The roots of mystery writing are traced to Edgar Allan Poe. Among other monikers, Poe has been called the “master of the mystery and the macabre” and the “father of the detective story.” The Mystery Writers of America present the annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. Nearly every reader of mysteries knows Edgar Allan Poe.

Even in death, Poe is linked to mystery, as the cause of his demise in 1849 is still undetermined. Poe is also associated with another mystery, which, though not macabre, is still fascinating to fans.

On January 19, 1949, Poe’s one-hundredth-fortieth birthday and nearly a century after his death, a man clad in black left three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave in Baltimore. For over sixty years, the man, or at least someone dressed in the same attire, returned each January 19 and left the same flowers and beverage.

The identity of the “Poe Toaster” has never been determined.

Some people claiming to be eyewitnesses contended the man first began visiting Poe’s grave in the 1930s, but the first report of the Poe Toaster does not appear in newspapers until 1949.

Each year thereafter, the presumably male figure, clad in black and carrying a silver-tipped cane, came to Poe’s burial site at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore where he poured a glass of Martell cognac and raised a toast. After arranging three red roses on the headstone in a distinctive configuration, he departed, leaving the unfinished bottle of cognac.
The roses were believed to represent Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, all three of whom were originally interred at the site.

The significance of the cognac is, perhaps in keeping with Poe’s writing, a mystery, as it does not feature in any of his works. A note left at the 2004 visitation suggested the cognac may have represented a tradition of the Toaster’s family rather than Poe’s.

A Depiction of the Grave Visitor

A photograph, reputedly of the visitor, was published by Life Magazine in 1990. The man pictured could not, however, be confirmed as the Poe Toaster.

Is This The Poe Toaster?

On several other occasions, the Poe Toaster left a note along with the roses and cognac. Most notes were expressions of admiration. Beginning in 1993, however, the Poe Toaster’s demeanor began to change.

In his visit that year, the Toaster left a note reading, “The torch will be passed.” Six years later, a note announced that the original Toaster had died in 1998 and had passed the tradition to a son. Onlookers noted the post-1998 Toaster appeared to be a younger man.

Another Poe Toaster

A note left at the 2001 visitation, a few days before Super Bowl XXXV between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants read, “The New York Giants. Darkness and decay and the big blue hold dominion over all. The Baltimore Ravens. A thousand injuries they will suffer. Edgar Allan Poe evermore.”

The declaration was a play on the last line of Poe’s 1842 shorty story The Masque of the Red Death (“And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”) This was the Toaster’s first reference to sports or any current event. The negative reference to Baltimore’s football team was odd, because the team’s nickname was inspired by Poe’s 1845 poem “The Raven.”

Whatever the reason, the cryptic prophecy proved inaccurate, as the Ravens trounced the Giants, 34-7, in the Super Bowl.

A Reference To One of Poe’s Work

The Toaster’s 2004 note was apparently critical of France’s opposition to the war in Iraq: “The sacred memory of Poe and his final resting place is no place for French cognac. With great reluctance but for [sic] respect for family tradition the cognac is placed. The memory of Poe shall live evermore!”

In 2006, a group of onlookers unsuccessfully attempted to detain the Poe Toaster as he departed the cemetery. Aside from that incident, spectators never interfered with the Toaster’s entry, tribute ritual, or departure, nor was any concerted effort made to identify the individual.

Cognac and Roses Left At Poe’s Grave 

In 2007, ninety-two-year-old Sam Porpora, a former historian at Baltimore’s Westminster Church, where Poe is buried, claimed he was the Poe Toaster.

Porpora said he began the ritual as a publicity stunt to raise money and enhance the profile of the church. His contention could not be confirmed and the details he provided regarding the Poe Toaster were inaccurate, leading few to take his claims seriously.

Sam Porpora

The last appearance of the Poe Toaster was in 2009, on the bicentennial of Poe’s birth. The visitor apparently saw that as the right time to end the tradition.

In 2015, the Maryland Historical Society organized a competition to select a new individual to resurrect the annual tribute in a modified, tourism-friendly form. The new Toaster made his first appearance during the daylight hours of January 16, 2016, three days before Poe’s birthday, wearing the traditional garb and playing French composer Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” on violin. After raising the traditional cognac toast and placing the roses, he intoned, “Cineri gloria sera venit” (“Glory paid to one’s ashes comes too late,”) from an epigram by the Roman poet Martial, and departed.

The new Poe Toaster will also remain anonymous.

Who Will Be The Next Poe Toaster?

Not surprisingly, some have speculated the Poe Toaster is the great mystery writer himself, returning in spirit to tantalize us with one final whodunit.

Does Poe Know?

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/822/edgar-allan-poe#

SOURCES:

• ABC News
• Baltimore Sun