From another list Im on...

 

BALTIMORE - Undeterred by controversy, a mysterious visitor paid his
annual tribute at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe early Saturday, placing
three red roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac before stealing
away into the darkness.


Nearly 150 people had gathered outside the cemetery of Westminster
Presbyterian Church, but the man known as the "Poe toaster" was, as
usual, able to avoid being spotted by the crowd, said Jeff Jerome,
curator of the Poe House and Museum.

The tribute takes place every Jan. 19 �?the anniversary of Poe's birth.

The visitor did not leave a note, Jerome said, electing not to respond
to questions raised in the past year about the history and
authenticity of the tribute.

Sam Porpora, a former church historian who led the fight to preserve
the cemetery, claimed last summer that he cooked up the idea of the
Poe toaster in the 1970s as a publicity stunt.

"We did it, myself and my tour guides," Porpora, a former advertising
executive, said in August. "It was a promotional idea."

Porpora said someone else has since "become" the Poe toaster.

Jerome disputes Porpora's claims and says the tribute began in 1949 at
the latest, pointing to a 1950 article in The (Baltimore) Evening Sun
that mentions "an anonymous citizen who creeps in annually to place an
empty bottle (of excellent label)" against the gravestone.

Jerome invites a handful of Poe enthusiasts to join him inside the
church every year but withholds details of the tribute in an effort to
help the toaster maintain his anonymity. He said the visitor no longer
wears the wide-brimmed hat and scarf he donned in the past.

In 1993, the visitor left a note reading, "The torch will be passed."
A later note said the man, who apparently died in 1998, had handed the
tradition on to his two sons.

This year's visitor was the same man who has come to the grave site
many times in the past, Jerome said.

"We recognize him from his build, the way he walks," he said. "It
would be very easy for us, visually, to see if this were a different
person."

Poe, who wrote poems and horror stories including "The Raven" and "The
Telltale Heart," died Oct. 7, 1849, in Baltimore at the age of 40
after collapsing in a tavern. Next year will be the 200th anniversary
of his birth.