Today marks the start of his nation wide tour of poetry readings and lectures, on which he hopes to raise money to start his new literary magazine The Stylus.

He will be dead by this time next year. In honor of the start of his tour, one of Poe’s mentors, Washington Irving, is throwing Poe a “launch party”, and has rented the Grubb Family mansion in Mount Hope, PA. In addition to Poe and his “bride to be”, Elmira Royster, Mary Shelly and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow will also be in attendance. The party will be a celebration of Poe and his works.

When your students come to Poe Evermore they will experience the mystery and macabre of the following:

THE BLACK CAT
In the Hallway (Mary Shelly, Elmira Royster):
Can one woman be driven to madness by her own debauched behavior or is it just possible that a demonic cat has driven her to her heinous act of murder and deceit? Let your imagination decide in this powerful tale of madness and murder.

THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
In the Ballroom (Washington Irving and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow):
When is enough truly enough? How far would you go to seek revenge? Watch the tale of Montressor as he seeks his revenge on Fortunato. The horrific ending will cause one to wonder, “Could I ever be driven to do such a thing?” Warning: This story is not for the claustrophobic!

POETRY CORNER
In the Chapel (Edgar Allan Poe):
Join Edgar Allan Poe in the Chapel as he recites some of his most famous poems. Listen as he talks about Tragedy and Love and Madness and Tragedy and Death and Tragedy and of course… The Raven!