‘The Halloween Party is tonight in the old Victorian house on Illinois Avenue, Jane said. ‘It is haunted and ghosts have been seen many times,’ Jane continued. ‘Billy B. lived there when he first came to Eldorado,’ Jane said. ‘Billy B. heard voices in the night speaking in whispers,’ Jane noted. ‘The legend of the appearances includes crying from the covered well in the back yard,’ Jane shivered. ‘A young woman was thrown down the well and the top of it sealed up 100 years ago,’ Jane explained. ‘Her name was Annabel Lee, and Edgar Allen Poe wrote about her in a poem,’ Jane said with trepidation. ‘Poe came to Eldorado during his short life and lived with Annabel Lee in the Victorian,’ Jane said. ‘History does not record their love affair other than his poem, which is not set in Eldorado,’ Jane explained. ‘Poe writes of a ‘Kingdom by the sea, where he and Annabel Lee lived, Jane noted. ‘He continues with, ‘And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee: So that her highborn kinsman came and bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulcher In this kingdom by the sea,’ Jane quoted Edgar Allen Poe’s poem.

‘I have read that there were numerous sightings of a man with dark hair and a mustache seen around Eldorado,’ Chet said. ‘He wore a top hat and had a magnificent walking stick with an ivory skull on top,’ Chet continued. ‘He was known as a gentleman and drank spirits copiously,’ Chet observed. ‘He wrote for the Eldorado newspaper under the name Allen Poe and was well read,’ Chet explained. ‘He was from Massachusetts,’ Chet noted. ‘Mr. Poe wrote several detective stories while he resided in the Old Vic on Illinois,’ Chet said. ‘He was a sad man who became sadder when he drank,’ Chet commented. ‘He spoke of his beloved Annabel Lee, but no one ever met her,’ Chet said with a sigh. ‘Edgar Allen Poe is said to roam the long porch of the Victorian House on Illinois Avenue and is often seen with a young dark-headed woman of unparalleled beauty and mystery,’ Chet observed. ‘At times, the etheral creatures are rumored to walk across the street to the High School to watch the football team play,’ Chet laughed. ‘The lovely woman always cheers for the Eldorado Eagles,’ Chet winked.

‘When we moved into the Vic, I slept in a utility room that was so small I had to jump onto the roll-away bed to enter the room as it consumed the floor space,’ Bill B said. ‘I woke up the first night to see a little man dressed in black with a black mustache at the foot of my bed,’ Billy B continued. ‘He spoke not a word, just staring at me with sad eyes,’ Billy B. noted. ‘I asked him if he lived in the house and he shook his head no,’ Billy B. said. ‘I asked him again if he lived in the big cold house with a fireplace in every room and he said that he did live there…of a fashion,’ Billy B. noted with a fearful look. ‘The man in black with the doleful eyes said that he stayed close to his love, who was a resident of the property,’ Billy B. said. ‘The mysterious man said he had been a slave to drink and neglected the love of his life,’ Billy B. explained. ‘They were hiding in Eldorado to attempt to begin a new life,’ Billy B. recounted. ‘They wanted to be somewhere where no one knew them,’ Billy B. remembered. ‘I would give up the spirits, but they aid my writing the little man with the sad eyes told me,’ Billy B. said.

‘Welcome, Halloween guests,’ Edgar Allen Poe said. ‘You have discovered Annabel Lee and my secret hideway, EAP continued. ‘We live on you realize, I am sure,’ EAP explained. ‘Annabel Lee and I are happy in our secret life after life, Edgar Allen Poe said. ‘At times I think I am drinking more than usual, but it is hard to tell in the spirit world,’ Edgar Allen Poe laughed. ‘When I wrote my poem about my beautiful Annabel Lee, I was already dead, EAP noted with certainty. ‘So we did live by the sea at times and in Eldorado at other moments,’ Edgar Allen Poe noted. ‘Have you read the Tell-Tale Heart?’ Poe asked. Once again, I was thinking of my Annabel Lee,’ Poe noted. ‘Life is uncomplicated in Eldorado, and when I reveal myself, I am thought to be one of the eccentrics who frequent small town America,’ Poe laughed heartily.

‘You children are so lovely,’ Annabel Lee said with a benevolent smile. ‘Edgar has always been obsessed with me, and I do not know why, Annabel Lee continued. ‘I played the organ in the Presbyterian church in Massachusetts,’ Annable noted. ‘I noticed him each Sunday sitting in the front row listening to my playing,’ Annabel Lee said. ‘He seemed transported to another world,’ AL said. ‘He was always so sad,’ Annabel Lee noted with a tear in her eyes. ‘He wrote like a god and lived like a longshoreman,’ Annabel Lee said. ‘Here we watch the season pass, and our favorite is autumn, Annable Lee grinned. ‘Here people accept you for who you are and do not judge,’ Annabel Lee explained.