Edgar Allen Poe’s Ill Luck Did Not Die with Him

Edgar Allen Poe, a renowned American poet and writer whose whole life was filled with tragedy, carried his misfortune past his grave.

Robert L. Moshman, The Estate of Edgar Allen Poe, Est. Analyst (Oct. 2007) describes the fate of Poe’s estate as follows:

Poe had the worst executor of all time. Rufus Wilmot Griswold, an adversary and rival of Poe, insinuated himself in as self-appointed literary executor of the estate. He then exploited the estate, forged letters, and even planted a slanderous obituary of Poe in The New York Tribune that became the sole source of information about Poe for the next 25 years. Poe’s literary estate languished until Griswold’s death in 1857, but thereafter acquired widespread fame.