The Mysterious Disappearance of Ambrose Bierce Part 1

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We can't help but wonder if Beers' own mysterious disappearance took a page from Owl Creek Bridge. There are countless theories about Beers' fate. Some say he died in the Mexican Revolution, caught in the crossfire of Pancho Villa's forces. Others have said he took his own life, staging an elaborate final hack. But whispers of a more astonishing explanation also persist. They speak of Beers' alleged friendship with explorer F.A. Mitchell Hedges, known for the discovery of the Crystal Skulls. What if Beers' vanishing act was more than just mere happenstance? Could he have uncovered knowledge too dangerous to share, or encountered forces beyond human comprehension? The jungles of Central America hold many secrets. Did they claim Ambrose Beers as well? As with many astonishing legends, the truth may lie somewhere between fact and fiction. Tonight, we delve into the riddle of his disappearance. We'll examine the evidence, explore the theories, and attempt to separate the facts from fiction. Join us as we unravel the perplexing case of Ambrose Beers, the man who wrote his way into history, and then vanished from its pages. Welcome back to Astonishing Legends. I'm Scott Philbrook, and this is Forrest Burgess. Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate. Epigrams of a Cynic, from A Cynic Looks at Life, by Ambrose Beers, 1912. Join us tonight for part one of our intriguing look into the mysterious disappearance of one of the greatest American writers in history, Ambrose Beers. And we're back. Unlike Ambrose Beers, we have made it back. It's hard to believe, folks. We're stepping into our 11th year of podcasting, and as you've probably noticed, we've been quite busy. 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In fact, we're going to have Forrest doing a reading of one of Ambrose Bierce's short stories, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, from tonight's episode, posted there on Patreon when this episode comes out. So if you were over there, you'll be able to hear that. Well, all righty then, Scott. You know, our patrons don't just get cool stuff like that, if you think that's cool. They also get commercial-free versions of the main show and enjoy early access to commercial-free episodes of the Dead Letter Office, as well as our Patreon-exclusive show, The Astonishing Junk Drawer, which now that the Dead Letter Office is up and running, will be producing more often. And guess what? We've got even more exciting Patreon-exclusive content in the works for this year. So if you haven't checked it out yet, now's the perfect time. Head over to patreon.com slash astonishinglegends and join our incredible community of supporters today. Trust me, folks, you won't want to miss out on all the astonishing extras we got lined up. All right, let's dive into this show. This is, you know what's interesting to me, Forrest? I have been wanting to cover Ambrose Bierce since we started the show. I remember it being a thing in my mind back in 2014, 2013, when we first started talking about it. I know. It was one of the first things we kicked around. Maybe even before one of your favorite topics, which I intend to get you to finally cover today, to agree to, Dead Water. Yes, Dead Water. I do want to do that. I don't know if there's enough there. I also want to do the Amber Room. Oh, I know. That's another one. It's just one of those well-worn topics. But Ambrose Bierce is fascinating because he's also lumped in with a few other mysterious deaths of literary notables like Edgar Allan Poe. But with Poe, well, you got a body. We know how he ended up. We just don't know exactly how he got there. Bierce, on the other hand, started off writing about mysteries, being a mystery himself, and ending up as a mystery. All right, we don't want to bury the lead here like we've been known to do for, well, 10 years now. 2025, the year we get just a teeny bit better at this. Hey, it's our own style. You know, like I said, you can make your own rules here. But yes, I understand. To your point, we need to set the stage a little with the mystery behind tonight's episode. However, we do have to do just a little bit of background here on Mr. Bierce, which we find fascinating and interesting, and that's one of the reasons why we chose this. Also, it's not just everything has to have mystery soaked into it or reeking of the paranormal, but it's just a fascinating guy and a great giant of a talent. I'm sure many of you have heard of Ambrose Bierce, but no worries, no fault if you have not. But here's who he was. He was a Civil War veteran who enlisted in the Union's Army, 9th Indiana Infantry, so a Hoosier. Guess where he was born, Scott? Jim Harreld's home state. Well, Ohio, of course. Where else? To a farming family. And get this, not such an unusual thing back in the day because you needed farmhands or just a lot of people around the house. He was the 10th of 13 children. I know that sounds like a lot these days, and it is. It was back then, but not quite as a wow factor here. So, evenly divided, six brothers and six sisters, and every single one of them had their first name starting with the letter A. So, people did that back then as well. It's not just an annoying thing nowadays with the rhyming names. No fault to any parents that do that anyway. But we'll get more into his background here in a bit. But he served as a topographical engineer in the Army of