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The Ways of Ghosts: And Other Dark Tales
Motionless now and in absolute silence, she awaited her doom, the moments growing to hours, to years, to ages; and still those devilish eyes maintained their watch.
Ambrose Bierce was one of America’s leading writers of the nineteenth century, seen by contemporaries as a successor to Edgar Allan Poe with an authentic grasp of horror based on his experiences fighting for the Union in the American Civil War. Despite his contributions to the genre of supernatural and weird tales, today his name remains unknown to many readers.
This new collection presents over thirty of Bierce’s most terrifying and unusual stories, from essential classics such as ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ and ‘The Eyes of the Panther’ to the writer’s lesser-known series recounting macabre local legends of haunted houses, mysterious disappearances and chilling encounters with the dead.
Ambrose Bierce was one of America’s leading writers of the nineteenth century, seen by contemporaries as a successor to Edgar Allan Poe with an authentic grasp of horror based on his experiences fighting for the Union in the American Civil War. Despite his contributions to the genre of supernatural and weird tales, today his name remains unknown to many readers.
This new collection presents over thirty of Bierce’s most terrifying and unusual stories, from essential classics such as ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ and ‘The Eyes of the Panther’ to the writer’s lesser-known series recounting macabre local legends of haunted houses, mysterious disappearances and chilling encounters with the dead.
320 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 2023
9 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Ambrose Bierce
2,409 books1,296 followersdied perhaps 1914
Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.
People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.
The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."
People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.
Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.
Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.
Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"
Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.
People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.
The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."
People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.
Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.
Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.
Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 29, 2024
Loved it! Bierce's stories are uncanny. He wrote the Devil's dictionary.
October 27, 2023
“The Ways of Ghosts: and Other Dark Tales” by Bierce, Ambrose.
An awesome book full of original and entertaining short stories, including fascinating Introduction and Afterword. *****
INTRODUCTION: DARK THOUGHTS
A horseman in the sky – “… 1861 a soldier lay in a clump of laurel ..” is how it begins, and “’Good God!’ he said” is how it ends. First of several tales set during the American Civil War.
A tough tussle – “‘Damn the thing!’ he muttered. ‘What does it want?’ It did not appear to be in need of anything but a soul.” What a fantastic statement about ghosts! “He could no longer conceal from himself the horrible fact of his cowardice; he was thoroughly frightened!”
A resumed identity – So many terse concise sentences that convey so much intensity. “He stepped quickly into the shadow of a tree. And still the silent battalions moved slowly forward in the haze.”
One of the missing – A very good, well, how do I say it without giving away a spoiler? “He was not insane – he was terrified.”
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge – This one keeps you glued to the story. “To die of hanging at the bottom of a river! – the idea seemed to him ludicrous.”
Mrs. Dennison's head – What a way to end it! “He gave us a look full of reproach, turned at his desk, and went about his work.
We went at ours.”
A jug of sirup – “Doubtless the phenomenon was subjective.” Another cool tale
An inhabitant of Carcosa – The beginning is: “For there be divers sorts of death -” I love a good tale involving the surprising and unexpected words on a tombstone.
A watcher by the dead – It opens with, “In an upper room of an unoccupied dwelling …” You know it’s gonna crack on!
The middle of the right foot – “It is well known that the old Manton house is haunted.” With a start like that in a Bierce tale, well, you know that part is going to prove true!
The boarded window – “Grief is an artist of powers as various as the instruments upon which he plays …”
The damned thing – “By the light of a tallow candle …” Bierce knows how to put the reader immediately into the story from the first words. By just the third sentence we read. “… darkening a number of faces and figures…”
Bodies of the dead – Six descriptions of six deceased people. “‘The dead are creatures of habit,’ said Dr Spier.” Bierce is pre-Lovecraft.
The secret of Macarger's Gulch – “What did I fear, and why?” I’d be freaked out too! "Unfortunately our feelings do not always respect the law of probabilities, and for me that night, the possible and the impossible were equally disturbing."
The death of Halpin Frayser – “He lived in St. Helena, but where he lives now is uncertain, for he is dead.” Gee, Bierce uses the pointy end of the knife!
John Bartine's watch – A relic that causes a daily disturbance!
The eyes of the panther – “The man was .. with the expression of a poet and the complexion of a pirate – a man at whom one would look again.” Who else writes like this?!
Stanley Fleming’s Hallucination – Real or unreal, that is always the question. “The reading was interrupted by a shaking of the house, as by the fall of a heavy object.”
The moonlit road – Excellent retelling of an event from three POVs. “.. and lay trembling and silent, unable to shriek, forgetful to pray.”
