今天又是 Poe Toaster 要出現的日子，雖然我不是愛倫坡迷，但已經注意這儀式好幾年了。
Since 1949, on the night of the anniversary of Poe's birth, a mysterious stranger has entered this cemetery and left as tribute a partial bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe's grave. The identity of the stranger, referred to affectionately as the Poe Toaster, is unknown. The significance of cognac is uncertain as it does not feature in Poe's works as would, for example, amontillado. The presumption for the three roses is that it represents the three persons whose remains are beneath the monument: Poe, his mother-in-law (Maria Clemm) and his wife Virginia. Out of respect, no attempt is made to stop or hinder him. Several of the bottles of cognac from prior years are on display in the Baltimore Poe House and Museum.
讓我感到興趣的不止是神秘黑衣人年年向愛倫坡進行的致敬，還有愛倫坡的死忠書迷的對這致敬儀式的高度尊重。在過去十多年來，每年一月十九日凌晨，這一群愛倫坡迷，包括愛倫坡協會和紀念館館長會默默的聚集在愛倫坡墓地旁的教堂，旁觀（並且阻止任何人破壞）這場儀式的進行。
儘管大家對於黑衣人的身份充滿無限好奇，他們仍然任由穿著黑色斗篷的 Poe Toaster 在黑暗中飄然來去，只有偶而從黑衣人留下的神秘字條（例如："Edgar, I haven't forgotten you."）猜測他的心意。
多年下來，大家注意到原本是一位年老白髮的Poe Toaster（應是開始這神秘儀式的本人），之後換成了一位明顯年輕許多的男子，藉由 Poe Toaster 留在墓地的紙條，大家知道這位元老在一九九三年交棒（"The torch will be passed."），並且在一九九九年去世了。繼起的 Poe Toaster 顯然比較多話，偶而也對球賽和時局發表（有點討人厭的）意見。
據說有人在一九九Ｏ年偷拍到了 Poe Toaster，但儘管如此，Poe Toaster 出現時，沒有人像狗仔隊一樣衝上前去，把麥克風刺到他面前問些莫名奇妙的白痴問題，諸如：你為什麼要這麼作？愛倫坡是你的什麼人？或是：你現在感覺如何？等等讓人吐血的問題。
這樣高度的自制，讓這神秘的儀式持續不衰半個多世紀，愛倫坡這驚悚作家真是死而無憾了。
有 意 思
回覆刪除
回覆刪除雙餘館附近從昨夜起了大霧，至今晨仍是白茫茫的一片，實在很適合 Poe Toaster 的出現！
回覆刪除很有趣的題材!
回覆刪除nice one
cool !!
精采！
回覆刪除這儀式之所以可以持續，坡迷之表現當是關鍵。很美。
又，Kh'o之新寵物有意思很可愛。
今年的Poe Toaster報導，看來狗仔隊已經對這神秘致敬儀式造成某些干擾了，讓人有點憂心。
回覆刪除－－－－－－－－
January 19, 2006
Mystery Man Places Roses on Poe Gravesite
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:16 p.m. ET
BALTIMORE (AP) -- 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 graveyard 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 it's 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 the 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 make 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.
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On the Net:
Poe House and Museum: http://www.eapoe.org/index.htm