Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. In Part II of our Edgar Allan Poe podcast, we begin with an archival recording of "The Black Cat." Then we pick back up where we left off, with "the imp of the perverse” and exploring the psychology of the criminal mind through his villainous characters. After describing a prophetic scene about shipwreck & cannibalism from Poe's only novel, Chris explains the literary genres beyond horror that Poe founded or advanced: the detective story, science-fiction, and perhaps the southern gothic. We then turn back to the biographical, with Poe's death and his mysterious last few days on the streets of Baltimore. From African-American hoodoo to spiritualist mediums, we hear what the paranormal was like in his time, and end on modern sightings of his ghost. 

Check out The Poe Museum and Chris' books.

1954 archival reading of Poe'sThe Black Cat performed by Marvin Miller

1939 archival reading of Poe’s The Raven performed by Nelson Olmsted

Music:

"The Raven"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio

"Quiet Mysterioso; Diver's Dream; Four Cuts"
Written & Performed by The Crawford Light Orchestra

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