The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is celebrated for his tales of the macabre and the supernatural. “The Cask of Amontillado” is one of his terrifying tales of premature burial. In it the narrator Montresor has suffered from “insults and injuries” from his “friend” Fortunato and plans to murder him while he is drunk at the carnival by luring him to a wine tasting in the cellars of his palazzo. He chains him to the wall in a niche which he seals up with mortar thus entombing him alive.