A TOAST AMONG GHOSTS
A Toast Among Ghosts 2022
Thank you to everyone who joined us for A Toast Among Ghosts on Saturday, October 15, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. and enjoyed a spooky night of fun, food and beer in a historic cemetery at the Reisterstown Branch.
The historic Reisterstown Branch was formerly the Franklin Academy, where in 1831, Edgar Allan Poe applied to be the headmaster. He wasn't selected, but every year, Poe returns to one of his old haunts.
Enjoy live music from local bands Edgar Allan & the Poe Boys and Porch Setters Union, food from Just Like Home Indian Cuisine, Flash Crabcake Company and The Reister's Daughter, beer from RavenBeer, wine, local authors and vendors, famed Edgar Allan Poe impersonator David Keltz (found, appropriately enough, in the graveyard), portrayals of historic Reisterstown residents, ghost stories around a fire pit (see short story contest winners below) and guided tours through the moonlit historic Reisterstown Community Cemetery (est. 1764).
The theme this year is "MoonLit Masquerade." Wear a masquerade-style mask and/or costume to enter our MoonLit Masquerade contest, bonus points if your mask is literary-inspired.
This is a 21+ event and it is held rain or shine. (No refunds.)
Have more questions about the event? Check out our FAQ.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Tell-Tale Heart Level
Black Cat Level
Reisterstown Community Cemetery ❖ Susan Waxter
Anne W. West
Lenore Level
Emily Devan ❖ First Financial Federal Credit Union
Janet Sanford
Media Sponsors
We invited writers of all ages to write original horror stories with a “Moonlit Masquerade” theme in our Tales of the Dead Short Horror Story Contest. Six winners were chosen, and for the first time ever, one of the winners isn't local! The winner of the Over 21 category, Carrie Donovan, lives in Germany. Follow the links below to read their spine-tingling tales.
Over 21 Winner:
- Carrie Donovan of Gelsenkirchen, Germany, took first place for "Walpurgisnacht," a story of discovery about an amnesiac woman on Walpurgis Night.
- Second place went to Catonsville resident Mike Miller for "The Falling Moon," about a farmer's descent into madness.
- Gary R. Beard of Timonium took third place for "Nowhere to Hide," about a man looking for love but instead faced with his worst fear.
Under 21 Winners:
- Ivy McKnight, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Cockeysville Middle School, won first place for "Dead Space," a sci-fi horror story set on the space station on the moon.
- Second place went to Baltimore resident Sophia Kantsevoy, a 14-year-old at The Bryn Mawr School, who told the story of a house flip gone wrong in "Lunatine Lane."
- Lucy Bray of Baltimore, an eighth-grader at Dumbarton Middle School, took third place for “House of the Impathegens,” about an alien invasion on Halloween night.