This classic gothic crime story about murder and vindication, guilt, and insanity starts in medias res: The unnamed, unreliable narrator describes in retrospect that he was haunted by the idea of murdering his old landlord. After committing the murder, he cleverly hid the body underneath the floorboards, praising himself for committing the almost perfect crime – unfortunately, the victim had screamed just before his death. Called by the neighbours, two policemen arrive to inquire about the disappearance of his landlord. Driven mad by guilt, the narrator outlines, that he “[hears] all things in heaven and in the earth [and] in hell.” He even seems to hear the victim’s heart beating louder and louder… will he confess the murder?

As this classic short story was recommended by the educational authorities and used for the Abitur in previous years, there are plenty of teaching materials available on the internet. The full text is in the public domain.

Short fiction · United States · 1843