Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1819 to actors David and Eliza Poe. By age 2, his mother had passed away and he was taken in by John and Frances Allan. As a teenager, Poe attended the University of Virginia but dropped out due to gambling debts. He later enrolled in the US Army under an assumed name before marrying his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836. During this time, Poe wrote many of his famous horror stories including "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum." In 1849 at age 40, Poe mysteriously disappeared during a trip to New York, and was later found delirious