Audio only
Length6h 35m
About this audiobook
A Haunting Collection of Ghosts, War, and the Unexplained
First published in 1893, Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce is a memorable collection of supernatural and macabre short fiction from one of the darkest and most distinctive voices in American literature. Ghosts, apparitions, unexplained disappearances, strange encounters, and psychological terror fill these stories with an atmosphere of constant uncertainty.
Bierce rarely relies on elaborate Gothic scenery. Instead, the supernatural can appear almost anywhere: on a lonely road, in an ordinary house, in a city, or beside a battlefield scarred by the American Civil War. This contrast between familiar surroundings and inexplicable events makes many of the stories especially unsettling.
His own experience as a Civil War soldier gives additional force to the tales connected with conflict and its aftermath. Battlefields are not merely historical settings but places where memory, death, trauma, and the supernatural seem to overlap.
One of Bierce’s greatest strengths is his economy. His stories are often concise, sharply structured, and built around a disturbing idea rather than lengthy explanation. The reader is frequently left to decide whether an event was supernatural, psychological, accidental, or simply beyond rational understanding.
That ambiguity is central to the collection. Bierce suggests a world in which reality may be less stable than it appears, and where apparently impossible events cannot always be dismissed with confidence.
Dark humor also remains close to the surface. Even when writing about death, fear, and the unknown, Bierce retains the irony and skepticism that characterize so much of his work. The result is horror that can be eerie, philosophical, and unexpectedly sardonic.
For readers of classic supernatural fiction, Can Such Things Be? offers an important bridge between nineteenth-century ghost stories and later psychological horror. Its atmosphere of uncertainty and its fascination with altered perception would resonate strongly with later traditions of weird fiction.
This E-Bookarama Editions edition is an excellent choice for readers of ghost stories, American Gothic, Civil War fiction, and classic horror. Alongside An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, and Fantastic Fables, Can Such Things Be? shows Ambrose Bierce at his most eerie, concise, and unsettling.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (2.2K)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon, StoryGraph
GenreHorror, General Fiction, Action and Adventure
Length6 hrs 35 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 27, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Death of Halpin Frayser
13A Baby Tramp
2The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch
14The Night-Doings at “Deadman’s”
3One Summer Night
15Beyond the Wall
4The Moonlit Road
16A Psychological Shipwreck
5A Diagnosis of Death
17The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
Mostrar todos os capítulosVer menos
6Moxon’s Master
18John Mortonson’s Funeral
7A Tough Tussle
19The Realm of the Unreal
8One of Twins
20John Bartine’s Watch
9The Haunted Valley
21The Damned Thing
10A Jug of Sirup
22Haita the Shepherd
11Staley Fleming’s Hallucination
23An Inhabitant of Carcosa
12A Resumed Identity
24The Stranger
More from Ambrose Bierce
Diccionario del DiabloAmbrose Bierce4h 42m4.2 (11.9K)$0.60 · $0.00
Write It RightAmbrose Bierce1h 30m3.8 (313)$0.60 · $0.00
Cuentos de horrorAmbrose Bierce1h 10m4.1 (47)$0.60 · $0.00
A Cynic Looks at LifeAmbrose Bierce1h 46m$20 · $0.00
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce7h 59m4.1 (160.2K)$0.60 · $0.00
An Occurrence at Owl Creek BridgeAmbrose Bierce24m4.1 (36.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Japanese GothicKylie Lee Baker10h 20m4.2 (7K)$29 · $0.00
The Renegade HunterLynsay Sands10h 7m4.4 (17.3K)$29 · $0.00
Lost GodsBrom14h 50m4.4 (18.5K)$33 · $0.00
Corpus HermeticumHermes Trismegistus3h 43m4.4 (8.6K)$7 · $0.00
LambChristopher Moore15h 22m4.3 (211.3K)$33 · $0.00
CARMILLA (Gothic Classic) (Annotated)Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu4h 2m4.4 (1K)$0.99 · $0.00
The ExorcistWilliam Peter Blatty12h 52m4.3 (285.9K)$8 · $0.00
Lost ValleyWalt Browning7h 47m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
Twice TemptedJeaniene Frost8h 17m4.3 (54.8K)$26 · $0.00
1984George Orwell12h 18m4.3 (6M)$25 · $0.00
The Best Tales of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe5h 19m4.4 (2.2K)$1 · $0.00
