Poe toaster.

Caption: (Up) Me and my brand-new The Gold-Bug t-shirt (inside the cool Poe bag). (Down) My dad and I on a Poe’s statue in Richmond, Va.

As you all know, my friends, the nineteenth-century american writer, Edgar Allan Poe, was born on Jan 19th. But because death was a constant subject on his life, It wouldn’t matter to talk about one of the lots of mysteries surrounding his own death.

There’s a tradition being held since 1949 (or 1960, the date hasn’t been confirmed), that’s called Poe toaster. This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“Adding to the mystery surrounding Poe’s death, an unknown visitor affectionately referred to as the “Poe Toaster” paid homage to Poe’s grave every year since 1949. As the tradition carried on for more than 60 years, it is likely that the “Poe Toaster” was actually several individuals, though the tribute was always the same. Every January 19, in the early hours of the morning, the person made a toast of cognac to Poe’s original grave marker and left three roses. Members of the Edgar Allan Poe Society in Baltimore helped protect this tradition for decades. On August 15, 2007, Sam Porpora, a former historian at the Westminster Church in Baltimore where Poe is buried, claimed that he had started the tradition in the 1960s. Porpora said the claim that the tradition began in 1949 was a hoax in order to raise money and enhance the profile of the church. His story has not been confirmed, and some details he gave to the press have been pointed out as factually inaccurate. For the first year since 1949, the Poe Toaster did not appear on January 19, 2010, leading to local speculation that the Toaster himself may have passed on.”

Poe’s death never ceases to amaze and intrigue me.