While many details of Edgar Allan Poe's life are shrouded in mystery, it is generally accepted that he was born on 19 January 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. He worked as both critic and editor with several literary magazines, but it was for his own macabre fiction that he is best-remembered. Through stories such as 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' Poe is thought to have originated the genre of detective fiction, and influenced both horror and science fiction. He died under oft-contested circumstances on 7 October 1849.