ABSTRACT
Poe's tales of mesmeric mystification — ‘Mesmeric Revelation’ and ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’ — aroused considerable interest and excitement, and were widely printed. The gruesome ‘Valdemar’ hoax held a particular fascination for English readers; Elizabeth Barrett spoke of it as ‘throwing us all into “most admired disorder”, and dreadful doubts as to whether “it can be true”, as the children say of ghost stories’ (Works,17, 229). The story appeared in the Sunday Times and the prestigious Morning Post,before being taken up by the Popular Record,which was interested in ‘disputed doctrines’ of all kinds, including mesmerism. In a belated expose of the Popular Record's gullibility, Poe declared: ‘This work has a vast circulation, and is respected by eminent men’ (Graham's Magazine,March 1848, 12, 178–9); but the claim seems exaggerated.
