The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is an 1843 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. You can read it online here or here. Don't read it in the dark. I'm not kidding. It begins,

TRUE! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily - how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture - a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees - very gradually - I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded - with what caution - with what foresight - with what dissimulation I went to work!

You can have Christopher Lee read it to you here:

There've been many adaptations, including the first filmed version in 1928:

The first sound version came in 1934. Jules Dassin adapted it for film in this short in 1941. The 1953 version with James Mason's narration is one of the best and at only 8 minutes long is unmissable:

In 1970, Vincent Price did An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe on television which included this tale. The Tell-Tale Heart is at the beginning of the video below and is followed by three other tales:

Sam Jaffe starred in this 1971 production: