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🗓️ 3 October 2023
⏱️ 17 minutes
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October 3, 1849. American author Edgar Allan Poe is seen in public for the last time when he’s found delirious in a gutter in Maryland, just a few days before he dies under mysterious circumstances.
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0:20.8 | It's the early hours of January 19th, 1950, at Westminster Barion ground in Baltimore, Maryland. |
0:27.6 | A journalist from the Baltimore Sun blows into his hands trying to keep his fingers warm. |
0:32.5 | It's a bitterly cold night and he should be tucked in his warm bed, |
0:36.4 | but tonight he's on the trail of a story. |
0:39.2 | The journalist has heard rumors of odd happenings that take place overnight in this graveyard. |
0:44.5 | Every year on the anniversary of author Edgar Allan Poe's birth, some unknown person sneaks |
0:50.0 | into the cemetery and leaves behind the same objects on Poe's grave, a partial bottle of cognac |
0:55.8 | and three roses. Tonight the reporter wants to witness exactly what happens so he can reveal it |
1:01.3 | to all in his newspaper column. The journalist holds his breath as a figure appears out of the gloom, |
1:08.2 | carrying a flashlight. The figure is dressed in a long black coat, |
1:12.8 | black wide-brinned hat and white scarf. And as the journalist ducks behind a tree, |
1:17.6 | the black clad figure heads straight for Poe's grave. He kneels and then carefully arranges |
1:23.6 | three roses on the grave stone. Then he stands, pulls a bottle from his coat, |
1:28.5 | and pours some of his contents into a glass. Then he raises his glass and clinks it against Poe's |
1:34.2 | headstone as though toasting the dead author. He tips his head back, downs the cognac and one gulp, |
1:40.1 | and then puts the bottle an empty glass on the grave. Then the dark figure turns and walks away |
1:46.5 | without a backward glance. The journalist emerges from his hiding place with his brow furrowed, |
1:52.4 | as he struggles to understand exactly what he just witnessed. |
1:59.5 | Years will pass and no one will ever uncover the identity of Edgar Allen Poe's annual birthday |
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