McCain Bracewell How did Edgar Allan Poe die? On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died in a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The cause of his death is still being debated by experts. One view is the Poe died from rabies, not alcohol abuse. This view is supported by when he was awake, Poe drank water with great difficulty, and rabies victims show fear of water because it is hard to swallow. Also When he was found he didn’t smell of alcohol. A different view is that Poe died of alcohol abuse, not rabies. This view is supported by that he was found outside a Baltimore saloon, and the person who found him, Joseph Walker, gave accounts of his “alcoholic condition’’, and In 1885, john Moran says Poe and drank the water thirstily, and didn’t