Beyond the wall – So clever to change style and have a narrator retell a conversation about the experience of somebody else. “The night of my visit to him was stormy. .. Three or four trees, writhing and moaning in their torment of the tempest, appeared to appeared to be trying to escape from their dismal environment and take the chance of finding a better one out at sea.”
SOME HAUNTED HOUSES
The isle of pines – “It was a common belief among his neighbours that he had been a pirate ..” There is subtle humour interwoven throughout his writings. Oh the honest, yet naïve, local vicar! Something extra creepy when multiple witnesses observe the same paranormal phenomena. It takes the experience beyond just the self-delusional rant of an individual.
A fruitless assignment – “Henry Saylor, who was killed …” Straight into it. This tale is far more ghastly and horrific than others. Again, the spooky spectres are seen by the local townsfolk.
The spook house – “It was known as the ‘Spook House.’ That it was tenanted by evil spirits, visible, audible and active, no one in all that region doubted any more than he doubted what he was told of Sundays by the travelling preacher." Portals into other spirit dimensions.
The thing at Nolan – [spoiler] Concludes with the sentence, “But what was it that passed though Mr. Odell’s store at Nolan?”
At old man Eckert's – “Philip Eckert lived for many years in an old, weather-stained wooden house about three miles from the little town of Marion, in Vermont.”
A vine on a house – This one is a prototype Lovecraftian tale!
The other lodgers – “There are breaches in the walls that you could throw a cat through.” Beside the quirkiness of sentences such as this one, the story makes me thin of the fascination that occurred several decades ago with photographs revealing a happy family at home with the contrast of a seemingly overlaid ghostly apportion.
THE WAY OF GHOSTS
Present at a hanging – Such a cool way to say it: “.. was murdered by some person or persons to the jury unknown.”
A cold greeting – “‘As dramatic situations and literary effects are foreign to my purpose I will explain at once …’”
A wireless message – A simple short sentence makes the final paragraph, “The moment of this culminating horror …”
An arrest – “Having murdered his brother-in-law …” is how this story begins.
MYSTERIOUS DISSAPPEARANCES
The difficulty of crossing a field – “It is not the purpose of this narrative to answer that question.” Bierce packs so much in such subtle simplistic sentences.
An unfinished race – “He did not fall to the earth – he vanished before touching it.” How’s that?!
Charles Ashmore's trail – What a cheeky way to conclude a mystery story: “It is not my duty to indue facts and theories with affinity.”
Afterword: The fate of Ambrose Bierce –
Story sources.
An awesome book full of original and entertaining short stories, including fascinating Introduction and Afterword. *****
INTRODUCTION: DARK THOUGHTS
A horseman in the sky – “… 1861 a soldier lay in a clump of laurel ..” is how it begins, and “’Good God!’ he said” is how it ends. First of several tales set during the American Civil War.
A tough tussle – “‘Damn the thing!’ he muttered. ‘What does it want?’ It did not appear to be in need of anything but a soul.” What a fantastic statement about ghosts! “He could no longer conceal from himself the horrible fact of his cowardice; he was thoroughly frightened!”
A resumed identity – So many terse concise sentences that convey so much intensity. “He stepped quickly into the shadow of a tree. And still the silent battalions moved slowly forward in the haze.”
One of the missing – A very good, well, how do I say it without giving away a spoiler? “He was not insane – he was terrified.”
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge – This one keeps you glued to the story. “To die of hanging at the bottom of a river! – the idea seemed to him ludicrous.”
Mrs. Dennison's head – What a way to end it! “He gave us a look full of reproach, turned at his desk, and went about his work.
We went at ours.”
A jug of sirup – “Doubtless the phenomenon was subjective.” Another cool tale
An inhabitant of Carcosa – The beginning is: “For there be divers sorts of death -” I love a good tale involving the surprising and unexpected words on a tombstone.
A watcher by the dead – It opens with, “In an upper room of an unoccupied dwelling …” You know it’s gonna crack on!
The middle of the right foot – “It is well known that the old Manton house is haunted.” With a start like that in a Bierce tale, well, you know that part is going to prove true!
The boarded window – “Grief is an artist of powers as various as the instruments upon which he plays …”
The damned thing – “By the light of a tallow candle …” Bierce knows how to put the reader immediately into the story from the first words. By just the third sentence we read. “… darkening a number of faces and figures…”
Bodies of the dead – Six descriptions of six deceased people. “‘The dead are creatures of habit,’ said Dr Spier.” Bierce is pre-Lovecraft.
