Morella

Title: Morella

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Narrator: Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne

Original Publication: April 1835 (in the Southern Literary Messenger)

Public Domain: Yes

Series Placement: Number 52 in the Timeless Terrors series

Description:

In Morella, Edgar Allan Poe delivers a chilling study of identity and the uncanny. The narrator’s wife, the brilliant and enigmatic Morella, immerses herself in metaphysical philosophy, her deepening knowledge unsettling her husband as her presence grows increasingly oppressive. When she dies in childbirth, he believes her influence has ended—until their daughter begins to mirror Morella with unsettling precision.

As the child matures into her mother’s likeness, the narrator’s dread intensifies. At her baptism, he names her “Morella,” prompting the girl to cry, “I am here!” before she dies. In the family tomb, he discovers that the original Morella’s body has vanished, leaving only the terrifying suggestion of a soul returned.

Narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance captures the tale’s quiet tension and philosophical darkness, bringing Poe’s fusion of the supernatural and psychological terror into sharp focus. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne.

As the fifty-second entry in Timeless Terrors, Morella remains one of Poe’s most haunting meditations on death, identity, and the chilling possibility that the self may never truly fade.