The Angel of the Odd is a satirical short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in Columbian Magazine in 1844.The story follows a narrator who reads a story about a man who died because a needle sucked down his throat accidentally. He rages at the gullibility of humanity for believing a hoax like such odd stories. Just then, a strange-looking creature made of a keg and wine bottles appears. The creature announces that he is the Angel of the Odd and that he is responsible for the strange events. The man, unconvinced, drives the angel away and takes an alcohol-induced nap. Two hours later when he wakes up, He has missed an appointment to renew his fire insurance. Ironically, his house has caught fire and he escapes out a window using a ladder the crowd below has provided for him. The story is especially interesting as it was published only six months after Poe s own great hoax, The Balloon-Hoax , which many believed to be true despite its elements of the odd.