Porpora became the historian for the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the 1960s and was one of 60 or so congregates. The cemetery was overgrown with weeds and had become a hangout for drunks. According to Porpora, the church needed publicity and money and the idea for the Poe Toaster was born. Porpora said that during a 1967 interview with a reporter, he made up the legend of the Poe Toaster to attract attention to the site. Porpora said that one of his tour guides dressed in black and went to the cemetery to fulfill the events of the story told to the reporter. Porpora also said that "it was a one-time thing." Apparently someone else took up the identity of the Poe Toaster and the annual visits continued from there.

In 1977, Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House in Baltimore, organized a vigil to await the arrival of the mysterious stranger to the cemetery. Then the media caught on and began televising the arrival and departure of the Poe Toaster. Life Magazine published the visitor's photo in 1990. In 1993, the stranger left a note that read "the torch will be passed." In 1998, another note read that the original Poe Toaster had passed away and that his two sons would take up the tradition. Several vigils over the years have accounted for two separate visitors during the same night.

Porpora's claim really killed the mystery and suspense for us Poe enthusiasts. However, some Poe scholars and enthusiasts question Porpora's story. For instance, members of the Poe Society adamantly maintain that congregates were talking about the Poe Toaster long before Porpora claims he came up with the idea. In addition, Porpora didn't get his story straight. He claims that he invented the idea during an interview with a Baltimore reporter in 1967. That interview he referred to actually printed until 1976. Newspaper stories from the '70s refer to other newspaper stories from much earlier. Jerome even discovered a 1950 newspaper clipping from The Baltimore Evening Sun that mentions "an anonymous citizen who creeps in annually to place an empty bottle of excellent label" upon the grave. While many of us Poe enthusiasts agree that Porpora just can't be the original Poe Toaster, we're a little intrigued by Poe's upcoming birthday. Will the figure dressed in black show up if the mystery behind the legend has truly been revealed? Or, if Porpora's story is wrong, will the stranger leave a note saying so?

January 19th, 2008 is not that far off. I'll be in Baltimore waiting for the Poe Toaster — I'll let you know if he shows.