Edgar Allan Poe The Black Cat Story //top\\ May 2026
To hide the body, he considers cutting her up, but decides to wall her inside a cellar niche (behind a false wall). He uses bricks and mortar. He feels clever when the cat disappears – it was the cat he wanted to kill anyway.
One day in the cellar, the cat trips him. Enraged, he grabs an axe to kill it. His wife stops his arm. In a fury, he buries the axe in her brain. She dies instantly. edgar allan poe the black cat story
The narrator finds a new black cat in a tavern. It is identical to Pluto but has a white patch on its chest. He brings it home. His wife likes it, but the narrator grows to loathe it. The cat is affectionate, which annoys him. He notices the white patch slowly changing shape into a gallows . To hide the body, he considers cutting her
Four days later, police arrive to investigate reports of her disappearance. They find nothing. The narrator casually taps on the wall where his wife is hidden. A loud, shrieking cry comes from within. They tear down the wall and find the wife’s corpse – and on her head, the black cat, alive, its mouth open in a scream. The narrator had accidentally walled the cat up with her. One day in the cellar, the cat trips him
The narrator was once a gentle, animal-loving child, and as an adult he and his wife kept many pets. His favorite was a large black cat named Pluto (after the Roman god of the underworld). The narrator’s personality changes due to alcoholism. He grows irritable, violent, and begins mistreating his wife and animals.