The Black Cat: A Tale of Madness & Murder
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Masterfully gothic with looming imagery and sinister undertones. The Black Cat, as always with Edgar Allan Poe's work, the bad guy gets his comeuppance at the paws of a Black Cat and in this case the malign agent of destiny, the fuliginous feline nemesis casts huge shadows from dancing flames. A cracking story with overblown language and the opportunity for the humble narrator to indulge his purple tendencies of the overblown, overstated and overweening. You can't beat Poe for histrionics and this has them in spades. Purrrrr! Who's on team Black Cat?
#edgar allan poe the black cat, #edgar allan poe, #the black cat, edgar allan poe (author), the black cat (short story), gothic stories by edgar allan poe, black cat
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I have a Black Cat...I love all animals; I believe their Empathy & Loyalty, far surpass that of Humanity. This is one Poe story I had never read, because of the torture inflicted on this helpless animal. I found it very hard going.
I literally hate this story. I'm not interested in Poe anymore because of this story.
@@siliconpenguin I do not believe in sanitising Literature, or indeed anything... slippery slope; however it is a tough story to digest, if you care about Animals
@@marisaranieri2745 I didn't say a word about "sanitizing" anything. I made no recommendations to anyone else about anything at all. I just personally found the story disgusting. I found this story so repulsive that I have lost all interest in the author. I've liked a double handful of stories from him before, but this one did it for me.
As to your slippery slope comment? I hope you sanitize your dirty dishes before you eat off them a second time. Hygiene can be a very important thing, including mental hygiene! I say this to you in jest, but seriously. I believe in having an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.
Look, you won't find a stauncher supporter of free speech then I. And I'm about as anti-cancel culture as they come. But just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you should do said thing. For me personally, I draw a line between a story that tells about a child or animal being tortured/killed, and a story that goes into the graphic details of how the deed was done. The investigators of the crime need to know the details, the judge and jury need to know the details, but I don't. But by all means, if a reader likes to read about those details, I don't want to stop them.
@@siliconpenguin Gosh...🙄 I am presently experiencing the most dreadful time in my entire life & these stories have been a welcome distraction. My comments were general & not directed at you, personally. I rarely reply, comment or interact on these Forums & I think I will adhere to this mindset from here on. I wish you well.
@@marisaranieri2745 I love Tony's podcasts. And most of the comments are pretty positive. I hope you didn't feel like I was attacking you, I didn't mean to come off like that, and I'm sorry if you felt I was. I'd also recommend Horrorbabble for high quality ghost stories, etc. th-cam.com/users/HorrorBabble
None can describe inner demons better than Poe, nor a more gripping, powerful presentation of these than you, Tony. Thank you.
The most frightening thing about Mr Poe's story is how alcohol can change some people into something else. It is a cautionary tale, I believe. I don't think it was all comfortable for Edgar to write, he kept saying "his crime against the poor beast" and he also said something like "a blush of colour came to my face when recalling the cruelty of my actions" (I don't have the quote down perfectly). I admit the part about the cat's eye made me tear up and I got angry. I have a large black cat, Hemingway, who was watching me as I listened to the story. I felt a surge of rage at Edgar Allan Poe for a moment but then rational thought took over and I realized it was indeed a cautionary tale.
It's funny but cruelty to cats in these stories doesn't cause the depth charge of rageful comments that cruelty to dogs does. I have had some lovely cats in my time.
@@ClassicGhost What you said here is true, I have seen it in many a comment sections. I have 3 dogs and can't hear of any dog mistreatment without losing my mind. But any animal cruelty real or fictional causes me pain and sometimes I can't let go of it for days or longer.... During the "cat eye" scene my cat was staring at me and tears came to my eyes and I swore and raged at Poe, and then I calmed myself and rational thought came. I believe with everything in me that this was a cautionary tale of the dangers of alcohol and lack of control over our emotions- I don't have this problem with my emotions at all... lol 🙃😉
It is a revolting story and I really dislike it but that's a credit to Poe that he's managed to do that. The feelings last long after you close the book and I don't get that with many. "Watership Down" by Richard Adams would be another example
Great reading, thanks Tony. I visited Poe's grave - in a fairly sketchy neighbourhood in Baltimore - a few years ago and just sat with him for a while. One of the most haunting, and haunted, of writers.
