His literary genius  

I didn't become familiar with Edgar Allen Poe until high school. We had to read several of his short stories and poems in an English class. i was fascinated by the raven and the pit and the pendulum as well. His writing just struck something inside me. I have read several things by Poe and I still react to it in the same way. The eerie words he penned are immortal!

I like The Fall of The House of Usher . I don't really know why except that I thought the end was very chilling and something about it just grabbed me and pulled me into the story .

My favorite has always been the Pit and the Pendulum. Growing up, our family frequently went to visit my grandparents. While there, there really wasn't much to do for a young teen, other that waiting for the 'grown-ups' to get ready to 'go somewhere' or 'do something'. This was a time before cable tv or the internet. My grandmother had a 10 volume set of Edgar Allen Poe works, for which I was thankful. I spent a lot of time reading, Mr. Poe became my favorite author and still is to this day.
I don't know if you've ever heard of Sheldon Rusch, but he writes mysteries that are built around Poe stories. Check them out, I think you'll like them.

I haven't read all of his works, but The Black Cat is my favorite so far. I'm not really sure why, but the whole idea of it is just really haunting and I love the twists of it.