The Edgar Allen Poe fan who leaves tributes at the writer's grave every year on his birthday has struck again. The mysterious visitor appeared once again, leaving three red roses and a half-full bottle of cognac. He then slipped away into the night.
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.
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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."
No one has managed to get a photo of the Poe Toaster. The toasts have been going on since 1949.