Cumberland on the staff of Brigadier General William Babcock Hazen. And for those of you who are Civil War buffs, you will know that name. And actually, he was very well known and admired and propped up by a lot of famous generals in the Civil War here. That's true. Yeah. Well, according to Lance Geiger of the amazing History Guy YouTube channel, according to him, it's unclear how Bierce became so skilled at map making. And we couldn't find any training there either, other than he was a printer's devil. Yes. So, he was – the prints, the map, the parchments, he was familiar in that world of paper and printing. But he apparently was quite good at it, and he's credited with creating the first useful map of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Yeah. So, I guess it had been mapped out before, but it was real crappy. People were winding up in cul-de-sacs and streets that weren't finished yet. Well, it's the equivalent of – remember how bad Apple Maps was to begin with, and people were driving into reservoirs. I mean, people have died because of these – those bad maps. And, of course, that was a lot worse back when you were mapping the Black Hills. Oh, well, you could run into an angry war party, some bad terrain. Yes. Very dangerous. And we'll talk about – he started from the Midwest and ended up in San Francisco. That was quite a military trip. And the thing about the map part, too, Forrest, and I want people to remember this, the things that we might come back to if you're taking your notes or keeping track of things is that, to me, works against the idea that he went somewhere and got lost, namely Mexico. I'm glad you're bringing that up right now because we often have an idea in our heads that, like, oh, yes, remember this critical point because it bats down a lot of the – some of the other theories or criticisms. And then we forget to mention it. Yeah, exactly. To my sugar in. But tell me about him fighting in the Civil War. Yeah, he actually saw – I've got a list of all the battles he was in, and it's a lot. I feel like it's over two dozen. But one of the more well-known ones that he was at was called the Battle of Philippi, which is one of the first land engagements of the war. It took place in 1861 in Philippi, Virginia, which – well, it's now West Virginia, but at the time, that was just Virginia. Right, now hold on a second. Are you sure you're pronouncing that right? Because I was going to look it up, and then I thought I'd just leave it to you. Dump this in your lap. Well, I'm pronouncing it the way this one guy who appears to be a local on YouTube is pronouncing it in a video about Philippi, West Virginia. Okay, very good. Because you know there's – That's what we fall back on, though, right? We look on Forvo, which is great for pronunciations. But the problem here is, as it is with so many cities in North America or the United States specifically, Philippi is also a real town, which is the namesake of the one in Virginia, I'm sure, in Greece. Yeah. And that one is a Philippi, I believe. Yeah, that's right. That's the one I did find, yeah. Which is what it looks like. I know, but you know you're going to get people – You've got to check what the locals are doing. Well, you can, and here's what we found, and I know this comes up. And we wouldn't mention if we didn't get so many emails about pronunciations. That's one of the top things. I know, 10 years of emails about how – and people are like, why are you always talking about how you pronounce things? And it's like, guess what? We're still doing it. We do our best. We try to please the local folks because we appreciate their connection to – And we respect local culture. Absolutely. Yeah. In this case here, a great part of the Civil War history. Yeah, that was a major battle. And as you said, I think it was the first land engagement that was formally a land engagement battle in 1861. So it's now West Virginia. At the time, just all plain Virginia. Right. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about this actual skirmish? Well, first of all, I got to say, I would consider myself a World War II buff for whatever reason. I think I may have fought in it and been reincarnated. I don't know, but there's a connection to me. And a lot of people really identify with the Civil War. Usually it's guys that you'll see in a Ken Burns documentary, Shelby Foote and such. But a lot of people find a connection to that. And it was – if you're not from the States here, it was just awful, just a major conflagration, a lot of death, brother fighting brother, that kind of thing. And in this case, though, that was a surprise attack by the Union on Confederate troops. And the whole thing took only about 20 minutes. And the Confederates essentially retreated rapidly, which gave that battle the nickname, the Philippi races. So basically, it's kind of a derogatory term, like how they turned tail and ran. Not offending any Southerners here. Sorry, Scott. But the most important thing about it, though, was that it was – it secured a Western Virginia for the Union. So it was a big morale victory. And it's essentially what led to West Virginia becoming its own state just two years later. That's right. So theoretically, the astonishing legend tonight is Ambrose Bierce's disappearance. Right, right. But the guy was truly a legend himself. Here he is at one of the most pivotal battles at the outset of the Civil War. And not really a strategic victory, but it was a landmark skirmish in American history. You