Poe’s Scary Stories Quiz

Question: Which animal does a paranoid man in Poe’s short story “The Sphinx” mistake for a giant version of itself?

Answer: In Poe’s short story “The Sphinx,” a paranoid narrator thinks he sees in the surrounding countryside a huge and dreadful creature that is intent upon finding and killing him; his host later reveals he is seeing a very small moth at very close range.

Question: Who committed the murders at the Rue Morgue in Poe’s “The Murders at Rue Morgue”?

Answer: It was an orangutan (or, as Poe spelled it, ourang-outang) who committed the murders at the Rue Morgue. 

Question: What medieval romance starts coming to life in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?

Answer: Sounds from “Mad Trist,” a medieval romance by Sir Launcelot Canning, start to manifest in the house in Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Question: Which animal does the soul of a nobleman enter after being murdered by a rival in Poe’s short story “Metzengerstein”?

Answer: In Poe’s short story “Metzengerstein,” the soul of a murdered nobleman enters the body of a horse, which the murderer ultimately rides to his own death.

Question: Which of Poe’s published works is considered to have influenced Melville’s Moby Dick?

Answer: Poe’s long prose narrative The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is considered one influence of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

Question: Which “monstrous” creature consumes puppets and mimes representing humankind in one Poe poem?

Answer: In Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm,” mimes and puppets representing humankind are ultimately bloodily consumed by the writhing, worm-like beast.

Question: What is the name of the sailing ship that rescues the narrator in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket?

Answer: Early in the story, the narrator of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is rescued by a sailing ship called The Penguin.

Question: In “The Raven,” what single word does the titular bird speak?

Answer: In the poem “The Raven,” a grieving student is visited by a raven who speaks but one word: “Nevermore.”