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Be Still Oh Heart and Edgar Allan Poe

© Sandra Linville

It is October in Shawnee. Scarecrows, corn stalks and pumpkins appear on front porches. Tiny orange and white gauze ghosts float from some trees as every day, leaves lose their connection to tree branches and flutter to the ground. An orange, brown, red and yellow mosaic covers the grass.

And my thoughts turn to my high school English teacher, William Johnston. I'm sure he is one of the reasons I revere the power of words. One of the moments I remember from my high school education in western Kansas is gazing out the window at the swirling autumn leaves whipped to a frenzy by the wind and listening as Mr. Johnston began reading:

"TRUE!-NERVOUS --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am! But why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses -- not destoyed -- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then am I mad? Hearken! And observe how healthily -- how calmly I can tell you the whole story."

And he began to read us The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. No sound effects. No music. No acting. He merely read what I still consider to be one of the scariest and most powerful short stories written. Mr. Johnston read to his high school students often. Even as a too-hip high schooler, I enjoyed it, especially when he read Poe.

The Tell-Tale Heart

If you haven't read The Tell-Tale Heart or if it has been awhile, you can read it at the online-library.org or at The PoeDecoder.

I would also recommend taking a few moments to listen to it at The Seeing Eye Theater. James Urbaniak does a very credible job reading this chilling story complete with sound effects designed by John Colucci. This presentation is adapted and produced by Phillip B. Smith. You'll need RealPlayer. I consider moments like this (not e-commerce) one of the real benefits of new technology and the Internet.

If you're considering a family or neighborhood Halloween party (make sure your guests don't scare easily) and need entertainment, you can try a play adapted from The Tell-Tale Heart by Aleister Crowley. The play requires six people.

"Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight -- with what dissimulation I went to work!

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