It’s Day 2 of #AuthorMadness2026. And today’s prompt from The Six Degrees of Poe asks us to propose a toast to one of the characters in our recent books. Here’s my toast:
A Toast!
Tag: Edgar Allan Poe
More Poe-Nus Material
Our eastern correspondent, Christopher F., was evidently so inspired by our Gold Bug cocktail and associated palaver that yesterday he made the trek to Sullivan’s Island, S.C., which is the setting for Poe’s “The Gold Bug.” Poe describes the setting in some detail in his story, evidently drawing on his experience living on the island for about a year between 1827 and 1828, when he was stationed at Fort Moultrie.
The good people of Sullivan’s Island know a good tourist opportunity when they see it, which explains the presence of Poe’s Tavern.
Correspondent Chris reports that the burgers all have Poe-themed names (The Raven, the Pit and the Pendulum, the Rue Morgue), and yet he ordered the fish tacos. He sent us this photo of the fireplace, which, he reports, “is cool and the image of Poe looks like it could have been done in soot.”
The restrooms have literally been wallpapered with pages from Poe tales (“The Mystery of Marie Bidet”, perhaps?)
But the coolest element of the Tavern, given its location, has got to be the Gold Bug mosaic that greets you on the walkway.
We thank correspondent Chris for his report, and encourage the thousands of our other loyal readers to keep an eye out for anything related to the Poe cocktails/stories being posted this month. We will be issuing a prize for the best photo. First prize is a signed copy of my forthcoming cocktail book, Potable Poe. Second prize is two signed copies of the same.
Poe-nus Material
Speaking of Edgar Allan Poe…today is the 176th anniversary of his death. In celebration of the occasion, I’m providing this bonus post. No need to thank me, but feel free to remember me in your will.
So, I spent last weekend in Baltimore–the city where Poe wrote several of his better-known works, and where he is said to have died under mysterious circumstances. (For an entertaining, alternative history explaining those and subsequent events in Poe’s life, please see my short story “Poe’s Last Lament.”)
Anyway, I was, as I say, in Baltimore, where every October a crowd gathers in the neighborhood, where Poe once lived with his wife and mother-in-law/aunt, to participate in the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival. Among other things, we drank a toast to Poe at his gravesite at Baltimore’s Westminster Hall, visited the catacombs beneath the church, and watched a burlesque performance by an Australian stripper whose precise connection to Edgar Allan Poe continues to elude me. I’m not making this up.
We also toured the beautiful and brooding Green Mount Cemetery (est. 1838), where a number of Poe’s relatives are buried. Green Mount is where I encountered the topic for this blog post. Take a gander at this headstone:
Readers of a certain age might remember this design from the family game closet, where the Parker Bros. Ouija game was kept.
Turns out the Ouija headstone marks the mortal remains of the man who patented the Ouija board. Here’s a pic of the reverse side of the headstone:
Note that this headstone does not claim that Elijah Bond is the inventor of the Ouija board; he’s just the patentee. The full origin story of the Ouija board is quite convoluted, disputed, and fascinating, and I have now spent several days going down an Ouija rabbit hole. Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:
- The “talking board” (which is the broad category the Ouija board fits into) has been around for over a thousand years….well before the establishment of the US Patent Office.
- Talking boards became insanely popular in the US near the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, during the heyday of Spiritualism.
- A prototype of the Ouija board was made famous in 1886, when it was used to supposedly communicate with a long-dead spirit.
- A few years later, Elijah Jefferson Bond–a Confederate veteran, inventor, and lawyer–sensed an opportunity and patented this version of the talking board. He called it Ouija. The Baltimore boarding house where he came up with the name still stands. Of course I had to visit it.
- Bond sold the US distribution rights for the Ouija board to the Kennard Novelty Company.
- A few years after selling the distribution rights, however, Bond started selling a knock-off version of the Ouija board that he called “Nirvana.”
- And here’s where I really feel down the rabbit hole: Bond created a company in 1907 to sell his Nirvana board. And what was its name? The Swastika Novelty Company. These are words that I would never expect to go together.
