The Pit and the Pendulum The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual "The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843". The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are
Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition for consumption through the XVI and XVII century by England, the Netherlands, and Germany, and introduced in Spain through France was adopted by both sides as throwing accusation. Since the legend used the alleged cruelty of the Inquisition to diminish both Spain and Catholicism, each side picked half of it and used it to either defend the "illustrated" French rule or to attack absolutism. This strife provided with a new body of completely misinformed and undocumented texts on the Inquisition written by Spaniards as propaganda against certain aspects of the government. During the 18th century, the existence of said Inquisition