wouldn't think a guy that was into poetry – maybe you wouldn't. Like he's a poet warrior. But this guy was a real soldier and heroic and brave and got, at the time, mentioned in the newspapers for his bravery and rescuing of a badly wounded fellow soldier under heavy fire. That's right. So more on his Civil War exploits in a bit. But that's just to give you guys a time and a place for Bierce's life. You know, again, we often talk about polymaths on this show because they make history and they end up – and he was, I would say, a different kind of polymath in the types of careers and skills that he was good at. In this case, his careers were as a journalist, a really well-respected one at the time, a brilliant satirist, and a master of the macabre. And the fact that he influenced so many other writers behind him in turn, writers in between, and I think we'll probably get to that. But H.P. Lovecraft was so many people in our audience love. On down to people like Ray Bradbury. Yes. He was just really groundbreaking in the type of fiction that he wrote. Yeah, and this is how I first heard of him, actually. He was very prolific, and he wrote a lot of still-famous works. But one of the most famous was his short story called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which is one of those short stories they made me read in high school. And, you know, you always go into those like, okay, fine, whatever, wish I could read what I want. But instead, this one did its job. It absolutely changed my personal perception of what good writing can be for the rest of my life, really. Absolutely. It's one of those things where if you weren't made to read it and you were one of those lucky little kids who had a great librarian and they turned you on to it and it changed your life. So many of our audience members are like, you know, I had a teacher or a parent, an older sibling, a librarian who turned me on to a book and it changed my life. This really sparked an interest for a lot of folks in that genre. And it was kind of a paranormal way, but at the time just fantastical writing. But as we'll see, he had an interest and a knack for it. And there was a traumatic brain injury that occurred to him during one of the battles. I do wonder if that sparked something in him, in his thinking. But in any case, the other thing is that you may have heard, well, if you're a big Twilight Zone fan like we are, it's not often seen. But you may know of a very special episode on Twilight Zone that I think Rod Serling, he liked it so much, loved the story, influenced him. Ambrose Bierce, of course, because of that type of writing and that kind of twist of the Twilight Zone-y kind of things. But there was a short movie made called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, a French production from 1961, a short film, almost has no dialogue in it. I was lucky enough that they were streaming all the Twilight Zones, they were streaming all the seasons, and I was able to see it. And it's like, whoa, they never play this one on any of those old channels as a rerun because it just doesn't fit. And basically, they just ran the whole thing in its entirety with a really novel introduction by Rod Serling himself, where he just sits and introduces it and says how great it is. And yeah, and by the way, that's what's amazing about it. That story doesn't require a single line of dialogue, really. You could tell it without dialogue. Exactly, exactly. That's why it became, because it was a French production, it really translated well. I don't know how well it did with the audience. They were like, perhaps you were expecting dialogue. Men, no, not dialogue. Well, perhaps it was director Robert Enrico, produced by Marcel Ishak and Paul de Roubaix, but it won awards at Cannes and the Academy Awards. And so that appeared, though, in episode 22 of the fifth season of Twilight Zone, the 28th of February, 1964. It's pretty remarkable. If you get a chance to see it, seek it out because it's the whole thing. And really, the idea of that story is just a story that it plays with time dilation in such a way that nobody had really done before. I'm sure people, of course, have included time and aspects of time and how it lays out. But this was a unique novel, as I said. And when you look at it and you think about that, that Twilight Zone was over 50 years after he disappeared. He's still having that kind of influence on writers. And that's the thing about Rod Serling, which younger folks might not know. If you don't know the Twilight Zone, of course, you know the idea or the phrase of it. But Serling was a writer. He was a writer's writer. It wasn't just that he hosted a freaky show. He was into the construction of the stories. And so that's really saying something that he featured that. And when you think about Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, for me, I don't think you could have such amazing films like Pulp Fiction, Jacob's Ladder, Memento. Those all kind of borrow from things that he was the first one to do. H.G. Wells actually wrote The Time Machine five years after Owl Creek Bridge. Yeah, yeah. Well, it hasn't – I see it having to do with a concept of metadata within the time-space continuum. What I mean by this is that if you look at – this is one of my favorite concepts, if it's real, if it happens to be true, about how some people have described – and here's the thing. It's some military witnesses of UFO craft that have remained anonymous. They're like, why don't you give us