Imitating Poe's Techniques

Creating a haunted house story seems like a simple task, but no one could create a masterpiece as chilling as those of the master, Edgar Allan Poe. It has been common for modern authors and screenwriters to mimic his creepy techniques. He keeps his readers on their toes and craving more. If I were faced with the task of creating a haunted house tale I would undoubtedly imitate Poe’s skills.

The primary strategies I would copy from Poe are the following: presence of a naïve narrator, personification of the setting, vague ending, minimal gore, and perverse sexual behavior. Throughout his story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe exemplifies these skills. Some of these techniques are what make Poe so unique. He pioneered many techniques in this genre. Some movies nowadays rely on excessive gore and detail to make their stories scary. Though those tactics can be truly bone chilling, I don’t find them to be quite as effective.

I would use the naïve narrator technique to increase suspense and to keep the reader on their toes and engaged in the story. This ensures that the reader has to really think about what’s going on by withholding important information. Another strategy I would imitate is the personification of the setting. Poe’s story is the first to make the physical house itself the ghost. This creates an eerie, unsafe feeling, especially when the house crumbles at the end. This leads me to another technique I would imitate, a vague ending. At the end of the story the reader is not entirely sure of what exactly happened to all of the characters.

The less significant things that I would copy from Poe are minimal gore and perverse sexual behavior. In the short story, Poe never describes murder or the death of Roderick’s sister. In other works, it is extremely common for the murder scene to be intense and sickening. This technique keeps the death mysterious and allows the reader’s mind to wander. The last technique I would copy is rather disgusting; it is the inclusion of perverse sexual behavior. In the story it is implied that Roderick’s sister is more than simply his sister (GROSS). This revolting quality is something that makes the story even more twisted and creepy. With these techniques, my story would be truly frightening.