The Funeral (that should have been) for Edgar Allan Poe

It was a glorious day for a funeral/celebration and not at all gloomy as one might expect for the great Poe. There were two services, the first taking 2 1/2 hours, the second slightly shorter. Fifteen people people spoke including Poe's former fiance Sarah Helen Whitman, Poe's friend George Lippard, the man who ruined Poe's reputation for many years, The Rev. Rufus Griswold (who was hissed from the podium after his inappropriate and false remarks about the dead man), Charles Baudelaire, Walt Whitman, H. P. Lovecraft (who read from the Necronomicon and then translated what he read for for mourners), and a few living persons, such as myself and artist Gris Grimly. John Astin graciously presided over the proceedings.

There was wonderful music: a violin soloist, a solo singer, a men's chorale. There was drama: George Lippard tossed a cup of water at the nasty Griswold, the narrator of the Tell-Tale Heart appeared mysteriously to have his say.
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