History NightmareFuel / EdgarAllanPoe

[[AC: NightmareFeul/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath]]

[[AC: The Masque Of The Red Death]]

[[AC: William Wilson]]

Most of EdgarAllanPoe's fiction is too nondescript to really qualify for NightmareFuel, but when he wrote scary, he did it well.

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[[AC: TheNarrativeOfArthurGordonPymOfNantucket]]

[[AC: The Fall of the House of Usher]]

* Plenty, from Pym being stuck inside a bitch black storage room, slowly starving to death, to Pym and several other men being stuck on a half-sunken ship, slowly starving to death, to Pym and another character being stuck on an island of crazed natives, [[RuleOfThree slowly starving to death]]. But the crowning example has to be the final chapter. Which is the UrExample of the CosmicHorror genre

* The narrator's obsessive personality disorder can be quite the source of ParanoiaFuel if you start noticing similar tendencies in yourself.

* Dude, Fortunato gets sealed up alive behind a wall of bricks! [[spoiler: And the guy who did it [[KarmaHoudini gets away with it!]]]]
* What's even worse is that we don't even know ''why'' Fortunato is sealed away. [[NoodleIncident What exactly did he do to get that sort of reaction?]]
** The very first line:
-->The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
** If we're to take this quote literally than this was an extreme case of DisproportionateRetribution- Fortunato was apparently a bully, yes (though how much so is hard to say, since we don't know how much we can rely on the narrator), but was a ''mild insult'' that finally motivated the narrator to bury him alive.

* How in the world could someone be so calm for killing someone, then chopping their limbs off and stuffing them under floorboards? Not even that, but ''SITTING'' on them!
** A dangerous madman, who else?

* William Wilson runs into all kinds of trouble because of his drinking and partying.

* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical, tragic Tobias Kluckert as Roderick, and Oliver Feld (as the narrator), can express hysteria and fear ''very'' well. And Claudia Urbschat Mingues, freaking ''Dilandau'' from ''Vision of Escaflowne'', is pretty terrifying as Madeleine Usher.
** The radio drama also doubles as a TearJerker; it takes quite a lot to make me cry and this is a spectacular achievement.

* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical, tragic Tobias Kluckert as Roderick, and Oliver Feld (as the narrator) who is excellently understated and subtle for most part, but can express hysteria and fear ''very'' well. And Claudia Urbschat Mingues, freaking ''Dilandau'' from ''Vision of Escaflowne'', is pretty terrifying as Madeleine Usher.
** Specifically, there's a very well-acted TearJerker scene at the climax, where it's revealed that Madeline was BuriedAlive, and the narrator cries "You're insane! What have you done?!" Roderick tries to plead his cause and the narrator bursts out sobbing "You bastard!". And then... you can hear Madeline screaming her brother's name.

* Both James Earl Jones'[[hottip:*:for WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, oddly enough]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilu-OznMktA Christopher Walken's readings]] are very chilling.

** Specifically, there's a very well-acted TearJerker scene at the climax, where it's revealed that Madeline was BuriedAlive, and the narrator cries [[Note:"You're insane! What have you done?!"]]

* Meeting your exact doppelgänger is kind of scary and eerie, but having him being stuck with you and trying to catch up with your every step? Double scary.

* The prospect of being buried alive is NightmareFuel, no matter how you slice it.

* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical, tragic Tobias Kluckert as Roderick, and Oliver Feld (as the narrator) who is excellently understated and subtle for most part, but can express hysteria and fear ''very'' well.

* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical, tragic Tobias Kluckert as Roderick, and Oliver Feld (as the narrator) who is excellently understated for most part, but can express hysteria and fear very well, and is ''very'' good at crying, especially in the last episode, making this dramatisation NightmareFuel and a TearJerker at the same time.

[[AC: The Fall of the House of Usher]]
* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical, tragic Tobias Kluckert as Roderick, and Oliver Feld (as the narrator) who is excellently understated for most part, but can express hysteria and fear very well, and is ''very'' good at crying, especially in the last episode, making this dramatisation NightmareFuel and a TearJerker at the same time.

* A well-cast German dramatisation of it which is truly spine-chilling, even if you don't understand the language. We have a wonderfully, increasingly hysterical Tobias Kluckert, and Oliver Feld who is excellently understated for most part and is astonishingly good at conveying fear and despair.

* Both James Earl Jones'[[hottip:for WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, oddly enough]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilu-OznMktA Christopher Walken's readings]] are very chilling.

* The whole chamber is pure High Octane Nightmare Fuel, especially the thought of being crushed by two, moving walls.

* The prospect of being buried alive is HighOctaneNightmareFuel, no matter how you slice it.

[[AC: The Pit and the Pendulum]]
* The whole chamber is pure High Octane Nightmare Fuel. Especially the thought of being crushed by two, moving walls. Also, the pit itself was quite creepy.

* Helplessly watching death tick closer and closer... ''tick tock, swish swoosh.''

[[AC: The Tell-Tale Heart]]
* How in the world could someone be so calm for killing someone, then chopping their limbs off and stuffing them under floorboards? Not even that, but ''SITTING'' on them!
** A dangerous madman, who else?
* "The Tell-Tale Heart", while creepy, doesn't fall into this when you just read it. But that dramatic monologue, acted aloud in a theatre, increasingly hysterical and seesawing between cool description and feverish mania, with the last line either screamed or sobbed -- yeah.
** You think that's creepy? Try the audiobook version. Following the scene where the narrator does his thing, they start playing a sound every second or so. At first you think you're hearing things, until the point where it gets loud enough to know that you're listening to a heartbeat.

[[AC: The Premature Burial]]
* The prospect of being buried alive is HighOctaneNightmareFuel, no matter how you slice it.

[[AC: The Raven]]
* Both James Earl Jones'[[hottip:for WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, oddly enough]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilu-OznMktA Christopher Walken's readings]] are very chilling.

* Most of EdgarAllanPoe's fiction is too nondescript to really qualify for this, but in the little-known tale "The Facts in the Strange Case of M. Valdemar", a man hypnotized on the brink of death is frozen there for weeks. When he's brought out of the trance, he rots, in a matter of seconds, into a putrid mass.
** The first time reading ''Fall of the House of Usher'' is surefire sleep-deprivation.
** "The Cask of Amontillado". Shiver.
*** Try watching the animated adaptation, in a dark room, surrounded by people you know would be delighted to do this to you. Especially when [[spoiler: the characters start screaming, and there's a closeup on their distorted faces.]]
** "The Black Cat." Seriously.
-->"Gentlemen, I delight to have allayed your suspicions. These walls where are you going, gentlemen? These walls are solidly put together."
** Actually, that ending made me laugh so hard I felt from my chair. However, the descriptions of the decaying mental health of the protagonist (that happens for apparently no reason at all, IIRC) and the way he treats the poor cats were very unsettling, specially since I love cats.
** "The Masque of the Red Death".
-->"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their reve, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
** "The Tell-Tale Heart", while creepy, doesn't fall into this when you just read it. Now try sitting in a darkened theater, listening to someone read that dramatic monologue out loud, growing increasingly hysterical and seesawing between cool description and feverish mania, with the last line either screamed or sobbed. Yeah.
*** You think that's creepy? Try an audiobook version of this tale. At 14, I borrowed an audiobook collection of Poe stories from my library. During "The Tell-Tale Heart", following the scene where the narrator does his thing, they start playing a sound every second or so. At first you think you're hearing things, until the point where it gets loud enough to know that you're listening to a heartbeat. Gave this one nightmares for a month, that did.
*** [[TenderLumpling I concur]]. "The Raven" is my all-time favorite poem, and it's ''creepy'' when you read it, but that's basically it. Then I heard [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilu-OznMktA this version, read by Christopher Walken]]. * epic shudder*
*** Or a theater where the narrator delivers the opening monologue polishing a spoon. They never call attention to it and it's never mentioned in the story, but ever since, I've pictured a spoon being the tool of choice for disposing of horrible vulture eyes.
*** [[Tropers/SukiSelfDestruct I'll]] top that. 7th grade English class, the day before Winter Break. Your dramatic, though generally funny, English teacher pulls this out. And reads it very, very... insanely. Scared me a little, scared maybe half the class ''a lot''.
** "The Murders In the Rue Morgue." Historical note: The first detective story, ever. The murderer's identity kind of ruins it as murder mystery, but ramps up the scare factor.
** "The Pit and the Pendulum." Helplessly watching death tick closer and closer...
** I love Poe, but I've only read one story of his that really got to me - and nothing actually happens. But the ''descriptions''... It's "The Premature Burial." And it's true-to-life for the time period.

[[AC: William Wilson]]
* William Wilson runs into all kinds of trouble because of his drinking and partying.

[[AC: The Raven]]
* Ok, so it is not really scary to modern audiences, but it when it was read by James Earl Jones (for WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, oddly enough) it was suddenly very chilling.

[[AC: The Masque Of The Red Death]]
* The description of the disease, and the ending.

* The whole concept is terrifying, especially the ending where [[spoiler: Valdemar's body suddenly decayed into a gelatinous mass.]] This story must have been doubly unsettling to the people who thought it was a real scientific report back when it was originally published.