Comments on: The Poe-Toaster

The Poe-Toaster

biscotti — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:39:10 -0800

"There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be revealed." Every January 19, for the past 54 years, a mysterious man dressed in black has crept into a cemetery in Baltimore to place three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:46:06 -0800

that's pretty wild!

By: klaatu

klaatu — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:48:07 -0800

54 years? How old does that make the Poe Toaster? Didn't Poe write a story about a toaster, the Pit and the Pop Tart or something?

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:51:56 -0800

How come the cops never nail him for trespassing?

By: The Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:52:30 -0800

It's Stan Chin.

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:52:59 -0800

klaatu - I recognize your comment as a joke... but I don't for a minute pretend to understand it.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:52:59 -0800

Actually, I think they got a note a few years back saying the original visitor had died (1998ish) and that the duties had been passed on to his son/s.

By: muckster

muckster — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:14:04 -0800

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:26:26 -0800

Who the hell's that? The guy who comes by later and drinks the cognac?

By: jodic

jodic — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:36:18 -0800

alumshubby: with a desire to preserve the sanctity of the performance of the ritual, no attempt has ever been made to stop or hinder this enigmatic admirer.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:54:17 -0800

Dave: I seem to recall reading in the story about this in the local rag (sorry, no link) that they got a note in 1996 saying simply "the torch has been passed." The article then quoted a fellow -- the head of the local Poe Appreciation League or somesuch -- who said he believed that the original toaster was a black man and he has passed it on to his two (or three) sons.

By: tr33hggr

tr33hggr — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:59:23 -0800

I visited Poe's grave while in Baltimore some years ago. It's a very unassuming site, and his headstone was covered with pennies. Quite powerful.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:14:12 -0800

Wouldn't Poe Toaster be a pun on Poetaster? And wouldn't that be a bit cheeky?

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:22:15 -0800

I visited Poe's grave while in Baltimore some years ago. It's a very unassuming site, and his headstone was covered with pennies. Quite powerful. Howard Hughes' grave was also covered in money, even dollar bills. I thought I grasped the point of this, richest man so throw some money on his grave, as you can't take it with you, Howard. Money left on a poet's grave?

By: matteo

matteo — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:25:59 -0800

I visited the gravesite, too -- I was already aware of the roses/cognac tradition, which is really cool. Poe was a wonderful poet who led a terribly sad life Must-have for Poe-lovers: "Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe", double CD with poetry readings by Iggy Pop, Abel Ferrara, Jeff Buckley, Christopher Walken et. al.

By: matteo

matteo — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:30:08 -0800

New theory on Poe's death -- carbon monoxide poisoning?

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:33:05 -0800

From a link from one of the pages above, a visitor's description of the event: The man, dressed in pretty conventional clothes, runs into the church yard, despite the people at the front gates, and he quickly comes and leaves his tribute to Poe, and run away, as fast as he got there. Sad that the guy feels he has to run in and out...it hardly seems dignified -- less a remembrance than a stunt. Reminds me of going to Charles Kuralt's grave in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I thought an appropriate tribute would be to leave some flowers from one of the Franklin Street flower ladies. I had to wait for the camera crews to finish shooting the grave before I left my flowers. Then I turned to see that a crew had been taping me doing so and wanted to interview me. I declined the interview and had to talk them out of using the footage of me. sigh.

By: Big_B

Big_B — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:42:32 -0800

man in black

By: aladfar

aladfar — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:01:17 -0800

If this tribute began in 1949, it would have coincided with the 100th anniversary of the poets death. Interesting. I'm surprised that this tradition hasn't spawned a host of copycat "toasters".

By: Postroad

Postroad — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:08:02 -0800

Isn't there some lady in red garb is is said to visit whatshisname's grave--The Sheik (in films)...ah, Rudophy Valentino! on a yearly basis and about whom nothing in known? Remninds me of the remarkable line tossed out at the NY Madison Sq Garden Rolling Stone concert in which Richards said: It's nice to be here. It's nice to be anywhere.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:14:01 -0800

I'm surprised that this tradition hasn't spawned a host of copycat "toasters". I leave a half bottle of warm Golden Anniversary on Roy Cohn's grave every February 20th.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:27:30 -0800

yawn. i gobble seconal and dewar's and leave a puddle of vomit on jim morrison's grave.

By: ashbury

ashbury — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:33:27 -0800

Rock on, quonsar! A suitable tribute if there ever was one.

By: SweetIceT

SweetIceT — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:39:12 -0800

We used to toast and leave Jack Daniels on Ronnie Van Zandts grave down in Jacksonville on a regular basis....

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:50:26 -0800

None of this can beat the king of grave gift givers: Joe Di Maggio, who placed roses on Marilyn Monroe's grave every week until he moved from LA to Florida.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:57:49 -0800

I work for a flower company. We have a client who sends a dozen red roses to his former wife's gravesite every single Friday, and has for 12 years. Eighty dollars a week (our roses are really expensive). Joe did it for 20 - we'll see if this guy can beat his record. Tangentially related - Lou Reed reworks The Raven.

By: ashbury

ashbury — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:07:50 -0800

Also tangentiallly related, Alan Parson's Project's first album (1975) was Tales of Mystery and Imagination, based of course on E. A. Poe stories. It's on my top ten of favorite first albums by a group.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:17:33 -0800

-- and a half-empty bottle of cognac -- I always thought it was a half-full bottle of cognac.

By: deadcowdan

deadcowdan — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:39:21 -0800

Joe Di Maggio, who placed roses on Marilyn Monroe's grave every week until he moved from LA to Florida Tangentially, Jack Benny did the opposite: he arranged to have a single red rose delivered every morning to Mary Livingston (his wife) after he died. In a way, this seems to be a lot more meaningful than the other way around, since the recipient actually knows what's going on.

By: epersonae

epersonae — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 16:02:46 -0800

I remember seeing George Burns on 60 Minutes, years ago, and they went with him to the mausoleum where Gracie was interred...apparently he went to visit her every week. unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about it via Google.

By: rachelpapers

rachelpapers — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 20:58:50 -0800

It's funny when shit like this gets posted on fark before it gets here. Bearing the standard of culture, my ass!

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:05:38 -0800

I think everyone who goes to Poe's gravesite on his birthday should dress up like that guy, wear the same clothes he is wearing, with cognac and roses carrying, cover their face with scarf, so that no one can tell which is the real one. Something to think about for next year perhaps?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:15:49 -0800

...and as for Lou Reed's godless excursion I prefer the original version but it's all a matter of subjective diversion. Mayhaps the Velvet Underground is poor.

By: JoanArkham

JoanArkham — Tue, 21 Jan 2003 04:58:01 -0800

I finally made it to the Poe Birthday celebration this year. Boy, those were some weird-ass puppets...