Friday, January 20, 2006

Dedication




Mystery Man Places Roses On Poe Gravesite
By: Kasey Jones,Associated Press Writer
Baltimore - For the 57th straight year, a mystery man paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe by placing roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark his birthday. Some of the 25 spectators drawn to a tiny, locked gravesite in downtown Baltimore for the ceremony climbed over the walls of the site and were "running all over the place trying to find out how the guy gets in,"according to Jeff Jerome, the most faithful viewer of the event.
Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said early Thursday he had to chase people out of the graveyard, fearing they would interfere with the mystery visitor's ceremony."In letting people know about this tribute, I've been contributing to these people's desire to catch this guy," Jerome said. "It's such a touching tribute, and its been disrupted by the actions of a few people trying to interfere and expose this guy." Jerome has seen the mysterious visitor every Jan. 19 since 1976."They had a game plan," Jerome said of the spectators. "They knew from previous years when the guy would appear." But Jerome declined to reveal details of what the Poe toaster was wearing, what he did at Poe's grave, and whether he left anything besides the roses and cognac, such as a note. It was a crisp, cold clear night. "I was hoping for wind and rain in keeping with a Poe story," Jerome said. But the museum curator was saddened by the disrespectful spectators. "I hope to preserve this tribute. It's one of those things that makes Baltimore so unique," he said. For decades, a frail figure made the visit to Poe's grave. In 1993 the original visitor, left a cryptic note saying, "The torch will be passed." A later note said the man, who apparently died in 1998, had handed the tradition on to his sons. Poe, who wrote poems and horror stories such as "The Raven" and "The Telltale Heart." died Oct. 7 1849 in Baltimore at the age of 40 after collapsing in a tavern.

This is amazing "Dedication". . . .

To be so lucky as to make such an impact on another's life. A love, a friendship strong enough to last long after your gone is the greatest wish one could ever hope for. . . .

3 comments:

Anthony said...

A beautiful touching story.

To be honoured and remembered like that I suspect will be the domain of very few.

I know who's work I will be looking out for in print.

Steve said...

When I heard this happened again, I was thinking it had to be like 50 years in a row now. You just confirmed 57... wow! I also asked myself the same thing hypoxic asked: what happens to the Cognac?

Stephen said...

woe, that is the reason for the post, the story touched my heart, imagine for 57 years the torch of this love and/or friendship is still burning....

hypoxic and steve, on the lighter side of the story, perhaps we now know why the curator doesn't want the mystery man's identify found out....no more Cognac!