Craig Pfeifer: Poe gets a Visitor. As a member of the Raven Society, I should write something insightful about the recurring annual visits (56 so far) of a mysterious man who leaves three roses and a bottle of cognac in the locked cemetery where rest the mortal remains of Edgar Allan Poe, great American author and poor UVA student.
But I’m more drawn to the poor behavior of the spectators, who this year apparently wanted to solve the puzzle at the expense of the mystery: “Some [spectators] entered the locked cemetery; others confronted Mr. Jerome [the curator of the Poe House and Museum] after the stranger left and demanded that he reveal his identity.“
What did they expect would happen? Why would someone want to pee in that pool? There’s something profound about a commitment that long to anything, even (if as apparently in this case) if it spans more than one generation. I don’t think that anonymity is too much of a thing to respect in the face of such devotion.