GoKawiilEssay traces Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 story 'The Gold-Bug' to modern cryptography
A writer reflects on reading Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story 'The Gold-Bug' as a middle schooler in India, describing how it introduced them to cryptography through a tale of a buried pirate treasure decoded from symbols. The essay notes Poe wrote the story around 1840, submitted it to a Philadelphia newspaper contest, won $100, and had it published in 1843, making it likely the oldest fiction to feature cryptography.