Join us for Secret Horror Salon in New York City on October 7 — the day Edgar Allan Poe died. During the macabre night at the Bowery Poetry Club, Oscar nominated actor and horror icon Brad Dourif (Child’s Play, The Exorcist III, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) will perform a surreal short story by Andrei Codrescu about his obsession with Poe’s grave and a shape-shifting snake. A poem about the mysterious death of Poe by Bob Holman, and reading of Poe’s poems by Claudia Handler and others. Live radio drama performance, “Androsphere,” which is set in an abandoned and haunted school by Luis Carlos Barragán, Melanconnie, and Faebian Ceruleo. All work produced exclusively for this event, and are world premieres. The night concludes with a psychic reading by renowned psychic medium Heather Carlucci.
Wed., October 7, 2026 at 7pm EST at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, New York City. SOLD OUT
Secret Horror Salon is supported, in part, by public funds from New York State Council for the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with the support of the New York Legislature, NY Governor and New York City Council.
The People’s Poetry Gathering, founded as a biennial event in 1999 by City Lore and Poets House, with the Bowery Poetry Club joining soon after, assembles poets from New York City and beyond to pursue discourse, exchange, and cultural preservation through poetry. In 2026, as the U.S. marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Gathering returns to Lower Manhattan for the first time in twenty years, in collaboration with the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution.
