It’s been two years since the mystery visitor to Edgar Allan Poe’s grave failed to show up for the first year. January 19th 2012 marked Poe’s would-be 203rd birthday, and the third year in a row that the traditional visitor – a figure in a black and white scarf and wide-brimmed hat who left three roeses and a half-full bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave every year – did not make an appearance.

Fans waited hopefully, but while two impersonators showed, the real figure did not. No word as to whether the figure decided Poe’s 200th birthday was a fitting final tribute, or died, or moved away. Not even any word on whether it was only one person, or a passed torch, but the visitor had been a faithful guest since the 1940s. Disappointed fans had stated that they would show up this year for the final time, and if nobody came, let the tradition go. But the visitor and associated mystery will no doubt be much missed.