Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Raven’s Wake for the Lost Lenore

The Haunted Bellvue Estate off Highway 3
____________________

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore..............

Edgar Allan Poe

Cloverdale’s Edgar Allan Poe Society will hold their yearly The Raven’s Wake for the Lost Lenore at the haunted Bellvue estate. The estate is located just off Highway 3 four miles outside of the village. Turn left at the pole with the attached camera standing in Floyd Farnell’s field (See post on Floyd Farnell). The road is not maintained so prepare for a bone jarring journey.

The Society encourages you to dress warmly and bring your first aid kit. There were a few minor injuries last year when the stuffed Raven broke off the slip wire stretching across the dining room and fell into the widow Morris’s lap. The widow, already in a state of excitement from the poem’s reading by candle light, sprang from her chair screaming the white off the estate's ghosts. This ear shattering shriek caused a minor stampede and the partial collapse of the once grand stairway.

The Society spent the major portion of its member’s dues on repairs to the estate and feels the Wake this year will be safe for all, including our ‘unearthly visitors’. So come join the Society for The Raven’s Wake for the Lost Lenore. The food will be ‘ghastly’ and the company 'terrifyingly spooky'.

1 comment:

  1. I hear that Shirley MacLaine will be the g(host) of this year's Raven's Wake? She'll be channeling the universe for Cloverdale's deceased, but beloved pets. oooooooooooooooooh!

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