"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens...as the shades of the evening drew on...with the view of the melancholy House of Usher" (Pg. 1534). With these words, Edgar Allan Poe begins one of his most famous works, The Fall of the House of Usher, a tale of horror, a horror implemented through Poe's gothic description of …showed first 75 words of 788 total…

…showed last 75 words of 788 total…of the whirlwind...and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the House of Usher" (Pg. 1547). Not only was the physical state of the "House of Usher" gone, but the ancient family name or dynasty, as it might be called, died also. Isolation and paranoia caused the decay of the Usher roots. These elements, in addition to the setting helped to create the perfect horror story.