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In True Baltimore Fashion, Hundreds To Visit Poe's Grave For Halloween

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Halloween and Edgar Allen Poe. It's a spooky combination that will bring hundreds of folks to the writer's grave site in West Baltimore Monday night.

Ron Matz reports there's a celebration there for the man of mystery who died in Baltimore more than a century and a half ago.

The solemn sound of a violin reminds visitors to Poe's grave site on West Fayette Street that they are on hallowed ground.

Today, visitors from Austria took pictures of the Halloween-y attraction. Tonight, hundreds more are expected to remember Poe, the master of the macabre.

Poe died of mysterious circumstances in Baltimore on his 40th birthday -- January 19, 1849.

The mysterious Poe Toaster leaves roses and Cognac at the grave, and big crowds pay tribute.

Tonight, there's a chance to tour the graveyard's catacombs. Usually they're open by appointment only.

There will also be a reading of his favorite short story, "The Tell Tale Heart."

"We could conceivably have 700 people or more tonight, coming here celebrating Halloween among the dead," says Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House. "Once that is over with, we start thinking about Poe's birthday on January 19."

"This is the place to be for Halloween," Jerome went on to say. "If you like Edgar Allen Poe, dead bodies and spooky tales, this is the place to be."

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