your names? We want to know exactly where you saw this and where it's located – of getting a tour inside a UAP or UFO, supposedly, that we have under wraps here, and claiming that the inside interior of the craft was much larger than what appeared – the volume and space on the outside. You know, this thing's, what, 50 feet across. You go inside, and it's like three football fields in volume. And somehow they were able to manipulate time and space. I just don't want that machine to turn off while I'm inside and get crushed. But that's what he's talking about, a whole sequence of life and time and memory occurring in a fraction of a second. And, you know, I think a lot of people – well, I guess it seems like they've been thinking about how time works a lot, and especially in that moment of American history. So let's discuss a little bit just the essence of what the story about Owl Creek Bridge is, you know, the parts we didn't spoil already. But, hey, folks, we told you what it was going to be just because you expect that. Spoiler alert. If you don't want to know – I mean, if you heard the cold open, you might have already heard it unless you weren't paying attention, which a lot of people apparently don't do the cold open. But you know a little bit about it. If you don't want to hear what an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about, maybe fast forward about two minutes here. But essentially what – the really amazing thing about it is that it's about a soldier who is being hanged on a bridge. The rope snaps, and he falls into Owl Creek, and he swims, and he gets home, and he's – it's a big thing. He's being shot at in the water, and he gets home almost to his actual house, and his wife is running towards him with their arms. And then the neck snaps because that is all the magic. It's all – and not exactly the old chestnut of it was all a dream, but it was a dream. You know, again, it's playing off the thing that people often say, and again, now we go back to the topic of – and theory of consciousness, and does it reside totally inside the brain as a function of a biochemical process? Does it reside totally outside the brain? Is it a combination of both? What happens when you die? Yes. This is the tape play. It's like, okay, we're on the death throes here. Hit play on file number 00 here. Right. And just play the death thing, and then that's what you experience up to the white light. But then people coming back from an NDE, near-death experience, have said like, no, I went past the white light part. That's just getting to the door. You go inside the door, and you come back, and that's something else. That's not just the tape playing. And so what we have here, though, is somebody's life flashing before their eyes. Or is it another reality that has already been lived or could have been lived had he actually gotten free from the hanging? Yes. And so is it a whole dream of a life that wishful thinking that happened in that two seconds or one second as the rope is stretching his neck? Or is it another reality that he's experiencing in the moment of death? Did he actually end up somewhere else? And so those things we don't know. After his death, is he really with his wife on his farm enjoying the rest of his life? Those really have to do with the nature of reality and the nature of an alternate reality or the moment of death and what is death? What is heaven? Is it getting back to your farm and your family and your love of life and all that? Or is it just like, here's the last film clip we're going to show you before it lights out? One thing to say about Bierce was that he was agnostic, and he thought that there was probably not a whole lot going on after he died. And so his particular take was, well, yeah, you've got to live the life you live. This is reality. This is truth. Truth is being alive, and it's the moment that you're in. And what's fascinating about this particular idea, and that might play into whatever it was that happened to him in the end. But I think that folks that are looking for spiritual meaning in it, it's not necessarily there. It's more that he's trying to make meaning out of a lack of spirituality about it. Yeah, you do see that with good thinkers, great thinkers that I respect. I may not agree with them, but people will say like, no, it's just lights out. So I don't need any spirituality or a higher power to live a moral and ethical life. Just I do it. Like Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, I think he is either agnostic or atheist, but he's like, yeah, I don't need some higher guide or spiritual framework for me to live what I consider to be a moral and just life. Yes. Protein bars often feel like you're choosing between taste and nutrition. If it tastes good, you flip it over only to discover it's made with a whole paragraph of ingredients you've never heard of. Or artificial sweeteners are doing all the heavy lifting. It's basically dessert in disguise. You shouldn't have to choose between tasty and nutritious. And that's what makes Aloha stand out. Aloha protein bars nail the delicious and nutritious. 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Patients with a positive test result should be referred for a colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer. Patients with a negative test result should discuss with their doctor when they need to be tested again. False positives and false negative results can occur. I'm Scott from the Fairytales for Unwanted Children podcast, and this is Astonishing Legends. Let's get back to the show. Short stories are almost my favorite format in the world. I did want to mention one that I read a few years ago just for folks. The story is a page and a half, and it's, again, it's like Ambrose Beers to me. It's one of those ones that just sticks with you. It's called Jumper Down. It's by an author named Don Shea, S-H-E-A. So if you can find it, Jumper Down. It's on the internet. It's all over the place by Don Shea. It's only a page and a half. If you think, how can a story that's a page and a half hook me? And believe me, this one will. So you've got to check it out. All right. Make a note. Make a note of it. Please make a note of it. Probably nobody knows recording anymore. Well, anyway, on top of writing amazing stories, probably my own personal more favorite thing about Ambrose Beers was how much of a cynic he was. His journalistic work was all focused on exceedingly dark satire. In fact, he didn't just write about darkness. He seemed to embody it like Bane. He wrote a book called A Cynic's Look at Life, which is a collection of sarcastic and ironic essays about life in general. And it does all of this while being funny at times. And so here's a quote from that. Keep in mind, this was published in 1912. The game of discontent has its rules, and he who disregards them cheats. It is not permitted to you to wish to add another's advantages or possessions to your own. You are permitted only to wish to be another. That's a great quote. He's just like, you can't want their stuff. You can just want to be them. And he's like, there's rules. There's rules. We've got to follow the rules here. And being discontent, yeah, with your own life there. Well, again, it's following these rules and embracing the darkness and the discontent. And it's like, oh, well, you're going to be there. Lean into it, as they say. So that's the overview on Ambrose Beers. Writer, journalist, cynic, witty adventurer, and also, I think, possibly a bit of a troll. Not in the bad mood, evil behavior sense, but in the baiting the general public sense. Although there are people, his contemporaries, would disagree with me there. But I don't want to get ahead of myself about all of that stuff. We'll save that for theories in part two, mostly. Yeah. Just a little note here, though, about his cynicism and his disposition, I think, his outlook on life. You know who it reminds me of? Or I'm seeing, well, as we were researching this, and more so diving deeper into who Beers was, the kind of guy he was, is it reminds me a little bit of our Fortean forefather, Charles Fort. That's right. In that there was a lot of, like, this cynicism of, like, you know, we're just puppets in this big, stupid experiment. And weird things happen. And, you know, if you don't pay attention, what we said, it marches on. Whether you believe it or not, it's happening. And I think Beers' position was like, yeah, bad things, discontent, weird stuff happens. And why not pay attention to it? A lot of people want to ignore it. Yeah. And Forte lived at the same time, roughly. He lived about 20 years past when Beers disappeared. But they were walking the earth at the same time, which is interesting. That's a really good point for us. That would have been a great dinner conversation there. Yeah. Or not. I mean, they may have been butting heads. Who knows? But they're both somewhat of iconoclasts, I think, and just kind of people who are stirring the pot. And good for them for doing that. But we have to point out something here, though. You know, there are folks out there who think that Beers has been unnecessarily vilified as not just cynical, but kind of a misanthrope. Which he kind of does in his final letter there, describing himself and just how much of a curmudgeon he kind of is and not apologizing for it. So in a book from 2003 called A Much Misunderstood Man, which was essentially a collection of Beers' letters, and this was published by the Ohio State University Press, of course. It was edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. And it was their position that scholars misunderstood or took a somewhat reductionist viewpoint on Beers, at least contemporaneously, as being the ultimate pessimist. And I can understand that. And their point was this collection that he was far more human than folks thought at the time. You know, like once you get a label, people paint you as something, like that's it. Yeah. But there was much more to this guy than his writing met the eye. It doesn't make any sense, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. No, everyone seemed to have exceptionally strong opinions of him. He was polarizing when he was alive. Yes, polarizing. A lot of scholars and other writers were dismissive of him, but there were some that saw something more there. There's a great quote about him by one of his peers, noted satirist and writer H.L. Mencken. Oh, yes. In the introduction of A Much Misunderstood Man that was selected by Joshi and Schultz when they edited the collection. Here's an excerpt from that. Perhaps Mencken came closest to the truth. Reviewing Kerry McWilliams' biography, the first to use any significant number of Beers' letters, Mencken wrote, quote, Yes, also H.L. Mencken, one of my very heroes there, a giant genius of a curmudgeon himself. Yes. Same, very, very similar attitudes about stuff. Very cynical. I guess Mencken had called Beers, quote, the one genuine wit that these states have ever seen. So he really looked up to