I haven't read enough Gothics to be sure what was the first time anyone used the trope of the "phantasmal figuration"-- which usually, though not always, consists of the attempt of some character in a story to project the illusion of some weird or supernatural entity. However, "Thou Art the Man" *might* be the first time anyone created such an illusion for the purpose of causing a criminal to expose himself. (Granted, Hamlet crafts a play designed to "catch the conscience of the king," but the performance doesn't create any illusion as such, it merely makes King Claudius nervous enough to retaliate.)
An unnamed narrator follows the case of an apparent murder-victim, the wealthy Barnabas Shuttleworthy. The narrator doesn't reveal his suspicions to the reader, but describes in detail the ways in which Shuttleworthy's boon friend Charles Goodfellow conveniently finds enough clues to condemn another local of the crime (though as yet Shuttleworthy's body has not been found by police). The narrator finds the body, though, and uses the corpse and his own ventriloquist skills to make Goodfellow confess his guilt--after which the murderer drops dead and the innocent man is released.
Clearly in this story of detection, Poe was less interested in touting the superiority of the sleuth than in satirizing the stupidity of the townspeople.
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