Civil War Union Veteran, author & poet. Where did he go?

O' Be Joyful

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Bierce’s experience in the Civil War would prove to be a bloody one. He was involved in military action from the start of the conflict, participating in the first battle of the war at Philippi in June 1861 and the Battle of Rich Mountain just over a month later. His actions at the latter clash saw Bierce recognized by a newspaper after he heroically rescued a wounded comrade while under fire.

 

rittmeister

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Bierce’s experience in the Civil War would prove to be a bloody one. He was involved in military action from the start of the conflict, participating in the first battle of the war at Philippi in June 1861 and the Battle of Rich Mountain just over a month later. His actions at the latter clash saw Bierce recognized by a newspaper after he heroically rescued a wounded comrade while under fire.

easy - read your heinlein
 

O' Be Joyful

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ABASEMENT, n. A decent and customary mental attitude in the presence of wealth of power. Peculiarly appropriate in an employee when addressing an employer.

ABATIS, n. Rubbish in front of a fort, to prevent the rubbish outside from molesting the rubbish inside.

ABDICATION, n. An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temperature of the throne.

Poor Isabella's Dead, whose abdication
Set all tongues wagging in the Spanish nation.
For that performance 'twere unfair to scold her:
She wisely left a throne too hot to hold her.
To History she'll be no royal riddle—
Merely a plain parched pea that jumped the griddle.
 

O' Be Joyful

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Yes, that's true - the Lemurians adopted him, even though he didn't have as fully developed a third eye as they have.

The Ponderosa is 1000 sq. miles, which gives them room for Area 51. Run Hoss! :eek:
 

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The first or one of the first to write about zombies...

The Death of Halpin Frayser

While the Civil War was a recurring theme in his work, Bierce was an esteemed writer of psychological horror. In fact, he has been cited as a pioneer of the genre. Among his dark and spooky tales is
The Death of Halpin Frayser, a Gothic ghost tale, which has been described as a forerunner of zombie fiction.

Here a link to a two minute summary of the tale with photos...

 

5fish

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Here considered the first Zombie fiction...

The Magic Island

By William Seabrook (1884-1945). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929.

The Magic Island is an illustrated account of William Buehler Seabrook’s travels in Haiti and is considered the first popular English language text to confront the idea of zombies; soon after it was published, zombie movies came to dominate American cinema. A journalist and adventurer, branded a “great traveler and terrible human," Seabrook pursued full immersion of himself into the local and the bizarre. This saga details his experiences with a voodoo priestess who initiated him into the religion's pageantries; incidents that include drinking blood, soul transference, and resurrection. The Vodou religion emerged after slaves arrived in Haiti and integrated their old African customs with the severe realities of slavery, and in so doing created the idea of the zonbi, a word that can be traced back to the Kongo word for soul. After its release in 1929, The Magic Island became a best seller, but after his death, Seabrook has remained mostly out-of-print and his social contributions have been unappreciated. The book includes twenty moving line drawings by Alexander King, an Austrian-born author, ad artist, painter, and television personality.

And the first movie...


White Zombie is considered the first feature length zombie film. A sequel, Revolt of the Zombies, opened in 1936. Modern reception to White Zombie has been more positive. Some critics have praised the film's atmosphere and compared it to the 1940s horror films of Val Lewton, while others still have unfavorable opinions on the quality of the acting.
 

diane

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Well, I like the little idea of him possibly being buried in Marfa, Texas. The Marfa Lights! He'd love it.
 

rittmeister

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Yes, that's true - the Lemurians adopted him, even though he didn't have as fully developed a third eye as they have.
no lemurians with heinlein
 

diane

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no lemurians with heinlein
Yes, that's so - Heinlein missed the Lemurians but not Mt Shasta - or the telepathic abilities and all that. I think the Lemurians adopted Bierce and took him with them to their city underwater off the Bahamas. Wait...that's the Atlanteans...
 

diane

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Expound upon this please.
Yellow-white lights - orbs. They dance all over and have a congress right in the middle of the west Texas desert. Kind of like the green lights around Chickamauga - will o'the wisps, except it's desert not marshes, bogs or swamps. They're quite the tourist attraction. It's become an artist's town, like Santa Fe. Pecos!
 

O' Be Joyful

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Yellow-white lights - orbs. They dance all over and have a congress right in the middle of the west Texas desert.
 

diane

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Ambrose Bierce's disappearance is like Amelia Earhart's. Has anybody ever piped up and said they were him, like Anastasia?
 

5fish

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Here a more detail tale of Ambrose's last days...


snip...

More accurately, there were too many traces to follow and World War I soon broke out, so a thorough search for Bierce was postponed. In his disappearing act—and some thought it was an act meant to cloak his suicide or his removal to a sanitorium—Bierce becomes a bit like one of the ghostly characters in Mexico’s most celebrated novel, Pedro Paramo, which is narrated by a man who doesn’t realize he’s dead. Or like the protagonist in Bierce’s own story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” who stumbles across his own tombstone. According to witnesses, Bierce died over and over again, all over Mexico. There is even a cenotaph for him in the sleepy mining town of Sierra Mojada, in the Chihuahua Desert. Curiously, although his body doesn’t lie under it, it is the most distinguished marker for any of Bierce’s immediate family. Back in St. Helena, his two sons and his wife are buried in unmarked graves.

I found this Ambrose's lessons on finance...

 

O' Be Joyful

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For a fictionalized Hollywood version watch:

When school teacher Harriet Winslow goes to Mexico to teach, she is kidnapped by Gen. Tomas Arroyo and his revolutionaries. An aging American, Ambrose "Old Gringo" Bierce also in Mexico, befriends Gen. Arroyo and meets Harriet. Bierce is a famous writer, who knowing that he is dying, wishes to keep his identity secret so he can determine his own fate. Though he likes Arroyo, Bierce tries to provoke the General's anger whenever possible in an attempt to get himself killed, thus avoiding suffering through his illness. Winslow is intrigued by both Bierce and Arroyo, and the men are in turn attracted to her. She becomes romantically involved with Arroyo. When Winslow learns of Bierce's true identity (a writer whose work she has loved and respected for years), she is singlemindedly determined to fulfill his dying wish.

 
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