The Pit and the Pendulum [short story]

This novella is even shorter (20 pages) than Poe's others, but the mastery he displays in it is all the more striking. Once again, we see through the eyes of an unnamed man. He has just been condemned by the Holy Inquisition in the Spanish city of Toledo. The opening scene is simply unparalleled. This is followed by passages typical of Poe, in which the prisoner in darkness explores his cell using his senses and reasoning. Even more typical: when a little light enters, it becomes clear that he has been utterly mistaken about the appearance of his cell. Poe then treats us to a – literally – breathtaking scene with a pendulum that threatens to sever him. Once again, observation, analysis, and reasoning skills are called for. I'm show more really starting to think that this is what Poe is always about: describing how humans relate to the world around them, how they use their senses and brain, and how (usually) that prove to be less than perfect instruments.
For me, this short story is the absolute highlight of Poe's oeuvre. Unsurpassed. show less

Waking up in darkness, fearing a live burial; groping in the darkness almost falling into a pit; bound to a framework under a swinging pendulum while rats rush for their midnight snack; sizzling iron walls squeezing together, but not to cook hamburgers. These could be scenes from Indiana Jones and the Dungeons of Toledo. And yet, The Pit and the Pendulum is classic Poe: heart throbbing, adrenaline rushing, spine tinkling and hair raising suspense and terror. The story triumphs not only through its content but also its form; the words and sentences, like spectral needles and blades, pierce memory and imagination to engrave a tangy nightmare. Yes, before Stephen King, there was Edgar Allan Poe. Bon appetite!

Short, creepy as all get pout, macabre, & insidious, it's Poe at his blackest. We never know the age or name of the young man who is sentenced to death & finds himself in a dungeon. As he feels his way around, he attempts to discover the dimensions of his prison, trips, & falls right at the edge of a pit in the center of the cell. Terrified, he retreats to the edge of the cell, where he drinks the water that's provided for him by an unknown hand. When he wakes next, it's discovered that the water was drugged, & he's strapped to a table in what amounts to mummy wrappings, & then he notices the razor edged pendulum above him. In the hours/days(?) even he himself doesn't know, he watches it descend little by little, it's scythed edge show more sweeping back & forth with a hiss. At first he embraces what is sure to be his certain death, then snaps out of it, & devises an ingenious way to escape his winding sheets. The rest of the story I won't spoil..... show less

Frankly, this remains today one of the most utterly disgusting tales in all of English literature. You can feel the nipping of the rats on your flesh as you read it.

A great psychological horror story, the kind of which Poe was a master. The title pretty much describes the main focus of the plot.

I love this story. It's creepy and it lingers in the brain forever.

I love this story. It's creepy and it lingers in the brain forever.