Edgar Allan Poe gravesite tribute: let it die
For the second straight year, the mysterious visitor failed to show up at the Baltimore grave of Edgar Allan Poe.
Since 1949, the "Poe Toaster" had marked the great author's Jan. 19 birthday by leaving roses and cognac at the grave outside Westminster Hall. But that tradition ended last year, amid speculation that the toaster had died.
Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House, dutifully opened the burial grounds gates last night, and several would-be toasters showed up, but none fit the profile of the real one, the Baltimore Sun reported. Jerome said he would open the gates one more year, and if the toaster didn't show up, he would let the tradition die. "If it is over, let it die a noble death."
Well said, Jeff. the worst thing that could happen, in this era of reality-TV stunts, would be for the tradition to become a made-for-prime-time spectacle.
AP photo
Comments
Was it David Franks?
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-01-17/news/bal-md.ob.franks17jan17_1_franks-friends-fells-point-andrei-codrescu
Posted by: Justin Sirois | January 19, 2011 10:25 AM
If it were Mr. Franks he would have had to start the tradition when he was just a baby...the math doesn't work.
Posted by: Tracy Rugg | January 19, 2011 10:59 AM
I heartily agree. In this undignified era of ours, I'd hate to have the Poe Toaster become an "American Idol"-type spectacle.
Perhaps, wherever he is now, the PT came to that conclusion as well.
Posted by: Undine | January 19, 2011 11:06 AM
I'm in complete agreement with "let it die". This was one of those sweet, quirky little oddities that had 'Baltimore' written all over it. It was on the verge of becoming another cheap media event. Over the years, the morning after, you would see the photo and caption in the paper that the Poe Toaster had visited and that was all you needed to know. All was right with the world.
Posted by: ruth | January 20, 2011 7:20 AM
David Franks was never in the running as the Poe Toaster. There was nothing in his history or physical appearance that would even remotely place him as the Poe Toaster.
Posted by: Jeff | January 20, 2011 9:59 AM