Edgar Allan Poe

 Greater Adirondack Ghost and Tour Company (Plattsburgh, NY)

Here's today's PHOTO OF THE DAY!!! "Quoth the Raven,' Nevermore.'" One of the most famous literary passages of all time. 174 years ago TODAY, on October 9th, 1849, legendary author and master of horror Edgar Allan Poe was laid to rest in Baltimore's "Westminster Burying Ground." Dead at the age of 40. Fitting of one of his own tales, Poe had been discovered on the streets of Baltimore six days prior in a delirious state and strangely, wearing soiled, shabby clothes that were not his own. He was rushed to a local hospital but was never coherent enough to explain how he came to be in such a serious condition. Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night of his death, though none of his family or friends knew anyone by that name. To this day, the mystery surrounding the cause and circumstances of Edgar Allan Poe's untimely demise has never been solved. In yet another twist worthy of his novels, the famed author's remains were ultimately buried not once, but twice! In 1875, some 26 years after his first burial, Poe's body was unearthed from his family's plot and reinterred beneath a new marble monument. An article appearing in the Baltimore Evening News described the scene... “On carefully raising the coffin to the brink of the grave Mr. Tuder discovered that it was partially broken in at the sides, and the lid near the head was so much decayed that it fell in pieces on the ground. The flesh and funeral robes of course had crumbled into dust and there was nothing left but the bare bones and a few clumps of hair attached to the skull, to tell that a body had once been there.” Several bystanders actually kept fragments of Poe's rotted coffin as grim mementos of the event. No doubt Poe himself would have been greatly amused by this.