# The Night-Doings at "Deadman's" explained — Can Such Things Be? > Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce. ## What happens On a bitterly cold, clear night in the abandoned mining camp of Deadman's Gulch, the sole inhabitant, Hiram Beeson, sits alone in his shanty staring into the fire. A mysterious, heavily muffled old man arrives unannounced. Beeson recounts the story of a Chinese domestic who died when the ground was frozen; unable to dig a grave, they buried him through the floor, but Beeson cut off the man's pigtail and nailed it to a beam. Since then, the Chinaman's ghost has returned repeatedly seeking his pigtail, which Beeson refuses to surrender. Exhausted by the ordeal, Beeson falls asleep, muttering about his dust being swiped. The stranger then undresses, takes a revolver from a shelf (the very pistol Beeson claimed to have returned for), and goes to bed. The following spring, miners find Beeson's body with a bullet through the heart, a cut rope of braided horsehair on the beam, and moldy burial clothes of deceased citizens—suggesting a supernatural retribution. ## Themes in this chapter ### Death and the Supernatural The ghost of a dead Chinaman returns repeatedly to reclaim his pigtail, which Beeson has nailed to a beam. The story culminates in Beeson's mysterious death, with moldy burial clothes and a cut rope suggesting supernatural agency. ### Guilt and Retribution Beeson's act of cutting off the pigtail and refusing to return it leads to a haunting that wears him down. His eventual death by a bullet that severs the rope seems a form of cosmic justice, as if the ghost or fate itself exacts retribution. ### Isolation and Terror Beeson lives alone in a desolate, snowbound gulch, haunted by a supernatural visitor. The setting—a freezing night in an abandoned camp—amplifies the terror of his solitary vigil and the ghostly recurrence. ## Character check-ins ### Hiram Beeson The sole inhabitant of Deadman's Gulch, a gaunt and ragged man of twenty-eight who looks much older. He guards a dead Chinaman's pigtail nailed to a beam, haunted by the ghost seeking its return. Found dead the following spring with a bullet through the heart. ### Mr. Rosser A long old man in a blanket overcoat, muffler, and green goggles who arrives silently at Beeson's shanty. He listens without speaking, then undresses and goes to bed, taking a revolver from the shelf. ## Key lines > It was a singularly sharp night, and clear as the heart of a diamond. Clear nights have a trick of being keen. In darkness you may be cold and not know it; when you see, you suffer. The night was intensely cold and brilliantly clear, so that the cold was more painful because you could see the frosty landscape. _Opening description sets the harsh, vivid atmosphere of Deadman's Gulch._ > He was not a comely man. He was gray; he was ragged and slovenly in his attire; his face was wan and haggard; his eyes were too bright. As to his age, if one had attempted to guess it, one might have said forty-seven, then corrected himself and said seventy-four. He was really twenty-eight. Hiram Beeson looked much older than his true age of twenty-eight, appearing haggard, ragged, and prematurely aged. _Describes Beeson's worn appearance, hinting at the toll of his haunting._ > According to the Chinese faith, a man is like a kite: he cannot go to heaven without a tail. In Chinese belief, a person needs a pigtail to ascend to heaven, just as a kite needs a tail to fly. _Beeson explains the supernatural significance of the pigtail to the ghost's return._ > They are swiping my dust! Someone is stealing my remains or my essence. _Beeson's final words before falling asleep, suggesting a premonition of his own death._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/the-night-doings-at-deadman-s - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters