In October of 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious and dying in the streets of Baltimore — wearing another man’s clothes and unable to explain how he’d gotten there. Days later, his rival published a venomous obituary… and with it, Poe’s final poem, Annabel Lee — a haunting tale of forbidden love and loss “in a kingdom by the sea.”

Over a century later, Charleston, South Carolina, would claim to know exactly who she was. Locals tell of a young woman named Anna Ravenel, a Charleston heiress who fell in love with a soldier stationed on Sullivan’s Island — a man serving under the alias Edgar A. Perry. Their secret meetings in an overgrown cemetery ended in tragedy, and to this day, visitors swear her ghost still wanders the paths beneath the moss-draped oaks.

Was Annabel Lee inspired by Poe’s lost wife, or by the Southern romance that Charleston swears was real? In this episode, we explore the mystery behind one of literature’s most haunting love stories — and the Lowcountry legend that refuses to let it rest.

Additional voiceovers on this week's episode were performed by Forrest Burgess of ⁠Astonishing Legends⁠, Gavin Whitehead of ⁠The Art of Crime⁠, and Jen Flanders of ⁠Our True Crime Podcast⁠.

If you're in Charleston, SC then be sure to ⁠book a tour with Mike Brown of Pleasing Terrors⁠ & tell him we sent you!

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The Forbidden Love of Annabel Lee | Encore Episode