Edgar Allan Poe - The Balloon Hoax

by Edgar Allan Poe

Overview

The following story by Edgar Allan Poe appeared in the New York Sun in 1844. Although it looked like a real story, it was completely fictitious, created entirely from Poe's imagination. The story caused such excitement that a huge crowd gathered in front of the New York Sun office, all trying to buy copies of the paper. Keep in mind that no one flew anything over the Atlantic for another 75 years. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin built the first zeppelin airship in 1900. The Wright Brothers made their first successful airplane flight in 1903. British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first nonstop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919. Dr. Hugo Eckener made the first transatlantic flight in a zeppelin, in 1924. Charles Lindbergh made his famous solo flight in 1927. The first non-powered, human-carrying balloon to actually cross the Atlantic Ocean was "Double Eagle II", in 1978. The balloon attained an altitude of nearly 25,000 feet, just as Poe described. The trip took 6 days.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940151154475
Publisher:	Shamrock Eden Publishing
Publication date:	09/17/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	189 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.