Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
The Secret of Macarger's Gulch explained
The narrator recounts a hunting trip in Macarger's Gulch where he camps in an abandoned cabin and experiences a strange, fearful night.
What happens
The narrator recounts a hunting trip in Macarger's Gulch where he camps in an abandoned cabin and experiences a strange, fearful night. Years later, he meets a man named Morgan who reveals that the cabin was the site of a murder: a woman named Janet MacGregor was found dead with a fractured skull, and her husband Thomas MacGregor was the prime suspect but never found. The narrator realizes his dream that night eerily matched the description of the couple, suggesting a supernatural connection.
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 Exposition.
- 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 discovery of a skeleton and the narrator's dream that mirrors the murder suggest a supernatural link between the living and the dead.
- Isolation and Terror
The narrator's fear in the isolated cabin, despite his usual comfort with solitude, highlights the terror of being alone in a place with a violent past.
- Guilt and Retribution
The unsolved murder of Janet MacGregor and the disappearance of her husband imply a crime without punishment, leaving a lingering sense of guilt.
Characters to notice
- Hugh Morgan
The man who tells the narrator about the murder of Janet MacGregor in Macarger's Gulch.
- Janette Harford
Mrs. Morgan, who reacts with disgust to the gruesome details of the murder.
Key passages
“I had a sense of comfort, but not of security.”
The narrator felt physically comfortable but emotionally unsafe.
Highlights the contrast between physical ease and psychological unease.
“The skull was fractured in several places, as by blows of some blunt instrument; and that instrument itself—a pick-handle, still stained with blood—lay under the boards near by.”
The victim's skull had multiple fractures from a blunt object, and a blood-stained pick-handle was found nearby.
Key evidence from the murder scene described by Morgan.
