Part 41: Into the Catacomb

Edgar Allan Poe is buried at a cemetery established by members of First Presbyterian Church in 1786, located at the corner of Fayette and Greene streets.

Back then, the cemetery was located on the outskirts of Baltimore. As the city emerged around it, the cemetery changed over time.

In 1852, Westminster Church was built on the cemetery. The towering Gothic Revival structure was built on brick pilings that arch over the graves and burial vaults, creating a catacomb beneath the church.

Now known as Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, the property is owned by a foundation managed by faculty of University of Maryland School of Law, which surrounds the cemetery on its South and East sides.

On , I arrived at the cemetery at around 9 p.m. For the first time, a public ceremony was being held in Poe’s honor. A few people were already strolling around the walled property.

Jerome introduced me to three Towson University students who were also spending the night. One of the students was Jeff Savoye, now president of the Poe Society.

Jerome spent most of his time talking with reporters and leading news crews on tour of the catacombs and cemetery. I tagged along, my tape recorder in tow. Denise Koch was there, reporting for WJZ-TV.

In the catacomb, Jerome opened a large earth-covered burial vault, the metal door creaking on its hinges, to show Koch the jumble of bones within.

“My god,” Koch gasped.

“How many are in there?” I asked.

“Supposed to be 26 people,” Jerome said.

At around 11:30 p.m., people gathered at Poe’s monument near the Fayette Street gate. Jerome welcomed the crowd and thanked them for bearing the cold night. An actor portraying Poe read “Annabelle Lee.” Andre Codrescu, editor of the poetry journal Exquisite Corpse, who lived in Baltimore at the time, read his own poetical tribute to Poe.

At midnight there were sips of amontillado and cognac from bottles passed through the crowd.

Jerome thanked the group for coming out again, and bid everybody good night.  He ushered the crowd out of the Fayette Street gate, then patrolled the property to make sure it was empty and all the gates and doors were locked.

The five of us exited through the Fayette Street gate, which Jerome pulled almost all the way closed but left unlocked.

We looked up and down the deserted streets. Nobody was watching us. We walked down Greene Street toward University Hospital, made a left at Baltimore Street in front of the School of Law, and another left at Eutaw Street, walking around the block to the entrance of the law library.

Although it was after hours, a security guard sat at a desk inside the unlocked front door. Jerome greeted the security guard as we entered. We walked through the darkened law library, down a hallway and through a fire door, to a walkway that connected to the two-story parsonage adjacent to Westminster.

We walked through the parsonage into the church, and down a corner stairwell into the darkened catacomb. Even though the arches of the brick foundation were enclosed with bars and sheets of Plexiglas, it was very cold.

The church upstairs was locked, as were the gates leading into the catacombs. There was only one easy way in and out of the property--the Fayette Street gate.

We hunkered down between the dirt mounds covering the vaults, peering into the darkness through the brick arches, and waited.

Other Parts of the Poe Toaster Tale:

I. 
II.
IV: 
V: