“The Oval Portrait,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, was first published as “Life in Death” in Graham’s Magazine in 1842. The final version was published in the April 1845 edition of The Broadway Journal. This very short horror tale tells the story of a badly wounded man and his valet who find refuge in an abandoned mansion in the mountains of Italy. During his first night’s stay, the man examines the strange and disturbing history of one of the portraits which adorns his bedroom wall.

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