 In 1849 a dying Edgar Allan Poe spoke his final delusional and cryptic 250 words, leaving behind the seeds of an epic story of torture and torment. In the 1980 s Richard Selzer adapted these final words into a short story entitled  Poe s Light-house , which has been adapted for the screen to tell the impassioned story of the tortured life of the afflicted twenty-one year old John Jacob Moran.