Can Such Things Be?

Bierce collected these supernatural tales in 1893, and they reveal the darker, stranger side of a writer better known for his acid wit. Ghosts, unseen predators, and the restless dead move through stories that often begin in plain daylight before turning toward horror, among them “The Death of Halpin Frayser,” “The Damned Thing,” and “Moxon’s Master.” Bierce writes with the clipped precision of the journalist he was, letting terror gather in what he leaves unexplained rather than in gore. His fascination with death, madness, and the limits of reason gives the book a cold, modern edge that later horror writers would learn from. Free to read here as a PDF and EPUB edition.