A Toast And A Tradition

Here's an odd little story. Every year since 1949, for 58 years without fail, an unidentified person has visited the grave of Edgar Allen Poe on January 19th to leave a half empty bottle of cognac and three red roses. This year was no exception.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) — For the 58th straight year, a mysterious visitor left birthday cognac and roses at Edgar Allan Poe's grave Friday, and he was watched by more onlookers than ever, a faithful viewer said.

Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said 55 people braved a chilly morning to glimpse the annual ritual of the mysterious visitor known as the Poe toaster.

"If I were the Poe toaster, and I saw and heard that crowd, I wouldn't show up," Jerome said before the ceremony.

As in years past, the visitor placed a half-empty bottle of cognac and three red roses at the grave on Poe's birthday, Jerome said.

Once it realized who he was, the crowd rushed to one of the cemetery's entrances to get a glimpse, and the toaster slipped out another way, Jerome said.

He said this year's crowd was large but well behaved, unlike last year when watchers tried to interfere with the tribute.

Last year some people tried to interfere with the anonymous toast. The original mystery toaster appears to have passed the torch on to his sons. The report says the original toaster died in 1998. One cannot quite think of what to say about this. But then, that has been described, hasn't it?

At these words a vague and half-formed conception of the meaning of Dupin flitted over my mind. I seemed to be upon the verge of comprehension without power to comprehend - men, at times, find themselves upon the brink of remembrance without being able, in the end, to remember.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue