A mysterious visitor who each year leaves roses and cognac on Edgar Allen Poe's tomb in Baltimore, Maryland, has missed his rendezvous for the first time in 61 years, the Poe Society has said.
"He did not show up this morning," Jeffrey Savoye, secretary and treasurer of the 380-member society, said.
Each year since 1949, the 100th anniversary of Poe's birth, a individual, often wearing a cloak, left a bottle of cognac and a few roses at the foot of Poe's tomb, usually at night, in tribute to the legendary poet.
"Occasionally he showed up early, like 11:00-11:30 the evening before. But normally it's from midnight to 5:00 am," Mr Savoye said.
About 50 people waited in vain from Tuesday night to watch the "Poe Toaster," as the visitor has been dubbed. Many had travelled from across the United States for the 201st anniversary of Poe's birth.
"As far as we know, they have not missed a year until now," Mr Savoye said of the Poe Toaster.
The original yearly visitor apparently died in 1998, but left the pilgrimage up to his two sons.
"We were left a note some years ago saying that the original toaster had died... We interpreted the message that the torch will be passed... We are assuming that two sons of this person have been carrying it on," he said.
"We don't know who they are."
The visitor's absence this year only deepened the mystery over his identity. One name mentioned as a possibility was that of a Baltimore poet and known prankster who died in his 60s last week. But there is little or no evidence to suggest he was the man.
There is an alternative tale of the toaster's origins, one that the Poe Society vehemently disputes.
Sam Porpora, the former historian at Westminster Hall, claimed in 2007 that he was the original Poe toaster, saying he came up with the idea in the late 1960s as a publicity stunt. But the details of Porpora's story seemed to change with each telling, and he acknowledged that someone had since made the tradition his own.
In 2001, as the Baltimore Ravens – named in honor of the bird in Poe's most famous poem – were preparing to face the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, the toaster left a note that praised the Giants and said the Ravens would suffer "a thousand injuries." Then in 2004, amid tense relations between the United States and France over the invasion of Iraq, a note said Poe's grave was "no place for French cognac" and that the liquor was being left "with great reluctance."
A mysterious visitor who each year leaves roses and cognac on Edgar Allen Poe's tomb in Baltimore, Maryland, has missed his rendezvous for the first time in 61 years, the Poe Society has said.
