Which, considering, there weren't all that many facts related to Poe presented that evening. And the facts weren't so much spooky as just plain tragic. She discussed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and a spate of suicides of NYU students - Poe's mother-in-law postulated it was caused by Lenape Indians from their built-over burial grounds, rather than, say, depression or schizophrenia, which both tend to first manifest in college students. That kind of thing.
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| Aliza, Starra, Poe's mother-in-law and me |
The guide would occasionally stop to quiz the group on our historical knowledge and I was amazed that I appeared to be the only one there who knew who Aaron Burr, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Emma Lazarus were. That might have been the scariest aspect of the whole tour.
Then we ate at an Italian place called La Lanterna diVittorio on Macdougal Street and shared a nice bottle of 2010 Rosenblum Syrah. That was the best part of the evening.