Episode 4: The Sphinx by Edgar Allen Poe

Summary: A man encounters a terrific monster and believes it to be an omen of his own death. Background Information: "The Sphinx" was only published once, in Philadelphia's Arthur's Ladies Magazine during January of 1846. The story takes place right outside of New York City, where Poe was living with Virginia at the time. The story is set fourteen years into the past in 1832, when a terrible epidemic of cholera had indeed infected the people of New York City. This is a historical fact, and thousands of people died as a result. The relevance to Poe's time is that, in 1846, a new sort of epidemic had infected the populace, principally his very wife, Virginia. The horror that the narrator reflects throughout his tale for his dying friends no doubt reveals Poe's own fears about the imminent death that is soon to claim Virginia's life, which shall be taken a year later on January 30, 1847.Narrated by and Sound Design by Jon Fredette.