"There is one dear topic, however, on which my memory fails me not. It is the person of Ligeia. In stature she was tall, somewhat slender, and, in her latter days, even emaciated. I would in vain attempt to portray the majesty, the quiet ease, of her demeanor, or the incomprehensible lightness and elasticity of her footfall. She came and departed as a shadow. I was never made aware of her entrance into my closed study save by the dear music of her low sweet voice, as she placed her marble hand upon my shoulder. In beauty of face no maiden ever equalled her. It was the radiance of an opium-dream — an airy and spirit-lifting vision more wildly divine than the phantasies which hovered about the slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos."
-- Edgar Allen Poe, "Ligeia," 1838
"Ligeia" is one of Edgar Allen Poe's early short stories, telling a woeful, gothic tale of the unnamed narrator's love for his wife Ligeia, who dies a wasting death. Later he marries Lady Rowena, who also falls ills and dies... and in death, an eerie transformation occurs.
To read the tale in its entirety, visit The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore's website dedicated to all things Poe.
This year, Montagne Noire's 10L Halloween Hunt celebrates Poe's tale with the theme "The Tomb of Ligeia," An homage to Poe (with a nod to Roger Corman, too).
There are six black cats hidden in our shop, can you find them all?
Hunt items include a Lady Ligeia gown, a Lady Rowena gown, "The Narrator" suit, Ligeia's gravesite, a stone fireplace featuring a portrait of Ligeia, and the marriage bed with a side table of Poe-ish accessories.
