The rose and cognac tributes of an anonymous man in black -- dubbed the “Poe Toaster” -- are thought to date to at least the 1940s. Notes left with the tributes indicate the tradition passed to a new generation in the 1990s. But the visitor was a no-show the last two years.
The gothic master’s tales of the macabre still connect with readers more than 200 years after his birth, including his most famous poem, “The Raven,” and short stories including “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is considered the first modern detective story.
Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff Jerome, who has kept watch for the “Poe Toaster” since 1978, believes that it’s Poe’s suffering and his lifelong dream to be a poet that people still relate to. While the midnight tribute has a touch of the theatrical, it’s also an honest expression, Jerome said. Wherever Jerome travels in the world, he said when people find out what he does, they want to know whether the “Poe Toaster” is real. “It’s such an innocent, such a touching tribute,” Jerome said. “People are so captivated by the warmth of the message.”
Poe lived for a time in Baltimore, but died in 1849 at age 40 after collapsing in a tavern during a visit to the city years later. He was buried in Westminster Burial Ground, then moved to a more prominent spot in the front of the cemetery in 1875.
The rose and cognac tributes of an anonymous man dressed in black with a white scarf and wide-brimmed hat are thought to date back to at least the 1940s. The visitor has left notes on occasion. A few indicated that the tradition passed to a new generation after the death of the original “Poe Toaster” in the late 1990s, and some even mentioned politics and sports.
