“Nevermore: The Madness of Poe,” Universal Studios Florida, 2011.
On this date in 1809, legendary author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
In Poe’s time, he was known as a particularly vicious literary critic. Nowadays, he is remembered primarily as a writer of horror fiction and poetry, though his works also spanned the science fiction, humor and satire genres, among others. Poe is considered an originator of the detective fiction genre, and his works inspired other authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne [source].
In 2011, the works of Edgar Allan Poe served as the thematic basis for not one but two haunted attractions: “Nevermore” at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s Howl-O-Scream event, and “Nevermore: The Madness of Poe” at Universal Studios Florida’s Halloween Horror Nights.
The facade of the Halloween Horror Nights house, seen above, bore a portrait of the author and illuminated excerpts from his most famous works. The interior of the house featured scenes inspired by many of Poe’s works, including “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Masque of the Red Death” and, of course, “The Raven.”
Photo by HHN Yearbook.