The Pit and The Pendulum

The Pit and The Pendulum

By Edgar A. Poe

This story was about a man. His identity wasn´t known. He was sentenced to death (The reason wasn´t known again). He was placed into an unknown wet and dark deep chamber which he identified as a crypt later.

When he decided to open his eyes, he was shocked and he was feeling horrible. He couldn´t take his breath and had no idea, where he was placed at all. He thought he might be dead but it seemed to him as an impossible idea.

Then he decided to check the place with his hands. The crypt was probably circular. He fell near an unknown pit because of darkness and he was really confused. He fell asleep and woke up tied to a wooden board. Moreover, there was a pendulum with a sharp ending above him. It moved lower and lower and went faster with every motion.

After few days he started to feel sharp steel near his chest. He panicked, not knowing what to do. But suddenly, he felt a glimmer of hope. There were a lot of rats on the floor. He took a bowl with a spicy dish, which he got with a jug of water before and he anointed the belt with this spicy mixture. The rats flocked at him and they started to work. It was disgusting and uncomfortable but it worked well. The rats made him free and saved his life for that time.

Then, a bright glow appeared and paintings of demons and devils on the walls became clear. The shape of the crypt has changed, too. There was an extreme heat that tried to throw the man into the pit. He heard human voices and an unfamiliar hand caught him. He was fainted and began to fall into the pit. It was Lasallo´s hand. And Lasallo was a leader of the French army.

That is the last sentence of this story.