Review: Horror Story: "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe

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The unnamed narrator of this gruesome, well-known little tale has run afoul of (no one expects!) the Spanish Inquisition. Other than being a “recusant,” (that is, he’s refusing to submit) he offers no explanation as to what he did to earn their ire. And the stuff they put him through! It’s clear he’s already been tortured when the story opens. He faints and comes to someplace in the pitch dark. Is he in his coffin? No, a cell. He walks along the wall, trying to get a feel for the size of the room. Faints again. Comes to. Finds food and water waiting for him, as well as rats. ICK. He continues to walk along the wall. Trips. Hits the ground, finds his face hanging over an abyss— When he wakes next, he is strapped to a board, looking up. The walls glow faintly. At the top of the room is a figure of Father Time. He eventually realizes Father Time’s pendulum is descending ever so slowly. The bottom of the pendulum is sharpened and aimed to hit him right about heart level. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, they suddenly do. But he has a lot of time to think… This is one the few of Poe’s stories that doesn’t bring in supernatural, but it is fantastic. The Inquisition did torture and maim people in exquisite ways, but not by the means like Poe sets out. That is, no collapsing rooms, no descending sharpened pendulums. The Inquisition existed in Poe’s day, though it wasn't very active. Indeed it still exists, renamed and with rather better manners. Nevertheless, this is the essence of horror and dread, appealing to the senses: the sound of the pendulum swinging back and forth, the feel of the wall, and so on. Not something to read just before going to bed, even though you know from the opening lines the poor devil survives his torture. This has been adapted for film several times. This story is available from Project Gutenberg: _____ Title: “The Pit and the Pendulum” Author: Edgar Allan Poe First published: The Gift, a Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843 October, 1842 Source: ISFDB