# Hugh Morgan — Can Such Things Be? character guide

> Hugh Morgan in Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Morgan, the late Hugh Morgan

**First appearance:** 0040-the-damned-thing

## Snapshot

A man who dies in a violent, inexplicable struggle in a field, his body battered as if by an invisible wrestler, leaving only a diary and a witness's terror.

## Who they are

Morgan is the subject of a coroner's inquest, his corpse showing wounds no human hand could have made, his death witnessed by a friend who saw him thrown down by an unseen force. The diary he left behind becomes a crucial piece of evidence, hinting at something stranger than murder. His fate drives the investigation into the supernatural, and the jurors' skepticism only deepens the unease his death creates.

## In the story

### [The Secret of Macarger's Gulch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/the-secret-of-macarger-s-gulch)

The man who tells the narrator about the murder of Janet MacGregor in Macarger's Gulch.

### [The Damned Thing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/the-damned-thing)

Deceased; the subject of the inquest, found dead in his cabin under mysterious circumstances.

### [I: One Does Not Always Eat What Is on the Table](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/i-one-does-not-always-eat-what-is-on-the-table)

Deceased; the subject of the inquest.

### [II: What May Happen in a Field of Wild Oats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/ii-what-may-happen-in-a-field-of-wild-oats)

The narrator's friend who is killed by an invisible entity during a quail hunt.

### [III: A Man Though Naked May Be in Rags](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/iii-a-man-though-naked-may-be-in-rags)

The deceased, whose naked body is examined by the coroner, showing signs of severe beating and lacerations.

### [IV: An Explanation from the Tomb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/iv-an-explanation-from-the-tomb)

The diary author who records his terrifying experiences and theories about imperceptible phenomena.

### [Some Haunted Houses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/some-haunted-houses)

Subject of an inquest related to a supernatural event in a haunted house.

### [Bodies of the Dead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/bodies-of-the-dead)

His death and the inquest into his mysterious demise are central to the chapter's exploration of dead bodies.

### [A Cold Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/a-cold-night)

The unnamed Federal sergeant whose body is found with a bullet through the forehead; his corpse mysteriously changes position overnight.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/characters/hugh_morgan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/characters