Mysterious Poe Toaster set to rise again

By Malena Khan
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Every Jan. 19 on Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, an unidentified person would enter the Westminster Hall Burial Ground and Catacombs on West Fayette Street in Baltimore in the dead, cold, winter night.

Dressed in all black attire, the mysterious individual would leave a half empty bottle of cognac, a note and three red roses at Poe’s grave as a way to commemorate the dead poet. Then, the man or woman would steal away into the darkness, only to remain absent until the following year.

The tradition went on for more than seven decades, spanning from 1949 to 2009, when the nameless individual dubbed the Poe Toaster suddenly stopped his annual tribute to Baltimore’s best-known poet.

The Maryland Historical Society is now partnering up with Poe Baltimore to hold auditions in November to find a replacement for the toaster and reignite a tradition that mysteriously stopped in 2009.

“Contestants are encouraged to put their own twist to the Poe Toaster tradition,” said Mary Joe Rodney, coordinator of events at Westminster Burial Grounds. “We are excited to see what they come up with. Their audition performance can include anything from a musical performance, an interpretive dance to a poetry reading, as long as it honors Edgar Allan Poe.”

Each contestant will have three minutes to perform his or her interpretation of the Poe Toaster.

Participants, who had to file their application with The Maryland Historical Society by Oct. 23 to take part in the audition, are encouraged by MDHS and Poe Baltimore to add their own individual twist to the tradition.

Finalists will be announced at Poe Baltimore’s Black Cat Ball at Motown Ballroom on Halloween night. A final audition for the part will be held Nov. 7 at The Maryland Historical Society in front of a live audience and a panel of three judges.

The chosen Poe Toaster will have the honor of toasting Poe at his gravesite on his birthday in January 2016. The newly dubbed Poe Toaster will also be able to take part in other events involving Edgar Allan Poe throughout the year.

Not everyone is happy about the historical society’s plan to revitalize the Poe Toaster tradition. Although some individuals in the community believe it is a good tradition to carry on, others feel it is an intrusion on someone else’s idea.

Jeff Savoy, the Poe Society secretary and treasurer, is not fond of the idea of hosting auditions to find a new Poe Toaster years after the original Poe Toaster failed to surface.

“I think it is a terrible idea,” Savoy said. “It is intrusive because we didn’t start it, we weren’t directly involved. People have accused us at the Poe Society of being involved with the Poe Toaster, but we weren’t. It was kind of their own thing. It is what it was and we shouldn’t intrude on the original tradition.”

The Maryland Historical Society said that people who claim to have seen the original Poe Toaster described the person as wearing black attire, a wide brimmed hat and a white scarf on the nights that he or she crept into the cemetery.

In addition to the half empty bottle of cognac, the Poe Toaster would leave three roses that symbolized the three people who are buried at the site: Poe, his wife Virginia and his mother-in-law Maria Clemm. The Poe Toaster is believed to be a father-and-son duo because the tradition carried on for seven decades.

Despite the minor controversy, Rodney said the historical society simply wants to honor a tradition and the person who began it.

“What they are auditioning for is just honoring the memory of the Poe Toaster and remembering the tradition,” said Rodney. “The Poe Toaster is a memory and we want to honor him, not replace him. By asking participants in the audition to add their own unique interpretation to the Poe Toaster tradition, we at the Maryland Historical Society are being mindful and respectful of the original Poe Toaster.”