The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Title: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Narrator: Jonathan Dunne

Original Publication: 1845

Public Domain: Yes

Series Placement: Number 48 in the Timeless Terrors series

Description:

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most macabre and unsettling tales — a dark blend of science, mesmerism, and the boundaries of death itself.

Told in the clinical yet horrified voice of a mesmerist, the story recounts an experiment performed on a dying man — one meant to test whether the human spirit can be held between life and death by hypnosis. What follows is a grotesque and unforgettable account of suspended mortality, decomposition, and the terrible price of curiosity.

A masterpiece of Gothic horror and proto-science fiction, Poe’s tale remains as shocking today as it was in 1845 — a story that anticipates both modern medical ethics and the existential terror of consciousness trapped beyond the grave.

Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance channels Poe’s eerie precision and the suffocating dread of the impossible made real. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne.

Part of Timeless Terrors, a series devoted to resurrecting the masters of the macabre and uncanny, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar endures as one of Poe’s most chilling studies in the unnatural stillness between death and decay — where science dares to trespass upon the soul.