Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here to tell you all about a topic that has fascinated me for years, the case of the mysterious Poe Toaster.
Now, you may be wondering who this person is, why they are called the Poe Toaster, or even what is this person’s true name- would you believe me if I told you I have no clue either? Yup, that’s right – no one has no clue actually.
The Poe Toaster is a term for someone who is unidentified and goes in front of the cenotaph or empty tomb of the famed author Edgar Allan Poe every year on January 19th, his birthday.
The individual is dressed in black with a large hat and white scarf, pours a glass of cognac, toasts to the memory of Poe, and leaves but three roses are left behind along with the unfinished bottle of cognac.
The empty tomb marks the site of Poe’s original grave in Baltimore, Maryland. The interesting aspect is that despite people trying to discover who the Poe Toaster could be, the person has continued to remain a mystery. Even with various notes sometimes left behind throughout the years and surprisingly in 2010, 2011, 2012, until 2015 the Maryland Historical Society organized a competition to bring back the Poe Toaster. A true Poe throwback.
I hope you have enjoyed this storytime as much as I did, DETECTIVES! Please let me know in the comments if you want more storytime! Have a great day, night, afternoon, or evening, DETECTIVES! Stay tuned for next week’s post; until then, keep on sleuthing, DETECTIVES!
Detective Writer 