Edgar Allan Poe has become legendary through history for his contributions to literature, thanks to his incredible output of macabre poems and stories. Similarly to the content of his artistic works, Poe's death was a strange mystery. On the 3rd of October, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore in a state of "great distress" and "in need of immediate assistance," according to the man who found him. After being taken to the Washington College Hospital, Poe died four days later on the 7th of October. Throughout his stay at the hospital, Poe was never coherent enough to explain how or why he was in that condition. While all of the medical documents and records related to Poe's death have since been lost, there have been a number of theories regarding the cause of the writer's demise. Some claim that it was from an overdose of painkillers, while others believe he died of rabies, poisoning or cholera.