A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens3h 7m4.3 (1.1M)$5 · $0.00
Hollywood DeadRichard Kadrey9h 22m4.3 (5.5K)$29 · $0.00
Frankenstein (The Uncensored 1818 Edition) (Annotated)Mary Shelley9h 25m4.3 (1.7M)$3 · $0.00
The Collected Ghost StoriesM. R. James18h 30m4.3 (12.1K)$2 · $0.00
Heat 2Michael Mann, Meg Gardiner18h 39m4.3 (20.9K)$40 · $0.00
Zanoni (Annotated)Edward Bulwer-Lytton17h 9m4.4 (301)$2 · $0.00
Joe Ledger: The Missing FilesJonathan Maberry4h 6m4.3 (1.2K)$12 · $0.00
The Magician (Annotated)William Somerset Maugham9h 38m4.3 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Shadow over InnsmouthHoward Phillips Lovecraft2h 54m4.2 (37.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett11h 23m4.5 (189.9K)$29 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
The Book Of NegroesLawrence Hill15h 45m4.5 (107.3K)$33 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00
TimelessR. A. Salvatore12h 30m4.5 (8K)$33 · $0.00
An Inside JobDaniel Silva9h 28m4.4 (26.3K)$29 · $0.00
The CommodoreP. T. Deutermann11h 53m4.5 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
A Closed and Common OrbitBecky Chambers11h 30m4.4 (140.7K)$29 · $0.00
Thud!Terry Pratchett10h 31m4.4 (112.6K)$8 · $0.00
All Quiet on the Western Front (Annotated)Erich Maria Remarque8h 34m4.4 (12.9K)$0.99 · $0.00
Crime and punishmentFyodor Dostoevsky22h 34m4.4 (1.3M)$3 · $0.00
Exit FeeBrad Taylor3h 16m4.5 (1.9K)$18 · $0.00
The Alice NetworkKate Quinn15h 7m4.4 (887.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Ohio River Trilogy: Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border & The Last TrailZane Grey29h 8m4.4 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
A Darkness ReturnsRaymond E. Feist19h 29m4.4 (1.9K)$40 · $0.00
THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN (Annotated)James Oliver Curwood8h 25m4.5 (420)$2 · $0.00
West of the TularosaLouis L’Amour5h 53m4.4 (3.6K)$20 · $0.00
The Emperor's FistJay Allan8h 37m4.5 (272)$26 · $0.00
The Amazing Interlude (Annotated)Mary Roberts Rinehart8h 42m4.5 (365)$0.99 · $0.00
Hornblower and the Hotspur (Annotated)C. S. Forester14h 7m4.4 (17.3K)$2 · $0.00
Shades of WickedJeaniene Frost8h 51m4.4 (19.5K)$29 · $0.00
The Log of a Cowboy (Annotated)Andy Adams9h 47m4.4 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Everything She WantedJennifer Ryan9h 9m4.4 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Ballad of the White HorseG. K. Chesterton2h 43m4.4 (3.8K)$1.20 · $0.00
You may also like
Can Such Things Be?Ambrose Bierce6h 35m3.9 (1.5K)$2.30
Can Such Things Be?Ambrose Bierce6h 38m4.0 (1.6K)$14
Can Such Things Be?Ambrose Bierce7h 36m3.8 (1.7K)$6.50 · $0.00
THE SHORT STORIES OF E. F. BENSONE. F. Benson17h 19m4.3 (254)$1.99 · $0.00
Three Ghost StoriesCharles Dickens2h 10m3.9 (2.5K)Free
Three Ghost StoriesCharles Dickens2h 9m3.9 (2.4K)$6 · $0.00
The Ghost OrchidCarol Goodman11h 48m3.8 (4.8K)$23
Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë14h 43m4.1 (2.5M)$16 · $0.00
A Stir of EchoesRichard Matheson6h 45m4.0 (16.7K)$14 · $0.00
THE EMPTY HOUSE & OTHER TALES OF HORRORAlgernon Blackwood7h 55m3.8 (2.5K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Empty House and Other Ghost StoriesAlgernon Blackwood5h 53m3.9 (2.1K)$20
The Last SeanceAgatha Christie13h 3m4.0 (13.9K)$33 · $0.00
The Phantom of the OperaGaston Leroux9h 18m4.1 (326.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Phantom of the OperaGaston Leroux8h 3m4.1 (326.7K)$11 · $0.00
The Room In The Tower, And Other StoriesE. F. Benson8h 48m3.8 (996)$2.30
Three Ghost StoriesCharles Dickens1h 3m3.4 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Masterpieces of Mystery (Vol. 1-4)Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Algernon Blackwood, Montague Rhodes James, Guy de Maupassant, William F. Harvey, Ralph Adams Cram, Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Pliny the Younger, Arthur B. Reeve, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katherine Green, Anton Chekhov, Théopile Gautier, Mark Twain, Lafcadio Hearn, E. F. Benson, Arthur Machen, Brander Matthews, Cleveland Moffett, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Villiers de l'Isle Adam, William Archer, Fitz-James O'Brien, Florence Marryat, Chester Bailey Fernando, Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew27h 45m3.8 (46)$0.99 · $0.00
The Phantoms Of The Foot-BridgeMary Noailles Murfree1h 44m$2 · $0.00
The Greatest Short Stories of E. F. BensonE. F. Benson17h 18m4.4 (89)$1.99 · $0.00
The Warren Files Vol.2Daniel Salcedo Bernier5h 36m3.9 (51)$4.99 · $0.00