“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.”
— Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial

Edgar Allan Poe is one of America's most famous—and most mysterious—writers. His tales of murder, madness, buried treasure, and the supernatural helped create the modern tradition of horror, while his own short and troubled life has inspired almost as many legends as his stories.

Poe spent only a brief period in Charleston, but the city became connected to some of his most enduring stories and to a mystery that has remained hidden for generations.

On this two-hour walking tour, we follow a trail of stories, legends, and clues through the historic heart of Charleston—and into the darkest corner of Poe's past.

We make our way through colonial-era streets, where houses crowd close together, and visit one of the oldest houses in Charleston while exploring Poe's classic tale of buried treasure, The Gold-Bug. We follow a narrow cobblestone road to a historic theatre haunted by ghosts who may offer clues to the poet's greatest secret.

Along the way, we visit Charleston's Fireproof Building, whose creation was inspired by a gruesome tragedy connected to Poe's past. We also visit the legendary Pirate House and uncover a little-known ghost story, only recently rediscovered, that may have inspired one of Poe's earliest macabre tales.

But these stories are more than isolated pieces of Charleston's haunted history. Taken together, they form a trail of clues leading toward a mystery surrounding Poe's life, his work, and his connection to Charleston.