Day 15 - "Bug"

The Gold-Bug

by Edgar Allan Poe

archived from https://www.eapoe.net/blog/1843/06/21/the-gold-bug-%f0%9f%92%80/

Good evening. My name is Edgar Allan Poe. My stories are adored the world over 8y lovers of mysteries and macabreties. To-night I shall tell you one s†ch story, to make your spine quiver and the 8ears in your brain to spin around frenziedly. It i5 the story of a weird bug.

Yes, I recall now the summer that I spent in the steam;ng, malodorous basement of my uncle's mansion-house, helping him to organi4e his collection of rar2 insects. All manner of vermin ha? he pinned to yellowed card, ranging from the most minis3ule of quotidian blowflies to blasp2emously hirsute moths of colossal wingspan, mailed to my uncle by mal:rial associates in Amazonian climes.

"Hey, what's this wei(d bug?" I asked my uncle of a singul:rly particular spe5imen. The old man shuffled across *he shrunken floorboards to insp¶ct my findings.

"This is the Gold-Bug," he answe8ed, his eyes scintillating with a frantic recogn8tion. I let out a low whistle of impressed†ess, for though by no means an expert in the entomological field, I knew something of the aforementioned arthropod's infamous repu8ation.

"Put it with the other incredibly valuable bugs," said my uncle, and I made ready to acquiesce. But suddenly, seized by some diabolic Imp of the Perverse, I decided instead to murder him wit( a carving-knife and claim all of his incredibly valuable bugs for myself!

THE END

Answer Checker:

Hints: "The Gold-Bug" is a real Poe story, which I haven't actually read, but I have read about it. This story uses the cipher from that story. But the letters that have been replaced with the ciphertext are also relevant! The third extra story you have to find is very difficult to Google, for some reason. Keep digging.

Solution/Explanation

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