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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: collected stories of the supernatural
A collection of stories of the supernatural, of ghosts and "strange doings" by a master teller of tales. Includes these stories: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge; The Damned Thing; A Watcher by the Dead; An Inhabitant of Carcosa; The Famous Gilson Bequest; The Eyes of the Panther; The Secret of Macarger's Gulch; The Night-Doings at Deadman's
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Published December 1, 2010
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About the author
Ambrose Bierce
2,403 books1,297 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 10, 2020
I really enjoyed these 8 short-stories. Bierce has a keen way of writing suspenseful stories that have a horrific twist. Here is a quick synopsis of each:
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - so full of imagery and description that you think he did escape unbeknownst to him that it was Peyton's imagination of his escape only to precede his death.
The Damned Thing - What seems to be an entity that has no color and cannot be seen yet it can wreck injuries and even murder upon a person.
A Watcher by the Dead - 3 men wagered that a person could not stay the night with a corpse. 1 of the men played the corpse while an unsuspecting gambler knew not. The gambler killed the man playing the corpse and the other two upon revelation of this left for Europe to escape blame. 7 years, the two men are now gamblers themselves and a man approaches claiming to be the corpse they left long ago which in turn was actually the gambler who stayed the night.
An Inhabitant of Carcosa - A man who had fallen ill, seems to be having an out-of-body experience and is in limbo in Carcosa He then finds himself in a cemetery and is staring at his own headstone. Reminded me of A Christmas Carol when Scrooge was with the Future.
The Famous Gilson Request - Mr. Gilson was a gambler and a prisoner on trial for stealing a horse. He was to be hung and all his possessions were given to Mr. Brentshaw without the knowledge of Mr. Brentshaw. Upon becoming executor, Mr. Brentshaw discovered that Mr. Gilson had valuable estates and money in banks but these could be contested of ownership by citizens of Mammon Hill. A flood happened and exposed the grave of Mr. Gilson. Mr. Brentshaw sees a ghost looking like Mr. Gilson.
The Eyes of the Panther - A man wants to marry a women but she deny's him because she is insane or "possessed". Her story as told to the man... a woman has a dream and asked her husband not to go out and hunt and he doesn't come home. That night she has another dream that her husband was dead as was her first child, and another child in the cradle was actually a wild beast. She awoke and found a panther in the open window. The women's husband came home only to find the baby smothered to death from the mother holding it so hard to protect it. After the story, the man still wants to marry the women but after many rejections, he gave up but slept with a rifle. One night the panther came to his home. He shot, hit it, and ran after it only to discover the body of the women he wanted to marry.
The Secret of Macarger's Gulch - a hunter finds shelter in ruins of a house. Yet he feels fear and apprehension, finally falls asleep and dreams. In his dream he finds a man and woman. He awakes and hears a thump and woman's scream. Years later he realizes he was in the ruined home of the couple he dreamt about and that he man murdered his wife in that home.
The Night-Doings at 'Deadmans' - Mr. Beeson was a recluse hermit who lived on a mountain. He got a visit from another man late at night. Awaking from sleep, the two men looked upon a Chinaman that was buried beneath the floorbeams and who died from natural causes two years prior, who wanted a braid of his hair that was hanging up in the shanty.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - so full of imagery and description that you think he did escape unbeknownst to him that it was Peyton's imagination of his escape only to precede his death.
The Damned Thing - What seems to be an entity that has no color and cannot be seen yet it can wreck injuries and even murder upon a person.
A Watcher by the Dead - 3 men wagered that a person could not stay the night with a corpse. 1 of the men played the corpse while an unsuspecting gambler knew not. The gambler killed the man playing the corpse and the other two upon revelation of this left for Europe to escape blame. 7 years, the two men are now gamblers themselves and a man approaches claiming to be the corpse they left long ago which in turn was actually the gambler who stayed the night.
An Inhabitant of Carcosa - A man who had fallen ill, seems to be having an out-of-body experience and is in limbo in Carcosa He then finds himself in a cemetery and is staring at his own headstone. Reminded me of A Christmas Carol when Scrooge was with the Future.
The Famous Gilson Request - Mr. Gilson was a gambler and a prisoner on trial for stealing a horse. He was to be hung and all his possessions were given to Mr. Brentshaw without the knowledge of Mr. Brentshaw. Upon becoming executor, Mr. Brentshaw discovered that Mr. Gilson had valuable estates and money in banks but these could be contested of ownership by citizens of Mammon Hill. A flood happened and exposed the grave of Mr. Gilson. Mr. Brentshaw sees a ghost looking like Mr. Gilson.
The Eyes of the Panther - A man wants to marry a women but she deny's him because she is insane or "possessed". Her story as told to the man... a woman has a dream and asked her husband not to go out and hunt and he doesn't come home. That night she has another dream that her husband was dead as was her first child, and another child in the cradle was actually a wild beast. She awoke and found a panther in the open window. The women's husband came home only to find the baby smothered to death from the mother holding it so hard to protect it. After the story, the man still wants to marry the women but after many rejections, he gave up but slept with a rifle. One night the panther came to his home. He shot, hit it, and ran after it only to discover the body of the women he wanted to marry.
The Secret of Macarger's Gulch - a hunter finds shelter in ruins of a house. Yet he feels fear and apprehension, finally falls asleep and dreams. In his dream he finds a man and woman. He awakes and hears a thump and woman's scream. Years later he realizes he was in the ruined home of the couple he dreamt about and that he man murdered his wife in that home.
