An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

A criminal, about to be hung for his crimes during the Civil War, narrowly escapes the noose. As het attempts to make it home, he must question himself- can you ever really escape the fate of your actions?

If you hadn’t guessed it already, then you should damn well know by now- I was an English Literature major in school.

As a literature major, you take a shit ton of classes to read a shit ton of different things- books, short stories, epics, poems, songs, historical events, sonnets- you name it, I probably have at least heard of it.

But for some reason, I had never heard about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, a short story from 1890. 

Now, I’d be a fool to believe I had read or heard about every book or story under the sun. But this was American Literature, and I do recall taking that class, so what the fuck (but I digress).

The reason I mention this to you is because this shit was a trip. In more than one way. Though I wouldn’t necessarily label this a horror story, the reason I heard about it is horror-adjacent. Clyde Phillips, the executive producer of a little bloody show entitled Dexter, said that his original plan to end the show was based off of this short story- so I figured I had to check it out.

And I am glad I did, bitch. It’s a short story and an easy read, so the summary below pretty much tells the whole thing- so SPOILER ALERT, CUH.

The story starts off with a man named Farquhar chilling at the end of a bridge, surrounded by soldiers and with a noose around his neck. As he prepares himself to be hung, he forces his thoughts to his family- his wife and kids. His thoughts are interrupted by loud banging, which he soon realizes is the sound of his watch clicking. He decides that if he can get his hands undone, he can jump into the river and escape home. But just as he begins to execute this plan (while dealing with his scattered thoughts as well), Farquhar is pushed off his board- only to have the rope snap and his attempts to escape begin! As he makes his way home, numb and tired, he becomes delusional and unsure of his surroundings- or the strange whispers he hears. He somehow makes it home to his wife, who is waiting to embrace him. But right before they embrace, a loud snap and a consuming darkness reveals to us readers that Farquhar’s neck has just snapped- and that everything had been occurring in his mind.

First off, apologies for ruining the story for you. But, if you were going to check out the article where Phillip’s explains his original plan for Dexter, you were going to have it ruined for you anyways. The story is great because of the twist ending: you think the man has escaped fate, only to learn that his fate has already been sealed. The man, as you learn, is not necessarily a good man- but does he deserve the circumstances he is currently in? 

I think not. 

And this draws parallels to Dexter. I have had plenty of arguments with people about whether Dexter deserves to die for his actions (he doesn’t, so don’t start with me, bro). It is the divisiveness of both An Occurrence at Owl Creek and Dexter that make them so great.

What was the story in need of? Now that is a tougher question. My initial response, like you’ll notice in most of my posts, is that I want more- more details, more events, more to read.

MORE MORE MORE.

But, that is not how the world (or short stories) work. I think if the story could have been drawn out a bit more to allow for more details to be made, in which readers would realize what was happening actually, that would have been great. Not to say there aren’t plenty of details already that portray this. But being able to have it click with more build up would have been better, in my opinion.

Or maybe ya boi is just slow and didn’t catch on right away.

Either way, it’s a quick read you should check out when you have time.

Rating: I give this short story 7 out of 10 nooses. It’s a quick and easy read with a dark premise. But for me, the short story only carries more weight because of it’s ties to Dexter.

If you need something to watch, start with Dexter: a blood-splatter analyst by day and murderer of murderers by night, the show details the arc of a man struggling with his demons- and the chaos that ensues along the way. A lot of people didn’t enjoy the ending (dude, it wasn’t that bad, chill), but luckily they are bringing Phillips back to write a new season. You can also check out Identity (2003). A group of strangers are forced to bunker down in a motel as a storm rages, including a convicted murderer. But as the storm continues, the body count quickly grows and the search for the identity (ah, there it is!) of the killer has everybody on edge! 

Books you might enjoy based off of this: start off with Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the book behind the Dexter series. Also, there’s eight books in the series, so you might as well add all of those to your lists (just added them all to mine). Also read Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, the book source for the popular Hannibal movies. A profiler for the FBI must help capture a serial killer on the loose, and the only man who can help him is a separate serial killer he put behind bars. The book is nowhere near as wacky as I made it sound- shit’s dark as hell!

I feel like I have to be honest with you- I have been sleeping too soundly at night lately. And I am coming to you as a friend for help- suggest some books and movies! I need haunts and spookies to keep me up at night- so leave them below! Let me know what I’m missing in my life- besides you, boo (AH, GET IT!?)

Until next time…

-M