The Edgar All Poe Toaster Unmasked

Edgar Allen Poe was a poet and writer who lived a dark and desperate life that seemed to parallel many of his works. His poems and stories such as The Raven foretell doom and destruction. He left behind a literary legacy as one of the original crafters of the short story and is said to be the inventor of crime fiction. There is even an Edgar Allen Poe award for mystery and crime writers. He died on October 7^th, 1849 at the age of forty, and his death is shrouded in mystery, although alcohol and drugs are suspected. He is buried in Baltimore, MD and the site of his grave is the scene of a mysterious tradition that seems to have been unmasked. Or has it?

Every year on the anniversary of Poe's birthday, January 19^th, a mysterious figure shrouded in a cape and hat approaches Poe's grave. He drinks a toast and leaves behind a half-bottle of fine cognac and three roses. The symbolism of these objects has never been clear. The tradition began in 1949, 100 years after Poe's death. It is a favored tradition in Baltimore, and the residents have had no desire to unmask the mysterious "toaster." In fact, when Life magazine did a story on the Poe Toaster, they left his image fuzzy and unclear and didn't pursue his identity.

On August 15^th, 2007 a man came forward and declared himself to be the famous Poe Toaster. Sam Porpora, a 92-year-old historian who helped form a group to preserve the Westminster church site where Poe is buried, claims to have started the tradition as a promotion. He claims that he and the others in the project began the Poe Toaster tradition as a way to bring attention to the historical value.

However, there are a few problems with his claim. He says it all began as a story he told to a reporter in order to bring publicity to the church. He told the reporter that it began in 1949, but says the toasting didn't start until 1967, when the story was printed. However his detractors say the actual story was printed in 1976, and that there is a newspaper clipping about the Poe Toaster appearing in the Baltimore Evening Sun in 1950.

Perhaps Porpora was one of the Poe Toasters. Legend has it that there has been several over the decades. However records seem to indicate that it began long before him, and if the natives and Poe's ghost have their way, the tradition of the Poe Toaster will carry on throughout the years.