Edgar A. Poe: 1 author, 2 cities, and a fight over where he should be buried
When I first came across this story in the New York Times, I almost thought it was a joke. The mere irony that this would happen to Edgar Allan Poe is something you just can’t make up (well, he probably could have, if he were still alive).
In case you haven’t read the article yet, here’s the lowdown: Currently, Poe is buried in Baltimore, MD where he died back in 1849. But another city, Philadelphia, PA, also lays claim to Poe’s body, since that is the city where the author wrote many of his most famous works.
The story doesn’t stop there, however. A Philadelphia Poe scholar named Edward Petit is the one fighting for the rights to bury the author in his city. This is what he said in a recent interview:
"So, Philadelphians, let’s hop in our cars, drive down I-95 and appropriate a body from a certain Baltimore cemetery," Mr. Pettit wrote in an article for the Philadelphia City Paper in October. "I’ll bring the shovel."
While he’s obviously joking about robbing the grave (or is he?), I can’t help but think this is exactly the type of thing Poe would love.
Seriously though, Baltimore won’t take this sitting down. The curator for the Poe House in the city, Jeff Jerome, won’t let the dead writer go anywhere – at least not on his watch.
"Philadelphia can keep its broken bell and its cheese steak, but Poe’s body isn’t going anywhere," said Jeff Jerome, the curator of the Poe House in Baltimore and Mr. Pettit’s opponent in the debate.
That’s right, Mr. Petit and Mr. Jerome will be having a debate over the proper burial city for Poe, which will take place on January 13 at the Philadelphia Free Library. The prize for the winner of the debate? I’d like to say the winner will get to have Poe buried in their respective town, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. At the very least, this has created some tension between the two cities:
Mr. Jerome and Mr. Pettit both say there is little chance Poe’s body will leave Baltimore. Their argument, which even prompted the mayor of Baltimore to tell Philadelphia to back off, is good publicity for one of the country’s greatest writers, they say.
Debates and grave robbing aside, the article does make a good point that this is great publicity for Poe. In an age where television, the internet and fancy video games capture the attention of today’s youth, maybe this will at least get a few new people interested in the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, a writer I have admired since my days in high school.
It should be noted for the record, however, that as the article points out, there are many US cities that can lay claim to Poe’s body. He didn’t stay in one place for very long. So anything less than dividing his corpse up among all those cities will probably leave a few people (and cities) disappointed.
My personal opinion: Leave him where he is. Why? The exact reason I gave above. He moved around a lot, so this can easily turn into a never-ending debate about the proper burial place for Poe.
What US city do you think should have the honor of having Poe buried there and why?
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