Edgar Allan Poe, the father of American horror fiction, first published his macabre short story “The Black Cat” in the August 19, 1843 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The frightening tale of a murderer tormented by guilt over his terrible deeds is a classic. The narrator’s admission that much of his bad behavior and deranged thinking is the result of demon alcohol is possibly autobiographical, as Poe himself struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. This short work is part of Applewood’s “American Roots,” series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America’s most famous writers and thinkers.