• Dave2@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    5 months ago

    In the real story the walls were covered in arsenic (?) also the executee has sensitive lungs so not long.

    • Captain Aggravated
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 months ago

      Niter, aka potassium nitrate. It apparently wasn’t easy to breathe in the catacombs and Fortunato had asthma or something. And he was pretty drunk. IIRC Fortunato was unresponsive before Montresor even finished building the wall, I guess having worn himself out trying to escape and/or beg for his life while struggling to breathe the dank atmosphere of the catacomb.