I would like to do that. The most moving writer's grave I visited was W B Yeats just outside Sligo. Not sure why it moved me so much. I liked his work of course, but the ordinariness of the grave really struck me.
Thank you, Mr. Tony, for a learned medical explanation of what probably happened to E.A.P. as well as the great narration.
Thank you Tony! Seems like Poe was honest with his struggles and brutally put them on paper. 😁
I love the measured tone of your voice as horror piled on horror! That story disturbs me,,,,
I love black cats
I think this story is basically about alcoholism and the madness it can induce.
Lol, I started listening because I love my black cat so much. Maybe this was a mistake.
17:33 This story is very hard for me. I feel so bad for the wife, the animals, mostly Pluto and the new cat.
Very well done! I get much too excited when I get notification that you have posted a story! Your storytelling does not disappoint.
A masterpiece indeed! Love to read it time & again! Thank you Mr. Poe!
I've always considered that the titular cat is the hero of the story and the narrator the villain. Maybe the cat's just a cat or maybe it's the avatar of a larger cosmic justice; either way it's clearly the sympathetic focus of the piece.
Thank you for another great reading, you are the best narrator of these stories. And I like the interesting information after.
Thanks Carol
I would love it if you would read Poe's Masque of the Red Death. My favorite Poe story, and very apt for the mess we're in.
You got it.
@@ClassicGhost Thank you, can't wait!
I'm going to hit the like button because you did an excellent job of reading this story @ClassicGhostStories.
This was a very hard story for me.
Excellent post story chat with this one. Fully agree with you about the damage Wernicke Korsakoff does to the brain. I find it's one of the hardest conditions to nurse. You've got someone who's likely to have historic trauma, an individual who uses alcohol as a coping mechanism, likely another MH condition already in there, now you add in Wernicke's with dementia... it's tough. For a legal drug, alcohol causes a lot of damage.
I’m not a cat lover, never have been, but that wouldn’t make me a cat hater. I would never hurt or harass one. I just avoid them. Plus, now I have reason to stay away, because I later discovered I was allergic to them.
They are stunning creatures, with exceptional physical abilities and beauty. But their attitude is not that of a real pet. The saying that dogs have owners while cats have staff seems to be true. Also true about their attitude is the saying that women admire in cats what they despise in men. :)
I’ve not heard that about women and cats. Winston Churchill said anti dogs looking up at you, cats looking down and pigs meeting you eye to eye. Im sure I can find a story about a pig.
@@ClassicGhost Pigs! Lol. That’s funny.
awesome.Thank you kindly
I love your....after story commentary
And thank you for an important informative indsigt after the presentation of the story!!! Masterful.
Always love listening to these stories on my way home from work, I've been listening to quite a lot of CBS radio mystery theater lately but there's too much sci fi and not enough scares.
Your medical information was very useful and appreciated, thank you.
Last year I was in love with a black kitten that came to my garden every day. He was all black but one whisker. I was hoping it was a stray so I could adopt it. As soon as I opened the door it was inside. I found it many times lounging on my sofa. Yet it didn't want anything to do with me. It would hang on my skirt but as soon as I looked at it, it ran away. Playing hard to get, just getting close enough to reject me.
It scratches me when I work in my garden. Well, that killed the love.
I would love a kitten to come and be my friend
@@ClassicGhost Me too, Tony, me too
Quickly added to my download list.
Very enjoyable and evocative. Thank you.
I vaguely remembered this from long ago, and only listened because I like to listen to all of your stuff. Hard to hear, and I have a bone to pick with Poe. If you tried to do that to a cat, you'd get torn to pieces in the process!
+Carol Rios True. I like cats myself
I lost my taste for alcohol somewhere around my 40th birthday...not really a conscious decision...just didn't want it anymore.
I never liked the protagonist in this story either. He deserved what was coming to him.
Fantastoc narration of a classic!
Saw this story and had to click right away! It’s one of my favourites. As a nurse I enjoyed the refresher course on ETOH withdrawal. I encounter that in the medicine and surgical ward I work on.
Since you are accepting requests, I would like to hear “The Judge’s House” by Bram Stoker. And anything of J S le Fanu. Oh and The Upper Berth, by F. Marion Crawford.
That was great thank you
Yeah! First viewer 😎💜
Yes you are!
I am disgusted by cruelty to animals. I didn't finish this.
Dear Tony - I grew up in the Phila. Poe House as my parents were caretakers many yrs ago- the cellar has a wall area which is supposed to have inspired The Black Cat.
Wow, that's a great talking point. I wonder if Poe would have been good fun to meet up with.
Eddie was a wonderful man - no doubt! I feel as if he is a member of my family!@@ClassicGhost
I have a black cat..
Poe wasn't a drunk you might want to check your facts.
True! So tired of hearing this! He was ALLERGIC to alcohol! Some trouble with opium though, but then many did in 19th century.
@Andrew-if3sd o think the misconception of him being a drunk comes from the same place as that misconception for Doc Holiday; at that time, Laudnum, which is basically powdered opium was given in as a fine powder, which you were to mix with a liquid when ingested. A lot, and I mean a lot of people would mix it with whiskey or beer.
I've never heard that Poe was allergic to alcohol. Learn something new every day
@@jerichohill487 what I read was that only ONE drink was enough for him according to witnesses, today this can be seen as an allergy, because of the severe intolerance, compared to moderate drinkers.
@Andrew-if3sd huh. That's kinda cool.
But it makes me wonder, cause alcohol intensifies the effects of opiates .
Either way, light weight drinker
What a change is brought on the character by his alcoholism . From a loving person he changed into a devil. It's a shame to use the word beast for him.
Dear Mr. Walker, please would you consider recording a reading of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"? I read this as a straightforward horror story when I was a child, and only as an adult did I come to suspect a further dimension to the tale. It was apparently a story about a foolish man who is tricked into a position which allows someone he has wronged to murder him in revenge. As a teenager or adult I suddenly thought, "what if Fortunato (the victim) wasn't foolish, but was innocent and therefore unsuspecting?" You are probably saying "well, duh!" now, but hey, growth of intellect, child's view, etc. I'd love to hear your speculations, as a medical professional, upon this story. I'd also love to hear your rendition of the victim's plaintive howl "for the love of God, Montressor!" and your opinion of the murderer's mocking answer. Congratulations on your reading and conclusions with the story about the psychopathic cat killer. Yeah, gotta be.
it's certainly on my radar. It will probably be the next Poe I do, if I am spared, God willing etc.
@@ClassicGhost Wonderful! I shall look forward to that.😁
Can't listen to this one...or rather, won't.
The cat is vindicated in the end, and brings about his downfall.
🐈⬛
I can't stand cruelty to animals and did wonder if I would make it to the end of the story. Although his comeuppance at the end was somewhat satisfying I suppose.
Heroic work then. This is probably one of the nastiest animal cruelty stories in the genre.
👏👏👏👏❤️❤️
Do you think had narcissistic amd or psychopathic character traits. He seems to understand it well
Shrug. Hard to say. Lots of people who are successful or in the public eye have narcissistic traits. But these things are spectrums (spectra) rather than black and white. We all have different personality traits, it's just that sometimes we max out on them and they become a problem for ourselves or others.
A story should have a "message".
Whether it's seen is another issue
Over thinkers like a drink, I think Poe himself had his issues with it.