Mysterious Poe visitor returns to writer's grave
BALTIMORE (AP) - January 19, 2009 To mark the 200th anniversary of writer Edgar
Allan Poe's birth, a mysterious visitor again placed three red
roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac at Poe's grave in
Baltimore before quietly slipping away.
The curator of the Poe House and Museum, Jeff Jerome, said about
50 people waited outside the cemetery of Westminster Presbyterian
Church, hoping to catch a glimpse Monday of the elusive man known
as the "Poe toaster." The man returns each year in the early
morning darkness on Poe's birthday.
Jerome says the visitor did not leave any note, not even to
comment on the milestone anniversary. He adds the crowd was smaller
than he expected and was better behaved than the rowdy groups that
have attended the vigil in recent years.
