This nickname refers to a mysterious person who visits the grave of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) every year, probably from the 1930s until at least 2009. She wears a black coat, a white scarf and a black hat with a large brim; her face is covered. The person always appears in the early hours of 19 January, the writer's birthday. First she visits Westminster Hall in Baltimore (US state of Maryland) and then goes to the grave. There she leaves three red roses and a bottle of cognac.
These are not always the same brand, for example Hennessy and Martell (many of these bottles have been collected and preserved by the Edgar Allan Poe Society). A glass is poured from it, drunk and a toast is made to Poe. Notes were left on a case-by-case basis; in 2004, France's opposition to the second Gulf War (Iraq War) was apparently criticised: "The sacred memory of Poe and his final resting place is no place for French cognac. With great reluctance but for respect for family tradition the cognac is placed". The meaning of the cognac is unclear, no reference can be found in Poe's works (Poe's occasional excessive consumption of alcohol is known; see also under quotations).
The mysterious person was first sighted in 1949, but other witnesses claim to have observed him earlier. Several attempts were made to establish the identity aerate and once even to arrest the person. However, this was never successful and has not been done again out of respect. Nevertheless, many reporters and Poe fans wait every year to catch at least a glimpse. Then in 1998, a visibly younger person was seen. The following year, a note left behind indicated the death of the original toaster the previous year and that a handover of the tradition from father to son had taken place. The last visit so far was in 2009, and the toaster has been absent the following years. People wonder why there have been no more visits since 2010 and fear that this beautiful custom, which attracts many tourists, has thus come to an end after 61 years. Possibly there are no offspring in the family responsible for it.
There were always people who outed themselves as alleged poe toasters, but various facts always spoke against this. In 2007, the then 92-year-old Sam Porpora claimed to be the original Poe Toaster. The reason he gave was that he had started the campaign in 1967 as a PR measure for the Westminster Presbyterian Church, for which he worked as a historian and curator. However, the Poe House and Museum rejected Porpora's claim, saying that much older accounts of the Poe Toaster already existed.
In 2015, the story finally found a follow-up. The Maryland Historical Society held a contest to find a new Poe Toaster to continue the tradition as an attraction for fans. However, the identity of the performer then chosen was not revealed. The "official" successor first appeared in January 2016. Unlike the original Poe Toaster, he appeared in broad daylight three days before Poe's birthday after a public announcement and played a violin (pictured above right). About 100 spectators had turned out for the ceremony, some of whom were masked themselves. There was also a dramatic reading of Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado". After celebrating the traditional cognac toast and laying down the roses, he intoned "Cineri gloria sera venit" ("The glory given to ashes comes too late", from an epigram by the Roman poet Martial) and left.
Image: By Midnightdreary - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link
edited by Norbert Tischelmayer May 2019
Text Main source: WIKIPEDIA Poe Toaster
