The writer of the fantastic and the macabre, Edgar Alan Poe, is buried in the grounds of the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, Maryland. For decades on the anniversary of Poe’s birth, a mysterious character would show up at his grave leave 3 roses and toast to the late writer. This character became known in the popular lore as the “Poe Toaster”, and his appearances over the years became the stuff of Baltimore legend. The Poe toaster appearances ceased in 2009 (the bicentennial of Poe’s birth), but the Maryland Historical Society decided to restart the tradition. They organized a competition and selected a new Poe Toaster, who still remains anonymous. This new Toaster shows up at more regular and tourist-friendly times. I went to see his appearance in 2018.
Left: The tower of the former Westminster Presbyterian Church now known as Westminster Hall. Right: The crowd assembles around Poe’s grave waiting for the Poe Toaster.
Left: Poe’s grave. Right: Inscription on grave.
Poe Toaster playing the violin (Left) and laying the roses (right).
The Poe Toaster emerged from among the graves in the burial grounds playing Saint Saens' Dance Macabre on a violin. He was wearing a fedora style hat and had a scarf obscuring part of his face. He walked up to Poe’s grave, lay down his violin, and pulled out 3 roses which he placed on the grave.
Poe Toaster toasting
The Poe Toaster then proceeded to pull out a bottle of cognac from his coat, fill his glass, and toast to Poe reciting the epigram from the Roman poet Marshall, “Cineri Gloria Sera Venit” (praises to ashes come too late).
Left: Poe Toaster leaving Poe’s grave. Right: The bottle of cognac he left behind.
The Toaster then picked up his violin and played “Happy Birthday”, after which he departed by walking back to the burial grounds and disappearing among the tombstones. Who is this man?
“Ye who read are still among the living, but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen, and secret things be known, and many centuries shall pass away, ere these memorials be seen of men. And, when seen, there will be some to disbelieve, and some to doubt, and yet a few who will find much to ponder upon in the characters here graven with a stylus of iron.”
From Edgar Allan Poe’s “Shadow” (Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, 1840)
The photographs belong to the author and can only be used with permission.
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