The Night-Doings at 'Deadmans' - Mr. Beeson was a recluse hermit who lived on a mountain. He got a visit from another man late at night. Awaking from sleep, the two men looked upon a Chinaman that was buried beneath the floorbeams and who died from natural causes two years prior, who wanted a braid of his hair that was hanging up in the shanty.
October 23, 2024
Bierce was a 19th c. San Fran newspaperman who wrote most of these supernatural stories around age 50. They range from the comic to the cosmic. They’re light on dialogue and all, in different ways, use a slightly indirect method of storytelling, despite their simplicity. Frame narratives, flashbacks, etc. That and their place in the history of the horror genre make them interesting. I’d also be interested to read his Civil War stories. Stylistically, however, the author is somewhat uneven.
This short collection includes:
——
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge—(1890) Well written and really well imagined, but overly descriptive and the ending wasn’t more effective than an “It was all a dream” twist, no matter the novelty at the time.
——
The Damned Thing—(1893) Predator meets the 1800s. Very cool idea: that just as there are sounds the human ear cannot detect, so too are there colors not perceptible to the imperfect human eye.
Quote: “God hates a coward.”
——
A Watcher by the Dead—(1889) Ghastly practical joke.
——
An Inhabitant of Carcosa—(1886) The setting is like Browning’s Childe Roland. Neither original nor particularly well executed, and yet Bierce adds layers that would’ve made Borges eat his heart out. In the first place, the narrator (we soon suspect) is in the land of the dead. And yet he’s from a city which itself sounds legendary. Why? It’s like a dream within a dream. And then the footnote at the end puts this brief story at another remove—no, at two more unearthly removes:
“Such are the facts imparted to the medium Bayrolles by the spirit Hoseib Alar Robardin."
So, the dream of a dream as told through a psychic by a ghost!
——
The Famous Gilson Bequest—(1878) An earlier story. The mock-flowery language is slightly amateurish. Still, it was intriguing, with the ghost mysteriously pouring (if I’m not mistaken) the wet ashes of corpses into his tomb as if sluicing for gold.
——
The Eyes of the Panther—(1897) Another creature feature.
——
The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch—(1891)
——
The Night-Doings at “Deadman's”—(1874) Again an early one for Bierce. In Gold Rush country, a dead Chinaman buried in the cellar tries to regain one of his pigtails hanging above the trap door. I wonder if Kipling read it.
This short collection includes:
——
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge—(1890) Well written and really well imagined, but overly descriptive and the ending wasn’t more effective than an “It was all a dream” twist, no matter the novelty at the time.
——
The Damned Thing—(1893) Predator meets the 1800s. Very cool idea: that just as there are sounds the human ear cannot detect, so too are there colors not perceptible to the imperfect human eye.
Quote: “God hates a coward.”
——
A Watcher by the Dead—(1889) Ghastly practical joke.
——
An Inhabitant of Carcosa—(1886) The setting is like Browning’s Childe Roland. Neither original nor particularly well executed, and yet Bierce adds layers that would’ve made Borges eat his heart out. In the first place, the narrator (we soon suspect) is in the land of the dead. And yet he’s from a city which itself sounds legendary. Why? It’s like a dream within a dream. And then the footnote at the end puts this brief story at another remove—no, at two more unearthly removes:
“Such are the facts imparted to the medium Bayrolles by the spirit Hoseib Alar Robardin."
So, the dream of a dream as told through a psychic by a ghost!
——
The Famous Gilson Bequest—(1878) An earlier story. The mock-flowery language is slightly amateurish. Still, it was intriguing, with the ghost mysteriously pouring (if I’m not mistaken) the wet ashes of corpses into his tomb as if sluicing for gold.
——
The Eyes of the Panther—(1897) Another creature feature.
——
The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch—(1891)
——
The Night-Doings at “Deadman's”—(1874) Again an early one for Bierce. In Gold Rush country, a dead Chinaman buried in the cellar tries to regain one of his pigtails hanging above the trap door. I wonder if Kipling read it.
February 3, 2025
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is absolutely chilling and hauntingly dark. Truly this has to be one of the best short stories of the 19th century and one of the most harrowing Civil War stories.
The other seven stories in this collection are mostly ghost stories from the American west in the late 1800s. I’ve heard Bierce described as the bridge from Poe to Lovecraft and I think this is entirely accurate. The stories he writes feel exactly like a Twilight Zone episode. They all hold excellent pace for being so short and the colorful and strange horror continued to send shivers down my spine!
I showed up just to read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge but ended up discovering a new favorite classic American author!
The other seven stories in this collection are mostly ghost stories from the American west in the late 1800s. I’ve heard Bierce described as the bridge from Poe to Lovecraft and I think this is entirely accurate. The stories he writes feel exactly like a Twilight Zone episode. They all hold excellent pace for being so short and the colorful and strange horror continued to send shivers down my spine!
I showed up just to read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge but ended up discovering a new favorite classic American author!
January 26, 2025
Bierce introduced continuous stream of consciousness in his classic tale. Union soldiers are in the process of hanging a Confederate sympathizer on Owl Creek Bridge. What is the man thinking while this is taking place? Is he ‘in the present’ or does his mind wander to dreams of surviving this ordeal? Powerful writing with a surprise ending.
February 23, 2024
Creepy short stories. The narration by Mark Hammer is hauntingly brilliant. It's like the wild west mixed with fear, death, and horror. I am stunned at how good these stories are. I should probably relisten to some of them because they are truly off-beat.
December 16, 2013
I have read it many times and I do enjoy this story. I do not like this edition. The narrator is not quite up to the way I hear the story in my mind.
July 19, 2024
Some tales have aged better than others.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews