6 h 48 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 48 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the most dangerous thing in the room is something no one can see?
In Can Such Things Be?, Ambrose Bierce makes ordinary places feel unsafe. A forest cabin holds a lonely settler. A coroner’s jury gathers around a body. Houses hold old crimes, and a night in a room turns dangerous. These short Gothic tales bring ghosts and strange deaths close, without explaining the fear away.
In The Damned Thing, Hugh Morgan senses a presence he cannot name, while William Harker gives testimony no one wants to believe. The Boarded Window follows the isolated Murlock. The Moonlit Road gathers broken accounts of a family death, while The Death of Halpin Frayser blurs the line between dream and life.
What you’ll discover
- Ordinary places, sudden fear Enter cabins, rooms, and woods where familiar surroundings offer no promise of safety.
- An unseen threat Follow The Damned Thing into an inquest where a witness struggles to be believed.
- Truth in broken pieces Hear The Moonlit Road through separate voices, each holding only part of a violent story.
- Dreams that unsettle waking Join Halpin Frayser in a lonely wood where he cannot tell dream from life.
- Fear without fuss Feel the force of spare prose, cold irony, and sudden endings that leave questions open.
Who will love it
For readers who love ghost stories, dark humor and short fiction with a sting, and for fans of Edgar Allan Poe, the Civil War and tales of the Old West and the California gold country.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Sleepers in the woods meet their fate
- The dead tell their own side of it
- Machines and minds may share a mystery
- War makes the dead hard to ignore
- Doubles and mirrored souls cross paths
- Revenge and ghosts haunt the frontier
- Love, guilt and old crimes follow people
- Unseen forces strike when doubt grows
- Dreamlike endings and how Bierce tells them
Who’s who
- Halpin FrayserA dreamy young man from Nashville who wanders into a California forest and wakes with a name on his lips.
- MoxonAn inventor who believes every machine thinks and keeps a mysterious guest in his private workshop.
- Hiram BeesonA haggard miner who guards a pigtail alone in the abandoned camp of Deadman's Gulch.
- Doctor DorrimoreA smooth, dark-haired man from India whose conjuring tricks reach into the mind of Mr. Manrich.
- Alvan CreedeA respected banker in Hillbrook who buys maple syrup from a storekeeper everyone knows is dead.
- John BartineA restless gentleman who dreads one hour on his great-grandfather's watch and tells a friend why.
- HaïtaA gentle shepherd whose questions about life disturb his care for his flock.
- William HarkerA young writer who tells a coroner's inquest what he saw on a hunting trip with his friend.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Peut-il en être ainsi ?
by Ambrose Bierce · 1893
Halpin Frayser wakes in a dark forest and speaks a name he does not know.
Medium level5–10 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
What would you do if a man buried three weeks ago sold you a jug of maple syrup? Ambrose Bierce answers with twenty-four tales in Can Such Things Be?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Sleepers in the woods meet their fate
In the opening tales, a dream is never only a dream. Halpin Frayser wakes in a California forest and says a name he cannot place. He sleeps again and dreams of a road running with blood, where a figure waits that looks very much like his own mother.
Next, in The Secret of Macarger's Gulch, a hunter named Elderson shelters in an empty cabin in 1874, dreams of a city in Scotland, and wakes with the strange feeling that the dream matters.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 7 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1893
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 4 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Bierce, Ambrose. Can Such Things Be? Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/can-such-things-be.
Bierce, A. (2026). Can such things be? Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/can-such-things-be (Original work published 1893)
Bierce, Ambrose. Can Such Things Be? Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/can-such-things-be.
@book{bierce2026can,
author = {Bierce, Ambrose},
title = {Can Such Things Be?},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/can-such-things-be},
note = {First published 1893}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Peut-il en être ainsi ?
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Can Such Things Be about?
It is a collection of twenty-four short tales by Ambrose Bierce about ghosts, haunted places, dreams, doubles and unseen creatures. They are set in California, the Civil War South and the frontier, and many end with a sudden sting.
What does the title Can Such Things Be mean?
The title asks whether ghosts, apparitions and unexplained events can exist. Bierce lets doctors, soldiers and ordinary people meet strange things and then leaves the reader to decide whether they are real, imagined or caused by guilt.
Are the stories in Can Such Things Be true?
No, they are fiction, though Bierce borrows real places and events such as the Civil War, the California gold camps and the acoustic shadow effect. Some tales are told as if they were true accounts to make them feel more believable.
The author
Ambrose Bierce
1842–1914 · American satirist and story writer
American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist.
More by Ambrose Bierce
All 3 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