him as well. It was, again, a great influencing force. But that also points to his character, what you're talking about. Just that he would not lie. Yeah. If we talk about the great railroad scandal that happened later on. Yes, that's going to come up here in a little bit. Right. We're going to talk about that in a bit. You'll see that he was just a man who could not be bought against his principles. So, again, this points to his character. And so maybe he was maligned as a cynical pessimist in his day. But in hindsight, thought of as, well, yeah, still cynical, but also a humorist and idealist who believed in telling the truth. Except, of course, when he was trolling people, then it was all bets were off. But here's the thing is that if you don't do it with humor, I think, then you're just a bore. You're just a cranky bore. You know what I'm saying? Like, just, oh, stop it, Eeyore. Yes. But you would say a complicated guy, wouldn't you? Yeah. And I think all this stuff points to his complication. And one of the things that I love when we're researching a show like this is getting to know the people and all the players. And with this particular one, there was a lot of stuff that we were able to read up on and look into. And you do feel like you get to know the people, albeit it's one-dimensional. And even those editors that we mentioned earlier, Joshi and Schultz said in their collection of letters, don't think that you can 100% figure out who this guy was just from these letters, no matter how many letters we have. The letters are actually brief. And he's not going into a lot of detail. And there's a great deal. This was the implication I got from that anyway. But there's a big difference between sitting down and having a drink or smoke or meeting him at the club or having dinner with him and reading letters that he wrote. But by the same token, the letters do tell you something. They tell you about the interpersonal relationships that he has and the familiarity he has with all of his friends and close contacts. Indeed. So taking all of that into account, we have this, I consider, very nuanced guy, even though folks seem to think that they had him figured out, who is now signing on to venture into Mexico in 1914. And this was an extremely volatile time in that territory with the Mexican Revolution going on, which lasted from about 1910 to 1920. And you have to keep this in mind as well. In 1914, when he ventured on this adventure, which he considered he may be his last, perhaps. He's 71 years old. Yes. And asthmatic, by the way. And asthmatic, and when he, but, and also, we're going to talk about one of the letters to one of the people closest to his life, Blanche. He just said, I am, basically, I'm extremely tired. I'm very tired. Yeah. He's going into the heart of the Mexican Revolution. I mean, I threw my back out check in the mail the other day. Dude is going to the Mexican Revolution several decades older than I am now. So hats off to him. You do have that passage then in your, in his letter to Blanche later about how, how he felt. Okay, here we go. Yes. Well, keep in mind, this is what he said he was going to do. He told reporters himself that he was, he was going. Yes, exactly. Okay. But let's say he did. So these are the letters from him indicating that he was down there. And most famously, the one that is considered the last known correspondence from him before he vanished. Yes. And, and it said. Again, going back to a much misunderstood man, it was sent to his secretary, Blanche Partington, as we just mentioned here. Now, Blanche was a young woman who became friends with Bierce in 1892 when he was 51. And at the time she was 26, but she was already, she's one of those people that had a fascinating life herself and got to hook up with a lot of notables at the time. Yeah, and, and you're using the phrase hook up there, which I don't know if you're, you're trying to imply something, but I will tell you that there are many historians. Oh, I'm implied, yes. It seems to be implied everywhere. Yes, that will say they were lovers or that they had a short-lived affair. They remained friends a long time. Right. And maybe a couple of years they had an affair. But he also, and this might be a bit creepy, referred to himself as her uncle and to her as his niece. And, and for more context, Blanche was actually known as Forrest, just indicated, for her relationships with a few other notable writers from the Bay Area and San Francisco. Bierce being one of them, but also Jack London. And the poet, Yane Noguchi. So she knew the folks in the literary circles there in San Francisco. That was a very tight-knit, well-educated community. And they all supported each other in lots of ways, both creatively and in, I think, more practical and pragmatic ways, too. But by the time Bierce wrote his final letter to her that we're about to share with you, he was 71. And at that point, she was 46. Age is just a number, isn't it? Well, yeah. So, and she herself was a prominent journalist at the time. She wasn't just a groupie. Yes. She had great literary chops herself, which is why I think she was well-respected and welcomed into these circles here. She was born in England, but had become a music and drama critic for the San Francisco Call and was known for her casual interview style, which made her popular at the time. Because, again, that was a bit of a breakout style. And she also came from a quite literary family, and they were all homeschooled and taught music, drawing, painting, the arts by their parents. So that was drummed into them, and they all took to it very well, all the siblings here. So because of all this, and she was able to keep up on her own with the fellows here, Bierce was extremely fond of her. And now some will say that he and Jack London were vying for her affection when she was kind of bouncing. You know, some will say that, but I don't think there's any indication or proof that Bierce actually knew of her relationship with Jack London since it happened afterwards. And so that's a bit of speculation. Yeah, it's a bit of speculation. There's no proof there. So, well, that brings us to the letter. This is the most famous letter in this story. Okay, so this is the very last letter sent by Bierce to anyone that we know of here. And, again, this is from, quote, a much misunderstood man, end quote, by the Ohio State University Press. And this is the last letter in the book, number 209 on page 244. To Blanche Partington, ALS, comma, BL. You don't have to read those. Yes, I will. Chihuahua, Mexico, December 26, 1913. My dear Blanche, I have been regretting my harshness to you in my letter from San Antonio, Texas. Or was it Laredo? I wrote in anger, having just read your letter forwarded from Washington, and was doubtless unjust. My anger was caused partly by your destruction of Miss Soule Campbell's new portrait of me, which I had had made more to please you than for any other reason. You had asked me for a picture. But you also asked me in the letter to confess, quote, unquote, that I care for human sympathy, sentiment, and friendship. This, to me, who have always valued those things more than anything else in life. Who have the dearest and best friends of any man in the world. I think sweet souls who have the insight to take me at my own appraisement. Or, perhaps you would say, to pretend to. You don't know any of them. It would be better for you if you did. Evidently, you share the current notion that because I don't like fools and rogues, I am kind of a monster, a misanthrope, without sentiment and without heart. I cannot help your entertaining that view. But you might have kept it to yourself. The popular notion of me, I care nothing about. But when it is thrown at me by one whom I supposed immune to it by reason of years of friendly observation, it naturally disgusts me. Still, I ought to have made allowance for the pressure of your social environment and for, pardon me, your limitations. I was also impatient of your foolish notion that in the matter of my proposed visit to the Andes I was posing. I do not know why you think the Andes particularly spectacular. Probably because you have not traveled much. To me, they are no different in grandioseness from the Rockies or the Coast Range. Merely a geographical expression used because I did not care to be more specific. The particular region that I had in mind has lured me all my life. More now than before. Because it is, not more distant from, but more inaccessible to. Many of the things of which, as an old man, I am mortally tired. What, quote, interpretation, end quote, you put upon my letters regarding that spot you have not seen fit to inform me, which before rebuking me, I am not hospitable to rebuke, you should have done. I suppose you have a habit of interpretation. You worship a god who, omniscient and omnipotent, has been unable to make his message clear to his children and has to have a million-page interpreters, and you are one of them. Pardon me. You invited me to convert you from the error of your ways. So little do I know of your interpretation that I was not even aware that I had written you of my intention to go to the Andes. If I did, as of course I did, I must also have told you that I intended to go by the way of Mexico, which I am doing, though it looks now as if the Andes would have to wait. My enemies are fond of saying that I cannot keep my friends, and they are right to this extent. Many of my friends I do not keep. I can endure many vices and weaknesses in a friend, but one thing I cannot and will not endure, the attribution of nasty little vices and weaknesses to me. When a friend offends me in that way, he, or she, sooner or later receives a formal note from me, renouncing the advantage of further acquaintance. You and my foolish relatives are the only persons who have hitherto been exempt. You have offended seventy and seven times, and I have overlooked it. But in the letter that angered me, you pass the limit, and, I say it with no feeling but regret, you go into the discard. No pleasure can come of a relation that is not inclusive of respect. If I am what you think me, I am unworthy of your friendship. If I am not, you are unworthy of mine. You will be spared henceforth the necessity of being either ashamed or proud of me, for I hereby withdraw your right to be either. It is true that the latter half of your letter was apologetic, but that was insincere. For if one perceives that a letter is offensive, before it is posted, one can put it into the wastebasket. So, I bid you farewell. Sincerely yours, Ambrose Bierce. So, that's how he signed off the letter, but in what would be considered a postscript, although he didn't put P-S, which I thought as a kid you had to put in every letter. When I wrote friends' letters, I always put a postscript. This is just a little passage that has everyone thinking. It got them wondering. Okay, so there's so much to say about this letter. There's so much anger and emotion in it, and you've