Get ready for “Spooky Season” with a lecture about everyone’s favorite Gothic author, Edgar Allan Poe, and a dramatic reading of his works!

This after hours event will feature an illustrated lecture by Dr. Scott Peeples titled “Poe and the Charleston Literary Renaissance.” Dr. Peeple’s talk will focus on Charleston’s embrace of Edgar Allan Poe, and the lore that surrounds his year stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. Scott Peeples is a professor of English at the College of Charleston. He has written three books on Poe, most recently The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City (Princeton Univ. Press, 2020). Dr. Peeples is a past president and honorary member of the international Poe Studies Association, and he serves on the board of directors of the Richmond Poe Museum and the editorial board for the Edgar Allan Poe Review.

Dr. Peeple’s lecture will be followed by a dramatic reading by local guide and raconteur Randy Johnson of some of Poe’s most beloved works. Randy Johnson is a native-born Charlestonian. He spent his childhood exploring the ruins of Fort Moultrie and Johnson, where he developed a deep appreciation and respect for the utterly and profoundly sublime. Randy is now a recovering attorney and devotes his time to conducting ghost walks for Bulldog Tours. He is a lifelong Poe enthusiast and has self-published two works, one titled Charleston Eagle: The Butcher’s Temple and the other titled The Baptist Mystic (a gothic tale set in Magnolia Cemetery).

Tickets are $15 per person and seating is limited (40 people maximum), so don’t wait to register!