European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Uhr angers work to destroy myth about Poe Dru Scharles Hillinger the los Angeles times angers at americans memorial to Edgar Allan Poe arc vigorously campaigning to destroy the popular notion that the Post author was an 1 opium addict. A the myth continues to this Day that poc was a drug addict a despicable character. Its a Rcpt tation undeserved a said National Park service Ranger and researcher Christopher Eckard. Eckard and Ranger David Blackburn have produced a travelling exhibit to prove that there is no hard evidence that poc used drugs to show How the myth originated and Why it persists. Since october the exhibit has been on display in schools and libraries As Well As at the National Park services regional Headquarters in Philadelphia. Quot the myth was perpetrated by Rufus w. Griswold a said Eckard. A Apoc criticized the anthology a the poets and poetry of America a authored by Thomas c. Corr. Losa gigolos Timo rangers David Blackburn left and Christopher Eckard display a Poe poster outside the poets Philadelphia Home. A portrait of Edgar Allan Poe by artist Thomas Corner of Baltimore. Griswold who was furious with Poe and never forgave him. Griswold was poems literary executor and first biographer and took advantage of that position to ruin poems reputation after his  he added a Griswold has been a prime source of information about poc the Man even to this Day. Schoolteachers in English literature classes All Over America leave the impression with students that Poe was a drug  thus said Blackburn a Young kids get the idea from schools that this Guy was on  we re trying to break that Cycle. We say a no poc did not use drugs to become inspired to write his tales he used his creativity and imagination. You can do the  a a a a a the rangers concede that a number of poems stories including a Ali Gaia a a the fall of the House of usher Quot and a talc of ragged mountains do refer to opium. But they maintain that readers should not confuse the authors work with the authors life. Eckard said that in researching poems letters and other documents he found no mention of any drug habit. Other contemporaries of poc such As or. Thomas Dunn English denied that the author used narcotics. English a Philadelphia physician and poet who knew Poe Well but disliked him personally wrote several years after poems death a had Poe a drug habit i should both As a physician and Man of observation have discovered it during our fre Quant visits to each others Home and our meetings elsewhere. I saw no signs of it and believe. The charge to be a baseless  the Edgar Allan Poe historic site created in 1980, is one of the newest units in the National Park services system. It consists of three 19th-Century Brick Row houses including a building rented by poc from 1842 to 1844. Since the National Park service took it Over the narrow three Story Home has stood empty a Bare Walls Bare floors no furniture. Blackburn said a a we have no idea what Poe had in the House a which is where the author was living when his masterpieces a the Gold Bug a a the Black cat and a the Tell tale heart were published. But Blackburn added a we think he would like what we have done with this  rangers use the eerie setting to help bolster their pro Poe Campaign. They Lead visitors Down the houses narrow Steep Steps into a Musty base ment filled with cobwebs. Red Mineral stains Streak the Walls. Standing before a bricked Over fireplace the rangers read excerpts from a the Black cat a a macabre Story in which a Man trips Over his on eyed Black cat As he descends into his basement. In a rage he kills his wife instead of the cat and then seals the body behind a bricked Over fireplace a unknowingly in bombing the live cat too. When detectives searched the basement Poe wrote they heard Quot a voice within the Tomb a a cry at first muffled and broken like the sobbing of a child and then quickly swelling into one. Long loud and continuous scream a howl a wailing shriek such As might have Arisen Only out of hell from the throats of the damned. It was the sound of the cat a and it Lead to the body of the murdered woman. A we believe the basement the stairs the red Mineral stains on the Wall the bricked Over fireplace the cobwebs a not drugs were the inspiration for a the Black cat a a Eckard said. A we believe a creative mind not a mind craze with drugs was the source of inspiration for All of the writings of. The father of the literature of mystery.�?�. / a a. A a reviews the steel Albatross by Scott Carpenter pocket books $19.95 remember Scott Carpenter in 1%2 he. Became the second american to orbit the Earth. He was Active in sea lab projects Loo once spending 31 Days on the Ocean floor. Now he has written his first novel. The Book is about underwater defense projects a with a touch of science fiction As it turns out As a novel it is no great shakes. Most of the characters Are americans Best sentimental Zed out of All proportion to real life. But what saves a the steel Albatross Quot is its comprehensive  naval routine As seen from tire Vantage Points of the lowest. Seamen and the highest Pentagon officials. The a. Training of an elite Navy Force occupies a fairly prominent part of the novel. If you think that Marine training is hard wait until you read this Book. A. A a Newgate Callen Dar new York times the Druid of Shannara by Terry Brooks Del Ray Ballantine books 432 pp., $19.95 like a Marathon runner Terry Brooks has hit stride with his Shannara fantasy novels. Despite dabbling with the Quot magic kingdom series. Brooks continues to breathe life into his Ever expanding tale of the pour lands where men. Elves dwarfs and trolls face the dangers of magic gone bad. A the Druid of Shannara a the fifth Book chronicling the ohm Ford clan picks up the tale from its predecessor a the scions of  but even those not initiated in the storyline can follow the action. A Sean Mccormally United press International the silence of the lambs by Thomas Harris St. Martins $5.95 in paperback the Book that Lead to the Jodie Fos crr. Anthony Hopkins film this Best Selling paperback concerns Clarice a Starling an Fri trainee with a specially in psychology who draws on the expertise of a Brilliant psychiatrist turned psychopath to catch a serial killer. The Chase takes readers through a sizable cast of vivid minor characters and scenes of wildly inventive violence with near misses narrow escapes and sudden twists All elegantly plotted. The new York times Page 8 a sunday March 17, 1991