{"id":54865,"date":"2013-06-24T12:59:16","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T16:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=54865"},"modified":"2013-06-24T12:59:16","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T16:59:16","slug":"the-strange-mystery-of-ambrose-bierce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/24\/the-strange-mystery-of-ambrose-bierce\/","title":{"rendered":"The Strange Mystery of Ambrose Bierce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/biercelarge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-54869\" alt=\"biercelarge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/biercelarge.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/biercelarge.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/biercelarge-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On this day in 1843, the cynic, journalist, and satirist Ambrose Bierce was born in Ohio. It\u2019s his death that\u2019s in question; in 1913 the seventy-one-year-old writer <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/1991-06-25\/news\/vw-1440_1_ambrose-bierce\" target=\"_blank\">disappeared without a trace<\/a> (probably) somewhere in Mexico, while (possibly) traveling with Pancho Villa\u2019s army. Nearly everything about Bierce\u2019s final days is subject to speculation, rumor, and debate. While some claim he ended his final letter with \u201cAs to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,\u201d others debate the validity of the prophetic pronouncement. Some claim he was killed by firing squad; others, that he committed suicide; and still others, that he disappeared into <a href=\"http:\/\/rense.com\/general81\/pierce.htm\" target=\"_blank\">another dimension<\/a>. In any event, his continued existence seems unlikely, and his legend assured by the mystery. As he himself put it, \u201cDeath is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this day in 1843, the cynic, journalist, and satirist Ambrose Bierce was born in Ohio. It\u2019s his death that\u2019s in question; in 1913 the seventy-one-year-old writer disappeared without a trace (probably) somewhere in Mexico, while (possibly) traveling with Pancho Villa\u2019s army. Nearly everything about Bierce\u2019s final days is subject to speculation, rumor, and debate. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[6962,9158,11203,8688,11202],"class_list":["post-54865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-ambrose-bierce","tag-birthdays","tag-pancho-villa","tag-quotes","tag-unsolved-mysteries"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Strange Mystery of Ambrose Bierce by Sadie Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 24, 2013 \u2013 On this day in 1843, the cynic, journalist, and satirist Ambrose Bierce was born in Ohio. 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