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Americans celebrate Halloween on October thirty-first. It is mostly a
holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet many grown people
observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings of Edgar Allan Poe
think Halloween is the best time of year to celebrate them. Poe is most
famous for his stories and poems of strangeness, mystery and terror.
He wrote about people buried while still alive. About insanity and death.
About dreams that become real...or reality that seems like a dream.
Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in eighteen-forty-nine.
Now, in that city, an unusual party takes place every Halloween. In the
dark of night, visitors go to the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian
Church where Poe is buried. Everything is quiet. Then a voice calls out.
It is Poe! (pause) No, it is just an actor, reading Poe's work.
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