The Raven Post

Biography

Ambrose Bierce was born June 24, 1842, and likely died in early 1914. He was a Civil War Veteran, writer, and poet, and is perhaps one of the most frequently anthologized authors in all of English literature.

Bierce was born in a small Ohio town and was the tenth of thirteen children, all of whom bore names starting with the letter “A.” During his youth, his family moved to Kosciusko County, Indiana, and at just fifteen years old, he left home to become a “printer’s devil”—a print shop’s apprentice responsible for mixing ink and moving type—for a small abolitionist paper. During the American Civil War, he served in the Union Army as a soldier and later as a first lieutenant, and his experiences during this time greatly influenced much of the writing he produced later in life.

After resigning from the Army, Bierce settled in San Francisco, California and began working as an editor and columnist for a number of magazines and journals. Only after his presumed death did he become better known for his literary writing than for his journalistic endeavors. He produced much of his fiction work between 1888 and 1891 and is sometimes credited with helping to create the supernatural horror story.

Horror and mystery were not strictly relegated to Bierce’s fiction work, however; in late 1913, Bierce vanished while on a tour of the battlefields he fought upon during the Civil War. After visiting the Mexican city of Chihuahua, he sent a final communication to a friend, which read, “As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination.” Much to the confusion of readers past and present, Bierce was never seen or heard from again.

Below is a collection of Bierce’s most notable short stories. Read at your own discretion—and please, enjoy.

Short Stories by Ambrose Bierce

A Psychological Shipwreck (1879)
An Inhabitant of Carcosa (1886)
One of the Missing (1888)
A Tough Tussle (1888)
An Unfinished Race (1888)
One of Twins (1888)
The Horseman in the Sky (1889)
The Spook House (1889)
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot (1890)
The Man and the Snake (1890)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890)
The Realm of the Unreal (1890)
The Boarded Window (1891)
The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch (1891)
The Death of Halpin Frayser (1891)
The Damned Thing (1893)
The Eyes of the Panther (1897)
Moxon’s Master (1899)
The Moonlit Road (1907)
Beyond the Wall (1907)