An Odd Secret Society...

Here's an odd bit of a secret, there is alot of speculation on the internet, amung which the general concensus is that every year since 1949, some one has left three roses and half a bottle of Congac on the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. That in itself is pretty odd, but what really got my attention was the note he left once, which makes this officially a conspiracy, a secret society of at least two.

www.mcphee.com...
The “Poe Toaster” left a note once implying that the original Toaster had passed away, saying “The torch shall be passed.” More recently, the Toaster simply wrote, “Edgar, I have not forgotten you.”

A couple of other sources mentions this person or persons as also leaving behinf a copy of Tamerlane. I am a huge fan of the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and I wonder who this person was, an illegitimate ancestry perhaps? Someone who was so moved by the works of Poe they felt compelled to follow this now fifty some odd year tradition? Why three roses? Etc. i personally find this fascinating. What do you guys think?

If your a fan of Edgar's, you can apparently purchase (believe it or not) an action figure here!
www.mcphee.com...

Originally posted by twitchy
Here's an odd bit of a secret, there is alot of speculation on the internet, amung which the general concensus is that every year since 1949, some one has left three roses and half a bottle of Congac on the grave of Edgar Allen Poe.

I'm not familiar enough with Poe to be able to speculate, but could the three roses and a bottle of cognac have something to do with Poe's private life? Or maybe something having to do with one of his works?

That's just weird. I've read a few of Poe's works, and the only place I can think of cognac is from The Cask of Amontillado, which, BTW involves premature burial--one of Poe's worst fears. If you recall, this one guy got really hacked off at this guy named Fortunato, and he walled him up in the catacombs while he was drunk or something.

Originally posted by Amethyst
That's just weird. I've read a few of Poe's works, and the only place I can think of cognac is from The Cask of Amontillado, which, BTW involves premature burial--one of Poe's worst fears. If you recall, this one guy got really hacked off at this guy named Fortunato, and he walled him up in the catacombs while he was drunk or something.

That's also one of my worst fears, which I got from the very poem you're talking about.

Originally posted by sebatwerk

Originally posted by Amethyst
That's just weird. I've read a few of Poe's works, and the only place I can think of cognac is from The Cask of Amontillado, which, BTW involves premature burial--one of Poe's worst fears. If you recall, this one guy got really hacked off at this guy named Fortunato, and he walled him up in the catacombs while he was drunk or something.

That's also one of my worst fears, which I got from the very poem you're talking about.

I'm against cremation--I know people do it for that reason though. Embalming is a good way to make sure you're actually dead.

Anyway...guess we better get back on topic.

Makes you wonder if this is some depressed person who really felt connected to Poe, but then why that specific brand of Congac, three roses, or tamerlane? If it is just some lone nutcase, why would anybody feel obligated to continue it.

My theory on the roses is this...
Under the Roses, or SubRosa, means in secret. Ask any decent Templar, so Poe lying under the Roses would Imply some sort of secrecy.

The Congac has me stumped, but I am convinced there something more to this than some loyal woeful fan.

According to a couple of sources a copy of Tamerlane was left behind along with the usual roses and congac...
Here's a copy of Tamerlane, there's an annoying pop-up window though.
www.americanpoems.com...

The real Tamerlane...
www.silk-road.com...
Tamerlane (1336 - 1405) - The Last Great Nomad Power

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins?" (from The Premature Burial, 1844)

WHO TOLD YOU?

by god, if it was simmons i'm going to wring his neck...

Interesting story. Sounds like a mystery rather than a conspiracy though. I wonder why it all started exactly 100 years after he died?

I have no idea how we're going to get to the bottom of this though - unless someone hangs around the grave and catches the fellow!

[edit on 28-5-2005 by Trinityman]

I had a picture or two of the guy somebody snapped back in the seventies, I wish to hell I had held on to them now I can't find them. I'll dig around here and see if I can find some. Average looking joe from what I could tell, but he apparently is/was very protective of his identity.

Originally posted by Odd
WHO TOLD YOU?

by god, if it was simmons i'm going to wring his neck...

LOL... who the hell is simmons? Should I worry? Start Packing? Not accept silver gifts from smiling strangers?

More information and a photo

www.comnet.ca...

www.poedecoder.com... and search for toaster

A former groundskeeper had more than once appropriated the cognac as his breath betrayed himself!

That answered my next question.

It is January 19th and once again the mysterious visitor of Edgar Allen Poe's grave has come to pay his repsects with the traditional 3 roses and half bottle of French cognac.

It is believed the stranger now is a relative of the previous visitor.
The tradition continues.

I find it hard to believe this is some prank as some denote, as it has been going on too long for such a prank to be pulled off without someone somewhere confessing after all these years.

Some referance was made to a previous note regarding the French cognac.
The curator of the grounds who has watched the visitation ritual since 1976 has stated one note rec'd after the Iraq war, stated the visitor was ill at ease leaving the French cognac, as somehow because France didn't support the war effort this would be unacceptable to Poe.

The cognac was still placed with the roses out of respect for tradition though.

I found a site earlier today stating this now I can't find the site but will keep trying.

Here are couple of sites regarding his bio and one from Canoe.news in Canada regarding todays visit by the mysterious mourner.

www.comnet.ca...

cnews.canoe.ca...

I have heard that the person who leaves the roses has been see from a distance and is always wearing a top hat and tails. No one to date as the story goes has seen the persons face.

BTW in "the cask" the victim (as well as poe) was a freemason.

An aficionado or an obsessor?

People are moved by works of literature yes, but not compelled to pay a recurring tribute to a master storyteller. I happen to believe that the man leaving behind these offerings is involved in some sort of secret society. There is symbolism behind the flowers, the liquor, and the past cryptic notes; this is obvious. Why three roses? Why not one...or two for that matter? Why half a bottle? Why not a full one...or an empty one? Why the letters?

Tonight, for the first time, I had read Tamerlane (a gripping poem I might add). For any avid Edgar that has a vast knowledge of his life and his stories, seeing a correlation and a possible reference to his supposed affiliation with a society might be more apparent.

I believe the 3 roses are in memory of Poe himself, his wife Sarah, who passed away before him and his mother inlaw.

I have always been a big fan of Poe, but one thing I just recently found out, is that he was adopted at a very young age. His parents were actors but that is all the information I could find. No other name except Poe.

He was adopted by a merchant named John Allan from Richmond Virginia, who he would come to quarrel with quite often. Later they became estranged and Allan cut him off of funds when Poe left the University of Virginia. He was orphaned but the book I have doesn't say what happened to his parents.

I think their maybe a society of some sort, most close families have a hard time keepeing up with tradition, and considering he was adopted by a stranger who eventually disowned him(no love there) there doesn't seem to be anyone else or other family to speak of , considering the adoption.

I am also curious about the notes left by the present visitor, especially the one that refers to reluctantly leaving the cognac because of it's French origin. This was during the war in Iraq that France opposed. The visitor left the bottle out of tradition and respect but left the impression that Poe would not have approved this opposition.

His death has always been a mystery, some think he was plied with alcohol, robbed and beaten into posting repeated ballots during a tense election in Baltimore. This was something that was done regulary during elections with newcomers to the city.

It would explain the ill-fitting and cheap tattered clothing they found him in but it doesn't explain the fact that even though he was new to the area, his face was fairly recognizable in the establishments. You would think if this was the case someone would have recognized him.

I certainly hope this was not his demise, it seems so very alone. Kind of like his life

I am going to dig further about his history and parental background and post info as I find it (hopefully).

I bet if interviews were conducted, there's a good chance more then one person a year is doing this, and all the witnesses just aren't accounted for or corroborated in detail with each other.

Otherwise it really would be an interesting mystery, but my first question is how they've determined it's been one person for all these years.

reply to post by bsbray11


To my understanding, it was just one person who did it for a long time, then someone else took over after the original person had died. It's hard to say for sure though, aside from a few rare photographs all we have to go on is verbal accounts and witnesses who know about as much as we do. You could be right though and this could be more than one person involved through the years, unfortunately this is probably just one of those things we will never know more about unless someone comes forward with it. What really intrigues me about this one is why the anonymity though, leaving something on the grave of a famous person isn't all that taboo. This was never really made a spectacle of, and the person or persons responsible have made a point to be very secretive about it so it certainly isn't being done as a publicity stunt.

One of my personal theories is that perhaps this person's ancestors were somehow involved in Poe's death, he was found in a ditch severely beaten and died a little later, we're told that he was probably a victim of a political gang but no one knows for sure and Poe had made a few enemies through the years. Perhaps the bottle of Congac is something Poe might have shared with his killer, or perhaps a promise was made to him and wasn't kept for almost 100 years. I don't really know why, but this one really intrigues me.

Originally posted by tyler_dryden
BTW in "the cask" the victim (as well as poe) was a freemason.

Actually, although he admired Albert Pike's poetry, Poe was an anti-Mason.