[Curt Chiarelli]

Oh, almost without question: Roderick Usher had an incestuous relationship with his sister. Later, his sins were compounded and amplified by a necrophilious level of obsession.

I should probably add that Poe was certainly a byproduct of his times. The cult of death and remembrance of the deceased was exceptionally powerful - and morbidly unhealthy - in early 19th century America. Funeral and burial arrangements grew in elaboration and cost to such a degree that the living went heavily into debt. Accordingly, municipal governments began to pass laws prohibiting such levels of extravagance. Some of the relics of that era carry of truly ghastly flavour: "death books", albums containing daguerreotype, tintypes and carte de vistes of the deceased (including babies and children), locks of hair and even silver coffin spoons engraved with the names and dates of the deceased. Such was the milieu of Poe's day.