Hard to believe isn’t it that the 1849 death and subsequent burial of Edgar Allan Poe drew such little attention?  Reports say that most friends and followers did not learn of the funeral proceedings until the following day.

To rectify this grave injustice and commemorate the bicentennial of the author’s birth, the Baltimore Poe Society staged an elaborate reenactment complete with:

• an 11-hour, public, open-casket viewing in his former home at 203 North Amity Street for a $5 fee.
• an all-night vigil at Poe’s Monument, Westminster Graveyard, where literary fans  paid homage to the deceased through words, poetry or song.
• a horse-drawn hearse processional from Amity Street to Westminster Hall,  led by the Loch Raven Pipes and Drums.
• hundreds of spectators, many in appropriate period attire, lining the streets to pay tribute.
• two, 2 1/2 hour services, 12:30 and 4:30 p.m., to accommodate the vast number of mourners; 600-700.  The cost was $35 in advance and $40 at the door with no SRO or children under 10 allowed.

Best known for his role of the original Gomez Addams, John Astin, officiated at both services. An esteemed Poe researcher, Astin heads up the John Hopkins theater department.

Poe biographer and rival Rev. Rufus Griswold was forced from the podium after referring to the master of the macabre as a “carping grammarian”.

Griswold scowled and muttered through the rest of the proceedings as Poe admirers from the past and present lauded the originator of the mystery/detective novel and horror story.

Exhibiting obvious paranoia, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft read from the Necronomicon.

Other noted individuals in attendance included: Sir Alfred Hitchcock, legendary film director;  Walt Whitman, American poet; Sarah Helen Whitman, former fiancee; Nathanial Parker Willis, loyal friend; J.T.L.Preston, childhood friend; Charles Bauldelaire, French writer;  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes; Mark Redfield, actor and filmmaker.

Actual footage of the reenactment can be found at the following links:

NPR

BBC

FOXBaltimore

http://mouseski.blogspot.com/2009/10/into-region-of-shadows.html

Poe grew up, fell in love, married, penned his first poems and started his literary career in Richmond, VA.  Information regarding Poe’s life in Virginia can be found here.

Five Poe myths debunked here by Dante Club author, Matthew Pearl.

*Thanks to my niece, Amy, for her eye-witness account of the event.