Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
A Wireless Message explained
In the summer of 1896, Mr.
What happens
In the summer of 1896, Mr. William Holt, a wealthy Chicago manufacturer separated from his wife, becomes lost while walking in central New York. He experiences a mysterious, intense red light that illuminates the sky, during which he sees an apparition of his wife holding their child. The vision vanishes, and Holt returns home haggard. A telegram soon arrives revealing that his wife and child died in a house fire at exactly the same time as his vision.
Themes in this chapter
Death and the Supernatural
Holt's vision of his wife and child at the moment of their death suggests a supernatural connection across distance.
Isolation and Terror
Holt's solitary walk in a lonely region and the inexplicable red light evoke a profound sense of isolation and dread.
Fate and Inevitability
The predestined telegram and the simultaneous vision underscore an inescapable fate linking Holt to his family's tragedy.
Characters to notice
- William Holt
Protagonist who experiences a supernatural vision of his wife and child during a nocturnal walk.
Key passages
“In that unearthly illumination he saw near him, but apparently in the air at a considerable elevation, the figure of his wife, clad in her night-clothing and holding to her breast the figure of his child.”
In the strange light, Holt saw his wife floating in the air, dressed in her nightgown, clutching their child.
Describes the central supernatural vision.
“An hour later came the predestined telegram. Holt’s dwelling in one of the suburbs of Chicago had been destroyed by fire.”
An hour afterward, a telegram arrived confirming that Holt's Chicago home had burned down.
Reveals the tragic real-world event coinciding with the vision.