The Pit and the Pendulum (1843) story by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) American poet and story writer, creator of the American Gothic story. The prisoner, condemned to death by the Inquisition, lies looking up at the pendulum armed with a scimitar blade which is swinging nearer his heart with each sweep. At the last moment, rats eat through his bonds and free him to undergo the next ordeal. Illustration published London 1882.