January 2012

Last Thursday evening 100 shivering revelers lined up outside the Westminster Burying Grounds in the bleakly quiet streets of West Baltimore. Far from somber, although many came dressed in black, the crowd members tittered and stamped their feet against the January chill, eager to celebrate the 203rd birthday of their favorite writer, Edgar Allan Poe, the master of the Gothic horror story.

At eight o'clock precisely, organizer Jeff Jerome swung open the iron gate and ushered everyone into the enclosure surrounding the granite monument to the author of "The Raven" and "Tell-tale Heart." This marked the largest turnout for the birthday celebration in the last 20 years, a tribute to Jerome's energy and Baltimore's enduring fascination with Poe.

"I think this proves beyond a doubt that people love Poe," says Jerome, the mid-60s curator of the Baltimore Poe House Museum. "The age diversity in this crowd tells me that tells me that we're doing the right thing in getting people interested in Poe."