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book 1907

The Pit and the Pendulum

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"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed, but critical reception has been mixed. The tale has been adapted to film several times.

Creators

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Edgar Allan Poe

author

Fiction Fiction, general children's fiction Short stories Fiction, thrillers, suspense Fiction, horror American literature American fiction (fictional works by one author) Horror stories Horror tales fear Inquisition short story Prisoners American horror tales American Short stories Spanish Inquisition pendulums

More by Edgar Allan Poe

Full filmography →

The Personal Poe Collection (Annabel Lee / Berenice / Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Hop-Frog / Masque of the Red Death / Pit and the Pendulum / Raven / System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether / Tell-Tale Heart)

2020

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Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories (Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Fall of the House of Usher / Ligeia / Masque of the Red Death / Murders in the Rue Morgue / Pit and the Pendulum / Purloined Letter / Tell-Tale Heart / William Wilson)

2020

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Selected Works of Edgar Allan Poe [22 stories, 19 poems]

2020

The Masque of the Red Death and Punch Brothers Punch

2020

A Selection of Short Tales and The Raven (Berenice / Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Eleonora / Loss of Breath / Premature Burial / Raven / Tell-Tale Heart)

2019