Phantasmagoria

A tale of imagination and fantasy.

Edgar Allen Poe

During my youthful years I loved and for truth sake I admired Poe's poems and prose. I was introduced to his creation at the English lessons in high school, and many years later I've read most of his creation in English, thanks to my home town municipal public library. I haven't stopped admiring him to this very day.

At the end of August 2012 we've flown to New York my son Boaz and me, to take part at Ido's my youngest son birthday party.

On Friday on our first New York weekend Boaz traveled to Richmond, to spend the weekend with a pair of old friends of his; Ido was busy at work and I'd plenty of free time at my disposal. I've visited the Metropolitan Museum a second time, while Boaz visit in Richmond evoked in me an urge to write a short story how I met Edgar Allen Poe on the train's dining car on our way from Richmond to New York. All I've known on Poe's tragic and mysterious death was that he was poisoned by the street light gas or due to much booze.

After lunch I climbed up to the computer room in my hotel, to surf the internet and find out some details on Poe's life; which I needed for my story of imagination and fantasy.

I've learned to my utter surprise that on his way New York Poe stopped in Baltimore, and was kidnapped by a group of thugs that served a candidate for Baltimore mayoral election.

There were three candidates the richest men in Baltimore that aspired to be Baltimore's mayor, each one had his group thugs that kidnapped out of town people, drugged them and kept them drugged in hidden cellars. They were led on carts to the voting station where they voted and signed with a finger print as illiterate people; they had to change for each voting station, and those that lost consciousness were simply thrown in dark lane to die or to sober up if they were lucky enough.

Poe was thrown off the cart in some dark ally, and was found an acquaintance; which expected and he took care to hospitalize Poe, a few days later the great poet and author died.

When I've read on the firebomb attack on the Republican election campaign center in North Carolina (I've almost written by mistake North Korea…) I thought that nothing has changed since then; and I was tempted to write this short post.

Any way only when we flew back home I've written the story how I met Edgar Allen Poe or rather an impostor, that looked to me very similar to the great poet, which turned out to be a train employee impostor that by impersonating  Poe, promoted the Richmond New York line public relations.

 Haim Kadman 2016 " all rights reserved.