Edgar Allan Poe in an 1860s portrait by Oscar Halling from a daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Last year’s no-show won’t deter Poe fans from annual ritual

/in /by

Edgar Allan Poe in an 1860s portrait by Oscar Halling from a daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Edgar Allan Poe in an 1860s portrait by Oscar Halling from a daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

BALTIMORE (AP) – Fans of American author Edgar Allan Poe are heading to Baltimore again this year to try for a glimpse of the shadowy figure known only as the “Poe toaster” – even though the mystery visitor was a no-show last year.

An anonymous caller had left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave on the Jan. 19 anniversary of the writer’s birth every year for some six decades, but the person failed to appear in 2010.

But that’s not the end of the story. If anything, the no-show has deepened the mystery, attracting more curiosity to the ritual.

The curator of the Poe House and Museum says he’s expecting a larger crowd than usual Wednesday morning as fans gather in hopes that the Poe toaster will return. Poe was born in 1809 and died Oct. 7, 1849.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-01-17-11 0955EST

 

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Edgar Allan Poe in an 1860s portrait by Oscar Halling from a daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Edgar Allan Poe in an 1860s portrait by Oscar Halling from a daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

More on Auction Central News
Edgar Allan Poe in an 1848 daguerreotype. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Tell-tale letdown: true Poe visitor again a no-show
A copy photograph of the portrait of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) painted posthumously by Oscar Halling in the late 1860s.
Update: Copy of first Poe book sells for $662K in NYC
Edgar Allan Poe’s room is one of the most visited sites at the University of Virginia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Edgar Allan Poe’s dorm room due for renovation
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum is housed in the Old Stone House, built circa 1740 and cited as the oldest original building in Richmond, Va. Image by Albrecht Conz, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Edgar A. Poe Museum acquires life-size sculpture of author
10-volume set ‘The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe,’ ex M.C. ‘Max’ Gaines collection. Est. $750-$1,500. Stephenson’s image.
Stephenson’s to sell library of comic book pioneer Gaines, Feb. 28