Baltimore, we have a problem.

In attempting to memorize E.A. Poe’s immortal ‘The Raven’ for an upcoming antievent I am planning (called, coincidentally, 13 Ravens), I have discovered a nefarious conspiracy which wracks the remaining cells of my disillusioned and paroxysmal mind.

It appears that the onset of that disease we call ‘the internet’ has actually produced -multiple incorrect authorities- on the poem. That is to say that, for example, the most popular page in the Google rankings, the 2nd link in the list if you just search ‘the raven’ is… wrong. In more than one place. There are variations, but there is also an authorized final text. Worse, these errors have been transmitted into people’s minds to the degree that they are asking questions and even performing lectures… on versions of the poem that exist only as mistakes!

The internet is ‘telephone’ to our text records? That’s ungood.