# III: Statement of the Late Julia Hetman, Through the Medium Bayrolles explained — Can Such Things Be?

> Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

Julia Hetman, now a ghost, recounts the night of her murder. She awoke to a sense of peril, heard hesitant footsteps on the stairs, and after a brief retreat, the entity returned, broke into her room, and strangled her. In the afterlife, she describes the torment of being a ghost—unseen, unable to communicate with the living, and trapped in a cold, silent world. She later attempted to reveal herself to her husband and son, but her husband saw her and fled in terror, leaving her son unaware of her presence.

## Themes in this chapter

### Death and the Supernatural

Julia Hetman's account of her murder and her existence as a ghost explores the boundary between life and death.

### Isolation and Terror

Julia describes the profound isolation of the afterlife and the terror of being unable to communicate with loved ones.

### The Uncanny and the Grotesque

The haunting presence of the unseen entity and the grotesque transformation of Julia into a ghostly figure.

## Character check-ins

### Joel Hetman

Julia Hetman's husband, who fled in terror upon seeing her ghost.

### Halpin Frayser

Julia Hetman's son, left doubly desolate after his father's flight.

### Janette Harford

The deceased Julia Hetman, who narrates her own murder and subsequent ghostly existence.

## Key lines

> Fear has no brains; it is an idiot.

Fear is irrational and senseless.

_Julia reflects on the illogical nature of terror._

> The death-spell was broken: Love had conquered Law!

The power of love overcame the natural order that separates the living from the dead.

_Julia believes her love allowed her husband to see her._

> We still dwell in the Valley of the Shadow, lurk in its desolate places, peering from brambles and thickets at its mad, malign inhabitants.

Ghosts remain in a dark, fearful realm, hiding and observing the living.

_Julia describes the ghostly existence as one of perpetual fear and concealment._

## Links

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