WALLINGFORD - In addition to the usual cast of monsters and elaborately creepy sets, the Trail of Terror this year features, of all things, classic literature, thanks to local actor Lou Harmon.

"I'm not scary, I'm literary," Harmon says. "My name is Edgar Allan Poe."

A longtime volunteer at the popular haunted house, Harmon decided to portray Poe about four months ago in honor of the writer's 200th birthday. Soon after, he realized he would be spending more than just weekends in costume. He was selected to play Poe at libraries across the state for a program sponsored by the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"One of the other Trail volunteers works at the Bushnell," Harmon said, "and when she found out I was playing Poe she recommended me to Bushnell. I went in and gave a talk and got the part. I think they just wanted to save money by using someone who already has their own costume."

He's scheduled to deliver a dramatic lecture tonight at the Wallingford Public Library, titled "Edgar Allan Poe: His Writing Life."

Harmon stresses that his performance isn't meant to be scary, Poe's characters are.

"The scene is not about me, it's about my characters, like the Red Death, the Tell-Tale Heart and the Raven. Those characters are meant to be the scary characters. I'm just the set-up."

Harmon, 33, graduated from the University of Louisville in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in political science, and moved to Connecticut four years later to attend Yale Divinity School for a master's in art and religion. He works as a Web site coordinator at the divinity school.

In 2002, he visited the Trail of Terror after being encouraged by a friend.

"My first time there I walked through and thought, I have to work here," he said. "The next day I volunteered and never left." He now lives in Wallingford.

Despite his limited acting experience, Harmon considers himself well-suited for the part of Poe.

"I have a performance background working in character in very difficult circumstances," he said. "And I have a rocking mustache."

"He had the look," said Zeta Christian, program director at the Bushnell. "He had begun to let his hair grow and have the costume made and really immersed himself in the time period."

The National Endowment for the Arts is putting on Poe events across the state in October and early November in honor of his bicentennial. Besides the library lectures, Harmon will be doing several public access television interviews.

Poe is considered the grand master of the Gothic horror tale, but was also one of America's finest lyric poets, according to Paul Karpuk, an American literature professor at Central Connecticut State University. Karpuk believes the underlying complexity of Poe's work contributes to his popularity across the world.

"His short stories have been and are appreciated on a somewhat superficial level, but close analysis of them reveals nearly illimitable buried levels of meaning," Karpuk said in an e-mail.

Scott Ellis, associate professor of English at Southern Connecticut State University, cites the social relevance of Poe's criticism.

"In many ways, he was a very vocal social critic, challenging ideas of the thinkers and politicians who made broad, sweeping generalizations about society and how the individual mind works," Ellis said.

But Poe will always be associated with the spooky story or poem and Devlin hopes that translates to a big crowd at the library tonight.

"Poe elicits thoughts of Halloween," she said. "He complements the Halloween spirit because his writings are scary."

"Edgar Allan Poe: His Writing Life" starts at 7 tonight at the library, 200 N. Main St. For more information, call (203) 265-6754. The program, best suited for teens and adults, is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. The Trail of Terror, 60 N. Plains Highway, opens again this Friday to Sunday and then Oct. 30 and 31. General admission is $10. A speed pass is $20. The trail can sell out as early as 8 p.m. For more information or to buy tickets online, go to www.trailofterror.com.

skondracki@record-journal.com

(203) 317-2205