The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
| "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Edgar Allan Poe | |
Illustration for "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" by Harry Clarke, 1919. | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Suspense, hoax |
| Publication | |
| Published in | The American Review and Broadway Journal (simultaneously) |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | December 1845 |
"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is a short story by the American author Edgar Allan Poe about a mesmerist who puts a man in a suspended hypnotic state at the moment of death. An example of a tale of suspense and horror, it is also to a certain degree a hoax, as it was published without claiming to be fictional, and many at the time of publication (1845) took it to be a factual account. Poe admitted it to be a work of pure fiction in letters to his correspondents.