It is known as the "Red Death" due to the amount of blood lost by its victims during the length of the disease's brief existence. Poe personifies the Red Death, a horrifying sickness, and gives it all of these characteristics; he imbues it with a life of its own, with the purpose of wreaking havoc and leaving no survivors in its aftermath. The "death" that the Red Death brings is not merely the end of one living creature, but the destruction of hope for all mankind. Poe did not create the Red Death, but rather he portrayed it in such a way that it became a distinct character of its own. The Red Death was first depicted in a story called "The Black Cat" which was published in 1843. In this story, a woman named Victoria van Helmont is terror-stricken by rumors that her husband has been killed by the Red Death. When she cannot find evidence to prove this claim to be true, she comes to believe that her husband may have actually committed suicide. As time passes, she grows more and more depressed over the loss of what has become her only family, until finally she takes her own life. This story was so popular that it was later included in a collection of Poe's works titled "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque". In addition to writing stories about the Red Death, Poe also made several attempts at creating a real life version of this illness.