On a corner two blocks from the home of Baltimore's most renowned writer of the macabre, Kyra Myers is asked a seemingly easy question: Just where is the Edgar Allan Poe House?
But her answer is filled with uncertainty.
"It's somewhere over there in the Poe Homes," she said, pointing in a direction of perhaps the most scenic -- but out-of-the-way -- route to Poe's place.
"It's on Lexington Street or Saratoga, I think. You'll see some signs for it. But it's probably somewhere near the Poe Homes. OK?"
If Ms. Myers, who has lived in the West Baltimore neighborhood for five years, has trouble finding the "tourist attraction," imagine the difficulty real tourists have locating it.
For the record, the house where Poe lived during his early writing years is 203 N. Amity St., an inconspicuous, aging, 2 1/2 -story brick dwelling that looks much like the rest of the neighborhood.
And, as Ms. Myers guessed, Poe's home sits amid the Poe Homes public housing development, a series of low-rise rowhouses.
The Poe House, open only Saturdays during August and September, attracts about 4,000 visitors a year, most of whom are from out of state, said Jeff Jerome, the Poe House curator since 1979.
The house is open Wednesday through Saturday from October through December and from April through July. It is closed from January through March.
"We're hard to find," Mr. Jerome said. "You have to know where you're going to get here. But we're very important to Baltimore and to literature. This is where Poe began his literary career.
"Many people drive by expecting to see a big house or a castle with Vincent Price looking out the window. But it's not like that."
One problem is that the four-bedroom Poe House, which recently underwent a modest refurbishing, blends too perfectly with the community and looks too much like nearby houses.
Nearby residents said that potential visitors often pass 203 N. Amity St. while searching for it, and that there are only three signs within a half-mile of Poe's home that direct visitors there.
Allie May Greene, who lives next door to Poe's home, gets a kick out of watching carloads of tourists pass the house.
"They don't have to say a word. I just point them in the right direction," Ms. Greene said. "It happens all of the time. People come from all over the world -- Florida, Miami, California."
The surroundings of the Poe House also may be a deterrent to tourists. Residents and police said drugs are sold openly and crowds often gather on street corners near the attraction.
And area street hustlers are numerous.
This week, about a block from the Poe House, a young man hawked bars of Mennen Speed Stick deodorant -- two for $3, he said, but the price was open to negotiation.
Tracy Baskerville of the Baltimore Office for Promotions said the Poe House is on the tour map given to tourists visiting Baltimore and the map shows how to get there.
The house, built in 1830, is believed to be where Poe wrote some of his eerie classics, such as "Berenice," "Loss of Breath" and "Von Jung, the Mystic" (or "Mystification").
In fact, some residents think spirits from Poe's work still haunt the neighborhood.
Ms. Greene said that not too long ago, something supernatural entered her house through her living room window ("right through the sheer curtains") and sat next to her on a sofa as she watched television.
"I said, 'You can have the sofa,' and went to the bedroom," said Ms. Greene, adding she often has felt an outside presence during the 12 years she has lived there.
Although Mr. Jerome firmly says spirits do not frequent the Poe House, he did recall several unusual incidents -- thumps in the bedrooms, falling windows and assorted creaks.
"But I try to keep an open mind. I'm neutral on that," he said. "Of course, we don't actively tell people it's haunted. We wouldn't say that about Poe's house."
