Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series (every Wednesday this month), we’ll be reading the opening to "The Fall of the House of Usher", written by Edgar Allen Poe and published in 1839. This short story is a work of Gothic fiction and includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities. Poe's inspiration for the story may be based upon events of the Hezekiah Usher House, located near what is now Downtown Crossing in Boston, MA. When the Usher House was torn down in 1830, two bodies were found embraced in a cavity in the cellar.