There are few things as chilling as commemorating the 160th anniversary of the death of noted poet and horror author Edgar Allan Poe within the confines of his former Philadelphia home.

Yet, that is just what a few brave fans did this past week.

The impromptu evening tour of the author's former home began after a scheduled speech by Poe-relative and historian, Harry Lee Poe, was delayed last week.

Poe, who shares his famous relative's last name and occupation, is an author and serves as chair of faith and culture at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

He was scheduled to speak on his ancestor's demise and his own new book, Edgar Allan Poe: A Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, on the day commemorating the death of Edgar Allan Poe on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the German Society of Pennsylvania, 7th and Spring Garden streets.

But, he would be 90 minutes late.

A quick-thinking Helen McKenna, park ranger of the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, located across the street from the society building at 532 N. 7th St., decided that a nighttime tour of the author's former home would be appropriate.

"I talked with Dr. Poe, and he said that this is very appropriate because it is the anniversary of the late Mr. Poe, and we will celebrate it with the 'late' Dr. Poe," she joked.

So, instead of a speech, fans were first treated to a tour in which they learned the bizarre fate of the man who was not only a horror author, but could also be said to have created the entire genre of mystery and detective fiction.

In telling the tale of Poe's death, it's important to note that when he died on Oct. 7, 1849, in Baltimore, it was amid a strange series of circumstances.

At the time of his death, the author, who had been poor for most of his life, was at a relative high point in his career and personal life.

After struggling to make a living for years as a literary critic and author, he had found fame with his 1845 poem, The Raven.

As evident in many of his works, Poe was saddened for many years because his first wife, Virginia, was suffered with tuberculosis for much of their marriage. Virginia, a cousin whom he married when she was 13 and he was 27, would eventually die of the disease in 1847.

Yet, two years after Virginia's death, Poe had reconnected with a childhood sweetheart and was planning to remarry.

Days before he died, Poe was in the process of heading north from Richmond, Va. He had spent much of his early life there and returned after Virginia's death. There, he rekindled a relationship with Sarah Elmira Royster.

He would die in Baltimore, Md., while en route to New York, where the wedding was to be held.

Strangely, Poe was found in a seemingly inebriated state outside of a tavern that was in use as a polling place on the day of a local election.

More peculiar was that Poe, who by then had become a public figure and had a steady source of income by making personal appearances, was found wearing tattered clothes that fit poorly and likely weren't his own.

The man who found and assisted the disheveled Poe thought at the time that the author had been robbed of his own clothes.