Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
A Diagnosis of Death explained
Hawver recounts to Dr.
What happens
Hawver recounts to Dr. Frayley his experience of seeing the apparition of Dr. Mannering, a reclusive physician who had lived in the house Hawver rented. The apparition silently lifted a finger in warning. Later, Hawver sees the same man alive on the street. Dr. Frayley reveals that Mannering died three years ago and that his book predicted deaths with precision. The next day, Hawver is found dead, violin in hand, with Chopin's funeral march open before him.
Themes in this chapter
Death and the Supernatural
The apparition of a dead man appears as a warning, and Hawver's own death follows, linking the supernatural with mortality.
Madness and Perception
Hawver's vision is dismissed as an hallucination by Dr. Frayley, yet the story blurs the line between sanity and supernatural reality.
Fate and Inevitability
Mannering's theory of predicting death and the fulfillment of the warning suggest an inescapable fate.
Characters to notice
- Hawver
Tells the story of seeing Dr. Mannering's apparition and later meeting him alive; found dead the next day.
- Dr. Dorrimore
Referred to as Dr. Frayley in the text; the physician friend who listens to Hawver's story and reveals Mannering's death.
Key passages
“I am not so superstitious as some of your physicians—men of science, as you are pleased to be called”
Hawver claims he is less superstitious than doctors who believe in the soul but deny ghosts.
Opens the story with a challenge to scientific skepticism.
“the living are sometimes seen where they are not, but have been—where they have lived so long, perhaps so intensely, as to have left their impress on everything about them”
Hawver believes that a person's intense presence can leave a lasting imprint that later appears as an apparition.
Explains the mechanism behind the ghostly encounter.
“He held that it was possible in the case of many a person in good health to forecast his death with precision, several months in advance of the event.”
Mannering's theory claimed that death could be accurately predicted months ahead for healthy individuals.
Introduces the central concept of the story.
“I saw a man moving across the room directly toward me! As soon as he came near enough for the lamplight to illuminate the face I saw that it was Dr. Mannering himself; it was as if the portrait were walking!”
Hawver sees the figure of Dr. Mannering emerge from the portrait and approach him.
The key supernatural event.
“The man was not dead; I met him today in Union street. He passed me in a crowd.”
Hawver later encounters the same man alive on the street.
Creates confusion about Mannering's status.
“I knew him. I have read his book... I attended him in an illness three years ago. He died.”
Dr. Frayley reveals that Mannering died three years earlier.
The twist that confirms the supernatural nature of the encounter.