Poe Toaster Absent in 2010

In case you hadn't heard, the sixty year tradition of the Poe Toaster has been broken...perhaps forever. The unknown figure ritually laid roses and cognac on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on every anniversary of his birth. For reasons unknown, the Toaster was absent this year--possibly as a result of meeting his own untimely end, or as an intentional break in ritual now that 201 years have passed since Poe's birth. This article from the Associated Press contains the full story.

It's unknown if new tributes will spring up in the wake of this gaping absence. Only subsequent birthdays will show if any others are willing to don the black garb of the Poe Toaster (if the present toaster has truly died) and revive the tradition.

Poe Toaster
R.I.P. (?)
1949-2009

-Grim Blogger