Story summary
Streszczenie książki Przeklęta istota
- 8 min czytania
- 7 parts
- Nagranie wkrótce
In a log cabin, a coroner weighs the word of a witness who swears an invisible thing killed his friend.
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Przeklęta istota — najważniejsze informacje
Streszczenie: 8 min czytania
- Czas czytania
- Około 15 min10 min fast, 15 min slow
- Długość
- Liczba słów: 3 060
- Poziom trudności w bibliotece
- Średni longer sentences, everyday words
- Pierwsze wydanie
- 1893by Ambrose Bierce
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Ile czasu zajmuje przeczytanie klasyków · Zaktualizowano
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Przeklęta istota in short
The Damned Thing is a short tale built around an inquest, a witness's account and a diary. A coroner holds an inquest in a candlelit cabin. A young writer reads his account of a quail hunt that ends in a death.
What Przeklęta istota is about
Picture a log cabin deep in the mountains at night. A single tallow candle burns on a rough table. On the table lies a dead man under a sheet, and seven farmers and woodsmen sit against the walls, saying nothing. What killed him? The only witness swears it was something nobody can see.
The Damned Thing is a short horror tale by Ambrose Bierce, the American writer known for sharp, dark stories of war and the uncanny. It holds three voices: a coroner's inquest, a young journalist's written account, and the dead man's diary. You get a chill that grows from what is left unsaid, and a lesson in how small things build dread.
Dla kogo. Readers who love ghost stories, creeping horror and sharply edged short fiction will enjoy this tale, as will those drawn to nineteenth-century American storytelling about fear, doubt and the unexplained.
The story in 7 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A coroner opens an inquest by candlelight
The tale opens in a small log cabin where an inquest is about to resume. A dead man lies faceup on a rough table with a sheet drawn over part of him. Seven men sit silent against the log walls, so close that any of them could touch the body. Nobody speaks. Everyone seems to be waiting.
One tallow candle lights the room. Outside, a coyote calls far away, and insects thrum in the trees. The men notice none of it. They are farmers and woodsmen, and their rugged faces show no taste for idle interest.
One man is different. He sits at the table with a badly worn account book and sometimes holds a page close to the flame. His coat would not pass in San Francisco, and he is the only man bareheaded. He is the coroner. The book was found among the dead man's belongings.
When he finishes reading, he puts the book in his breast pocket and says nothing about what it holds. The listener is left wondering what the dead man wrote there. Then the door opens, and a young man in dusty city clothes comes in, having ridden hard. A scene of dread can begin with stillness and let the quiet do the frightening.
- 2Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
A young writer swears to an unbelievable story
The newcomer is William Harker, and he is a writer.
- 3Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
Two hunters cross a ridge at dawn
Harker's account begins at sunrise.
- 4Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
Morgan fires, and something unseen strikes
The line in the oats keeps coming, steady and unchanging.
- 5Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
The body is shown, and the jury scorns the witness
Back in the cabin, the coroner pulls the sheet from the body.
- 6Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
Morgan's diary records fear before the attack
Bierce now turns to the diary.
- 7Zacznij za darmo, by czytać
The tale is about what we refuse to believe
At its heart, the tale asks what happens when experience breaks the idea of how the world works.
Read all 7 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Hugh Morgan A solitary, usually cool-headed man who lives alone in the mountains and is haunted by something he cannot explain.
- William Harker A twenty-seven-year-old writer who visits Morgan to hunt and to study him, and who swears to a story no one wants to believe.
- The coroner A worldly official who runs the inquest, mocks Harker, and keeps the dead man's diary in his pocket.
- The foreman A tall, bearded man of sixty who leads the jury and trusts only what he can understand.
- The jurors Seven farmers and woodsmen who have seen violent death before and have no patience for strange tales.
How it ends (spoiler)
The jury returns and writes its verdict with great effort. The foreman records that Morgan was killed by a mountain lion, though some jurors think he had fits. The diary ends with Morgan's own answer. He reasons that there are sounds humans cannot hear and colors humans cannot see, and he concludes that the Damned Thing is of a color beyond human sight.
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Pytania o Przeklęta istota
What is The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce about?
It is a short horror tale in which a coroner holds an inquest over a hunter killed in the mountains. The only witness describes an attack by something unseen, and the dead man's diary adds clues about weeks of fear.
Who is William Harker in The Damned Thing?
Harker is a twenty-seven-year-old writer who stays with Hugh Morgan to hunt and fish, and to study him as a model for fiction. He is the only witness to Morgan's death, and the jury doubts his story.
What does the title The Damned Thing mean?
It is the phrase Hugh Morgan uses when Harker asks what is there, after the bushes have fallen quiet. He uses it as a name for the unseen force that has been troubling him, and the story keeps it close until the end.
Is The Damned Thing a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Ambrose Bierce, who wrote many tales of fear and the unexplained. Within the story, Harker even says he wrote his account as fiction because he thought no one would believe it.
Is The Damned Thing worth reading?
It is a good pick if you like quick, atmospheric horror. The tale takes a single sitting, combines an inquest with testimony and diary entries, and builds its chill from small details and a calm narrative voice.
Zacytuj to wydanie
Bierce, Ambrose. The Damned Thing. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned-thing.
Bierce, A. (2026). The damned thing. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned-thing (Original work published 1893)
Bierce, Ambrose. The Damned Thing. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned-thing.
@book{bierce2026damned,
author = {Bierce, Ambrose},
title = {The Damned Thing},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned-thing},
note = {First published 1893}
}
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