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It's the early hours of January 19th, 1950 at Westminster Burying Ground in Baltimore,

Maryland. A journalist from the Baltimore Sun blows into his hands trying to keep

his fingers warm. It's a bitterly cold night and he should be tucked in his warm bed, but

tonight he's on the trail of a story.

The journalist has heard rumors of odd happenings that take place overnight in this graveyard.

Every year on the anniversary of author Edgar Allan Poe's birth, some unknown person sneaks into the cemetery and leaves behind the same objects on Poe's grave, a partial bottle of cognac and three roses.

Tonight the reporter wants to witness exactly what happens so he can

reveal it to all in his newspaper column. The journalist holds his breath as a

figure appears out of the gloom carrying a flashlight. The figure is dressed in a long black coat, black

wide-brimmed hat, and white scarf. And as the journalist ducks behind a tree, the black clad figure heads straight for Poe's grave.

He kneels and then carefully arranges three roses on the gravestone.

Then he stands, pulls a bottle from his coat, and pours some of its contents into a glass.

Then he raises his glass and clinks it against Poe's headstone, as though toasting the dead

author.

He tips his head back, downs the cognac in one gulp, and then puts the

bottle an empty glass on the grave. Then the dark figure turns and walks away

without a backward glance. The journalist emerges from his hiding place with his brow furrowed

as he struggles to understand exactly what he just witnessed. Years will pass and no one will ever uncover the identity of Edgar Allan Poe's annual birthday visitor.

...