``Suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.'' Yo. Edgar Allan Poe, meet Sylvester Stallone. Stallone took a detour during filming of ``Rocky V'' to visit the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, a house where the poet and short-story writer lived for two years. Park ranger Joelle Wagner said Thursday she answered a knock at the locked front door Feb. 12 to find the creator of movie hero Rocky Balboa on the doorstep with co-star Talia Shire and a bodyguard. ``I was flabbergasted,'' she said. ``I had to take a few moments to compose myself.'' As the group toured the three-story structure, one of four houses Poe rented while living in Philadelphia from 1838 to 1844, Stallone told Ms. Wagner he had written a movie script about the author of the poem ``The Raven.'' ``He's just in awe of Poe,'' Ms. Wagner said. ``He said he really admired him.'' Stallone, the lead in such action movies as ``Rambo'' and ``Tango and Cash,'' did not say if he wanted to portray Poe, she said. Ms. Wagner said the trio viewed the park's slide show, which describes Poe's life from his childhood in Richmond, Va., his time at West Point and his literary life in Philadelphia, where he was most successful as a poet, short-story writer, literary critic and editor. Poe died in 1849 in Baltimore as he was traveling to New York. Stories at the time said he collapsed in the street of an alcohol or drug overdose. While touring the house, Stallone discussed Poe's life and literary works with his friends, according to Ms. Wagner. ``There wasn't much I could tell him'' about Poe, the park ranger said. She said Stallone bought a book on the writer. Movie publicist Dave Fulton said Stallone wrote the script because he believes the writer ``gets within the soul'' of people and poetry. ``He's a big fan,'' Fulton said. Poe also wrote ``The Fall of the House of Usher,'' ``The Black Cat,'' and ``The Murders of the Rue Morgue,'' which established the mystery or detective short-story form.
