Lit tle known or interesting history facts.

Interesting (AND little known) historical fact.....

Edgar Allen Poe...  An American author, writer, poet, editor, and literary critic was perhaps best known for his poetry and short stories, many of which were dark or foreboding while maintaining a sense of mystery with a macabre undertone. Poe died in 1849 at the age of 40 years from a brain condition known as phrenetis, or hepatic encephalopathy which is a swelling or "congestion" of the brain. It is a common and polite way of saying "alcoholism". 

In 1838 while working as the editor of The Southern Literary Messenger, Poe wrote and published a work, purported to be fiction. This work was a mostly first-person accounting of a somewhat perilous journey by sailing ship as told by Arthur Gordon Pym to Poe. This work was entitled The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym Of Nantucket.  The story is that of Pym as told to Poe who wrote and edited it. Subsequently, Arthur Gordon Pym penned the Preface for the book and signed it AG Pym. In the Preface, Pym claimed to have actually written part of the text of the book and the balance was written by Poe. Regardless of who wrote what, there is a very interesting (and strange) bit of sub-text from the book and a follow-on story that takes it into the realm of a 'strange and little-known historical fact'. 

"Edgar Allen Poe’s 1838 novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, tells the story of four crewmen on a whaling ship who end up stranded. In order to survive, the crewmen draw lots to see who among them should be eaten. The lot lands on their cabin boy, Richard Parker.  Later, in 1884 (forty-six years after Poe's book was published), four crewmen aboard the yacht Mignonette capsized on their way to Sydney from London. Three of the crewmen decided to kill and eat the youngest and weakest among them – their nineteen-year-old cabin boy, Richard Parker."