Poe's Birthday

Mystery Visitor Comes Again

Every January 19th for 56 years, a man has visited the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. It had been 100 years since his death in 1849 when a mystery guest adorned with a white scarf and black hat first paid his respects at the grave of the revered American writer. It would be 45 years that this man would visit on the 19th until 1994. "The torch has been passed", a note read in that year, when, apparently, the original admirer passed his tradition onto his sons. Since then, his boys have carried on the ritual of placing three roses (one for Poe, his mother and his wife) and a bottle of congac.

This is so romantic and mysterious and I get a chill every year when I read this story. Here is an impromptu bit I did on women in some of Poe's stories and poems. It's badly written but the ideas are all there. I have loved Edgar Allan Poe since I was about 10, reading a thin volume of his short stories (brought down to about a 5th grade reading level, mind you).