The secret of Macarger's Gulch – “What did I fear, and why?” I’d be freaked out too! "Unfortunately our feelings do not always respect the law of probabilities, and for me that night, the possible and the impossible were equally disturbing."
The death of Halpin Frayser – “He lived in St. Helena, but where he lives now is uncertain, for he is dead.” Gee, Bierce uses the pointy end of the knife!
John Bartine's watch – A relic that causes a daily disturbance!
The eyes of the panther – “The man was .. with the expression of a poet and the complexion of a pirate – a man at whom one would look again.” Who else writes like this?!
Stanley Fleming’s Hallucination – Real or unreal, that is always the question. “The reading was interrupted by a shaking of the house, as by the fall of a heavy object.”
The moonlit road – Excellent retelling of an event from three POVs. “.. and lay trembling and silent, unable to shriek, forgetful to pray.”
Beyond the wall – So clever to change style and have a narrator retell a conversation about the experience of somebody else. “The night of my visit to him was stormy. .. Three or four trees, writhing and moaning in their torment of the tempest, appeared to appeared to be trying to escape from their dismal environment and take the chance of finding a better one out at sea.”
SOME HAUNTED HOUSES
The isle of pines – “It was a common belief among his neighbours that he had been a pirate ..” There is subtle humour interwoven throughout his writings. Oh the honest, yet naïve, local vicar! Something extra creepy when multiple witnesses observe the same paranormal phenomena. It takes the experience beyond just the self-delusional rant of an individual.
A fruitless assignment – “Henry Saylor, who was killed …” Straight into it. This tale is far more ghastly and horrific than others. Again, the spooky spectres are seen by the local townsfolk.
The spook house – “It was known as the ‘Spook House.’ That it was tenanted by evil spirits, visible, audible and active, no one in all that region doubted any more than he doubted what he was told of Sundays by the travelling preacher." Portals into other spirit dimensions.
The thing at Nolan – [spoiler] Concludes with the sentence, “But what was it that passed though Mr. Odell’s store at Nolan?”
At old man Eckert's – “Philip Eckert lived for many years in an old, weather-stained wooden house about three miles from the little town of Marion, in Vermont.”
A vine on a house – This one is a prototype Lovecraftian tale!
The other lodgers – “There are breaches in the walls that you could throw a cat through.” Beside the quirkiness of sentences such as this one, the story makes me thin of the fascination that occurred several decades ago with photographs revealing a happy family at home with the contrast of a seemingly overlaid ghostly apportion.
THE WAY OF GHOSTS
Present at a hanging – Such a cool way to say it: “.. was murdered by some person or persons to the jury unknown.”
A cold greeting – “‘As dramatic situations and literary effects are foreign to my purpose I will explain at once …’”
A wireless message – A simple short sentence makes the final paragraph, “The moment of this culminating horror …”
An arrest – “Having murdered his brother-in-law …” is how this story begins.
MYSTERIOUS DISSAPPEARANCES
The difficulty of crossing a field – “It is not the purpose of this narrative to answer that question.” Bierce packs so much in such subtle simplistic sentences.
An unfinished race – “He did not fall to the earth – he vanished before touching it.” How’s that?!
Charles Ashmore's trail – What a cheeky way to conclude a mystery story: “It is not my duty to indue facts and theories with affinity.”
Afterword: The fate of Ambrose Bierce –
Story sources.
August 27, 2023
Not my favourite and, really, Bierce's biography and its mysterious conclusion are more interesting than some of the short stories. But it was a perfectly serviceable entry that manages to cover a variety of topics and works by Bierce. None of the stories are too long, and the order of selection has a logical progression, so the collection reads quickly and easily.
Favourite stories: "A Tough Tussle", "A Resumed Identity", "Mrs. Dennison's Head", "The Middle Toe of the Right Food", "Bodies of the Dead", "John Bartine's Watch", "The Eyes of the Panther", "The Spook House", "The Other Lodgers" and "Present at a Hanging".
Favourite stories: "A Tough Tussle", "A Resumed Identity", "Mrs. Dennison's Head", "The Middle Toe of the Right Food", "Bodies of the Dead", "John Bartine's Watch", "The Eyes of the Panther", "The Spook House", "The Other Lodgers" and "Present at a Hanging".
April 7, 2024
There are a few stories in here that are worth reading solely for their historical context in the weird literature canon (“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” etc) but this collection got pretty repetitive. Half these stories could have been taken out to leave one or two examples of each style of story Bierce wrote. Overall, Bierce’s own fate was probably more interesting to read about the most of these stories.
January 4, 2024
An enjoyable, if a little samey, collection if spooky stories. The author's mysterious disappearance (told here) is as interesting as the stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews