Exquisite Wickedness: Two Murders and the Making of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

"The Tell-Tale Heart," has inspired artists, filmmakers, and writers since its first publication in 1843. But it was two murders a decade apart that helped inspire Poe to write his macabre masterwork of psychological fiction. In Salem, Massachusetts, in April 1830, the ruthless murder of an old and wealthy sea captain rattled the city's rich, sullied Salem's reputation, and helped launch America's obsession with true crime. A decade later, in December 1840, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, a w...