In 1838, future horror-icon Edgar Allan Poe released a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, his only full novel. The book was such a bomb that Poe eventually agreed with his critics that it was "a very silly book" (yet still good enough to inspire heavyweights like Jules Verne and Herman Melville to write Moby Dick and An Antarctic Mystery).
Where it Gets Weird:
Poe did a Paranormal Activity thing with his novel, which claimed to be based on true events. This turned out to be a half-truth:
The real life events simply had not happened yet.
One scene in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket visits a whaling ship lost at sea, taking with it all but four crewmen. Out of food, the men drew lots to see who would be eaten, the unfortunate decision landing on a young cabin boy named Richard Parker.
Forty-six years later, there was an actual disaster at sea involving the Mignonette. It became famous due to the legal consequences of some gruesome events on board, specifically the way the men drew lots and decided to eat their cabin boy...
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
...who was named Richard Parker.
The bizarre story was discovered decades later by Nigel Parker a distant cousin of the Richard Parker who got eaten. You can only imagine what went through his mind when he stumbled upon the connection.
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