# The Stranger explained — Can Such Things Be? > Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce. ## What happens A group of adventurers camping in the Arizona desert are visited by a mysterious stranger who recounts a harrowing tale of a prospecting expedition thirty years prior, in which four men—Ramon Gallegos, William Shaw, George W. Kent, and Berry Davis—were trapped by Apaches and chose suicide over capture. The stranger's story unnerves the camp, and when he vanishes into the darkness, the sentinel reports seeing three figures on the mesa, suggesting the dead have returned. ## Themes in this chapter ### Death and the Supernatural The stranger's tale of mass suicide and the subsequent appearance of ghostly figures blur the line between life and death. ### Isolation and Terror The desert setting and the group's vulnerability to both natural elements and hostile forces create a pervasive sense of terror. ### Guilt and Retribution The stranger's survival and the implied judgment from the dead suggest unresolved guilt and a haunting retribution. ## Character check-ins ### Ramon Gallegos One of the four prospectors who committed suicide in the cave to avoid capture by Apaches. ### William Shaw One of the four prospectors who followed Gallegos in suicide. ### George W. Kent One of the four prospectors who died by suicide in the cave. ### Berry Davis One of the four prospectors; the stranger omits him from the final roll-call, leading to tension. ## Key lines > A man stepped out of the darkness into the little illuminated circle about our failing campfire and seated himself upon a rock. A stranger emerged from the dark and sat by the campfire. _The stranger's sudden appearance sets the eerie tone of the chapter._ > Thirty years ago Ramon Gallegos, William Shaw, George W. Kent and Berry Davis, all of Tucson, crossed the Santa Catalina mountains... The stranger begins recounting a tragic expedition from three decades earlier. _The story of the four prospectors is central to the chapter._ > I laid them beside Ramon Gallegos and covered their faces. The stranger describes how he arranged the bodies of his companions after their suicide. _This line reveals the stranger's role in the deaths and foreshadows the supernatural._ > There were four,' he said—'Ramon Gallegos, William Shaw, George W. Kent and Berry Davis.' The stranger insists only four men died, omitting himself from the count. _The omission creates ambiguity about the stranger's identity and state._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/the-stranger - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters