Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is known for his tales of the macabre and the supernatural. "The Black Cat" is one of his most celebrated. In it the narrator tells of his growing hatred for his pet cat and how in a drunken rage he maims the animal by cutting out one of it's eyes. Worse is to follow when in an episode of alcohol induced depravity he kills the cat by hanging it from a tree, with the most horrifying of consequences.