Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
A Creature of Habit explained
In a Montana mining camp in 1865, gambler Henry 'Gray Hank' Graham murders miner Dreyfuss after a card dispute, is swiftly tried by vigilantes, and hanged.
What happens
In a Montana mining camp in 1865, gambler Henry 'Gray Hank' Graham murders miner Dreyfuss after a card dispute, is swiftly tried by vigilantes, and hanged. After the body is cut down, it bizarrely runs through the panicked crowd until Dr. Arnold Spier cuts the rope and lays it flat, remarking that dead bodies are creatures of habit.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak of the narrato…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Death and the Supernatural
The hanged man's corpse exhibits unnatural movement, blurring the line between life and death.
- Violence and Mortality
The murder and public execution highlight the brutal reality of frontier violence and death.
- The Uncanny and the Grotesque
The corpse's grotesque 'prancing' and the crowd's horrified reaction evoke a deeply unsettling scene.
Characters to notice
- Henry Graham
Gambler known as 'Gray Hank' who murders Dreyfuss and is hanged by vigilantes.
- Dr. Arnold Spier
Physician who pronounces Graham dead and later cuts the rope, stopping the corpse's macabre run.
Key passages
“The dead are creatures of habit.”
Corpses tend to behave in predictable ways based on their last living actions.
Dr. Spier's explanation for why the hanged man ran when placed upright but lay still when laid on his back.