- Now, to be fair, the swastika would not come to be associated with the Nazis for another decade or two. But according to Wikipedia, the company wasn’t dissolved until 2014!
Sadly (?), Parker Bros (now owned by Hasbro) no longer produces the Ouija board as part of its regular lineup. But it does occasionally offer a specialized version as a movie tie-in. Therefore, it seems that your best bet might be to seek out an old, original one on eBay. You might even track down an old Nirvana version…but you’d have to explain to your friends that the swastika is “grandfathered in,” as it were.
Please let me know if you know of any other trivia related to the Ouija board (besides the oh-so-obvious link to The Exorcist). And thus we end this special post related to Poe, Baltimore, and Ouija.
Poe-Tober is Upon Us
Well, here we are–on the cusp of another October with its promise of spooky decorations, pumpkin beer, and, ultimately, All Hallow’s Eve. And you know what that means: it’s the month that I turn over this blog to 31 days of Halloween-related content. In past years we’ve had reviews of Halloween snacks, Halloween candy, Frankenstein movies, my own serialized horror story, and other thematic content.
This is truly a magical season, as the weather (at least in my neck of the woods) changes from hot and dry to cool and misty. The days shorten, the sun hangs lower on the horizon, and wood smoke fills the air. The hub, not to mention the bub, of the so-called Winter Holidays is (barely) held in abeyance while we make this transition into fall. It’s my favorite time of year. And that’s why this blog celebrates the season through the whole month of October.
So, what’s on tap for this year’s October blog? I’m glad you asked. Beginning tomorrow, we’re going to present 31 Edgar Allan Poe tales, each paired with a bespoke cocktail related to the story. In each post I’ll give you a short excerpt from Poe’s original tale, a synopsis of the plot, a recipe for making the cocktail, and a “Poe-script” with some related trivia. I’ll even provide a link to the full text, just in case you’re such a Rube that you don’t already own a compendium of Poe’s works. This way, you can read the tale while sipping on your specialty cocktail.
One word of warning: I am not a trained mixologist. In fact, I’m pretty much groping in the dark with these recipes. All I can say is that I’ve created, tested, and refined each one until it is deemed drinkable…by me. (By way of full disclosure I should admit that most if not all of these drinks have earned a thumbs down by my wife. But she likes neither whiskey nor gin, so clearly her credibility in these matters is lacking.)
So, starting tomorrow, I invite you to spend the month enjoying my curated list of 31 Poe stories along with their associated, custom cocktails. As always, I welcome your thoughts, reactions, and hangover nostrums. If you’re not already subscribed to this blog, you can sign up below. And if you are already subscribed, spread the word! Make all your friends’ October Poe-tastic!
Get Your Poe On
We now bring you the latest Poe News:
First: I have a new Poe book out! It’s a short story titled Poe’s Last Lament, and I’ve submitted it to Baltimore’s Poe Fest for their Saturday “Visiter” Awards competition. Alert readers will recall that my earlier short story, A Dying Wish, was a finalist at last year’s Poe Fest, but I didn’t make top honors. I’m hoping that this year justice will be served and I’ll bring home the medal. This year’s winner will be announced at Poe Fest on the first weekend in October.
But there’s no need to wait that long; you can get your own copy right now! It’s available on Amazon. Note that it’s available both in paperback and as an e-book.
In related news: I was interviewed about the book last month by the Poetastic Two on their Poecast. I’ve embedded the video below:
Finally: This Saturday (March 29) I’ll be reading Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Haunted Palace” as part of the Third Annual “Poe-It Like Poe” reading event. The four-hour Poe-a-thon will be livestreamed on YouTube, as various narrators from all across the country read a variety of Poe’s works. The event is sponsored by Poe Unplugged. If you want to catch my dramatic reading, you’ll need to tune in from 9:40 to 9:50 am PDT. After that: Nevermore! (Well, unless they post a recording…which they might…in which case I will post a link on this site.)
