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"The Pit and the Pendulum", one of Poe's most well-renowned short stories, is centered around the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition.

The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural.