This article has been corrected since it first appeared online.
Stephen Smith, an acclaimed actor and artistic director of Threedumb Theatre in England, performs Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” at The Poe Museum.
Few 19th-century writers hold the timeless appeal of Edgar Allan Poe. The author’s wayward life and stories of murder and madness continue to fascinate people of all ages, particularly during the spooky weeks leading up to Halloween.
Staff at The Poe Museum on East Main Street max out the macabre with educational programs and special events devoted to the famous writer, who grew up in Richmond and spent part of his adult life here. Live readings and performances are “the most effective way to teach Poe,” according to Director of Education Emma Clark, who notes that student groups come to the museum from as far away as Virginia Beach.
To kick off the popular “A Narrator on Trial” program (among the museum’s many offerings for student visitors), Museum Curator Chris Semtner recites “The Tell-Tale Heart” from memory, embodying the narrator who killed an old man because he could no longer stand looking at his “vulture eye.” Semtner has performed the program for sixth to 12th grade students for at least a decade. Classes are split into two, with half arguing that the narrator is reliable and the other half declaring him unreliable in a courtroom-style format.
“That’s a skill you need for the rest of your life, to distinguish fact from fiction. Who can be trusted, who’s unreliable?” Semtner says. “It’s also a good way to get the kids engaged. If you can make them jump, you’ve done something right. Who else has a field trip where you get someone to scare the bejesus out of you?”
Out of character, Smith discusses Poe with 11th grade English students from Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville.
Education Coordinator Meg Luffman started a Gothic fiction writing workshop this year. She gives students excerpts from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” and they assess the elements of the plot before writing their own ghastly tales. “They will construct and build the plot using bricks,” Luffman says. The bricks are a callback to the moment in the story when the narrator builds his rival into a wall and leaves him to die.
The Poe Museum offers historical programs as well. “We have a curatorial program now that focuses on historical comprehension called ‘What’s in Poe’s Trunk?’ They have many objects in the trunk that they can touch. It’s a hands-on, sensory experience,” Clark explains.
The trunk is one of many of Poe’s belongings in the museum. He left it at the Swan Tavern in Richmond before heading to Baltimore, where he died under mysterious circumstances on Oct. 7, 1849.
Clark believes young people still relate to Poe, even when they struggle with his arcane language. “The kids have such a good time here,” she says. “It may not always be Poe-specific, but there are aspects in the world of Poe they are really drawn to, whether it’s pop culture references … like ‘Nevermore’ from the Wednesday Addams show, Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ or just general gothic, dreary stories. They tend to attach to that.”
Noting that Poe grew up with foster parents and was an outcast, Clark adds, “Most of our programs are [for students in] middle and high school. They are going through tough personal life changes. The world around them can be quite scary at times. Gothic is a perfect way for them at that age to address some of those personal and cultural fears they may be facing and express them through writing.”
To further that connection, the museum is hosting three Poe-centric contests this year. Students are invited to write a sequel to one of Poe’s short stories or create an artwork in any medium inspired by his tales. Adults are challenged to explore the relationship between Poe and writer Witold Krull, a fictional resident of the gothic-themed indoor golf venue Hotel Greene on East Franklin Street, which is cohosting the contest. Entries for the contests are due by Halloween.
(From left) Edgar, one of The Poe Museum’s pair of resident cats, poses with Miller School students Hannah and Emma.
The Poe Museum isn’t just popular with students. Guest numbers overall have been steadily rising over the past five years. Approximately 15,000 people visit each year, with 2,000 to 3,000 of them touring in October. “We are one of the few museums that, post-COVID, have really increased our field trip and visitation numbers,” Clark notes.
The surge in popularity comes as staff nears completion on a revamp. Semtner debuted a more morbid “death room” last month, featuring skull-accented wallpaper for an unsettling experience. In addition, he says, the museum is exhibiting more artifacts from Poe’s turbulent life. “We’re bursting at the seams. We keep getting more things.”
In particular, he notes, Poe collector Susan Jaffe Tane recently donated nearly 80 items, including a piece of the author’s coffin, manuscripts, his tea set and the watch he owned when he wrote the simile “like a watch enveloped in cotton,” to describe the old man’s heartbeat in “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
If you can’t make it for Halloween, Poe isn’t going anywhere. Museum events for adults include monthly Tell-Tale Talks that feature local authors and Unhappy Hours that promise “a miserable time” with musicians, food trucks and craft beverages, both hosted in the garden from March or April to October. A quarterly Know Your Poe series offers a deep dive into the author’s life and works via quarterly worldwide Zoom sessions.
As Semtner says, “Every day is Halloween at The Poe Museum.”
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