 Poe may also have been expanding on previous analytical works of his own including the essay on " Maelzel 's Chess Player " and the comedic " Three Sundays in a Week " . As for the twist in the plot , Poe was likely inspired by the crowd reaction to an orangutan on display at the Masonic Hall in Philadelphia in July 1839 . The name of the main character may have been inspired from the " Dupin " character in a series of stories first published in Burton 's Gentleman 's Magazine in 1828 called " Unpublished passages in the Life of Vidocq , the French Minister of Police " . Poe would likely have known the story , which features an analytical man who discovers a murderer , though the two plots share little resemblance . Murder victims in both stories , however , have their neck cut so badly that the head is almost entirely removed from the body . Dupin actually mentions Vidocq by name , dismissing him as " a good guesser " . 