got these people that have had this lifelong relationship. As we said, they had an affair early on, but according to some historians, that only lasted a couple of years. But they stayed in touch, very, very much in touch for the rest of their lives. But this is the last known letter from him. And this is also the one, as we indicated, where he makes reference to the fact that he is considered a misanthrope, based on whatever letter that we don't have that Blanche sent him. And it's not clear what she said to him, but it was clearly she was irritated with whatever point he had gotten to in his life and his interpersonal relationships. Yeah, nowadays it would be kind of an angry back and forth text, iMessage. This is a rant. And a lot of people that are going to hear that are going to be like, oh, I've done this. I've done this kind of rant. But it was a different thing when you're sending a piece of paper from another country. You really got to wait a long time. You know how people are just like, wait, do I answer this right away? Like, with a text, you're like, oh, I'm not even going to click on that because I don't want them to know I read it, you know. But with this, it's like, it's the ultimate sort of, you know, like, screw you. Like, I won't even know if you get this, but I'm sending it to you. And oh, by the way, you'll never be able to write me back because I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination. Yeah, it's the kiss off. But here's the thing. Nowadays, it would be a poorly worded, misspelled, with a lot of crazy abbreviations in a text. O-M-F-G, Blanche. How can you talk to me this way? LOL. Rolling eyes, emojis, and blah, blah, blah. So I do wonder, though, and this is a very personal letter of sorts that I think nowadays, I'm not sure who knows people nowadays, they seem to write stuff and put it out there to the world as if they want everyone to read it or just don't consider the fact that everyone might be able to read it. And also, if you're famous nowadays, somehow somebody always gets those really embarrassing texts and emails. I don't know how that happens. Well, no, that's the thing. You know, that's what they say. They say, say it, forget it, write it, regret it. And here's a perfect case. Ambrose wrote this letter down, you know, 1913. And here we are talking about it 110 years later. Well, that's the point. I do wonder if you – when you know at the time that you're notable and famous somewhat and certainly at the time and known for your words and your missives and your epistles, like, is someone going to read this later? Should I – I'm fine with it. Well, as he says – I don't think he cared, though. I think he felt like anything he put to paper, he didn't care. Once it was out there, it seemed to me – that's my impression I got, you know, in getting to know him over the past couple weeks, you know. Well, it's rash, but it's well thought out and it's well worded. And, you know, like I said, it just didn't fire this off, like, while sitting on the can. You know what I'm saying? Like, he thought about this, like, this is going to be the last letter to someone I really care about but also am very upset about who I thought was a good friend but doesn't understand me, blah, blah, blah, is mislabeling me. The one thing you want your friends to do is understand you, I guess. And so, you know, at this point, though, I do wonder. It's like, well, if she does get this, if this is just out there, is it going to end up in some anthology? Or two idiots somewhere, two bozos going to read this over some kind of wireless electronic communication platform in the future? And it did. Well, and to that point, this is something I want to say, too, which I'm sure some people are thinking about. There is a certain tone and style in the nature of the type of communication that you have with your friends, especially close friends or longtime acquaintances. And even when it's just verbal, you say things in different channels that you might not say in a more civilized environment. It could just be that at this point, all their letters, they were razzing each other anyway. It was just natural. It was like, I'm going to send this letter. And then the next day, if he saw her, he'd be like, hey, what's up? Sorry, I was pissed off when I wrote that one. You know, that kind of thing. We don't know. We can't necessarily read anything into it as being a specific definition of where they were at to each other at this point. They're, in a lot of ways, I think, like an old married couple because they've known each other so long, regardless of where they were at platonically or whatever. So, you know, we want to be careful to point that out. But, again, this letter has been mythologized so much. There's people that say, oh, at the end, he wrote, I may never return. It's like, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say I may never. It just says, as to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination. Well, there's another cryptic ending of a note we may get to here later, which also caused a lot of people to wonder. But essentially, in wrapping up the feeling of this, I think you're absolutely right. And as he says, though, which people don't realize when they send a text, it is out there forever. Like, never write down anything you wouldn't want read out on a podcast. Yes, or by your mom. A hundred years later. But, yeah, exactly. But what he's saying here is that, look, if you think you've written something that's offensive to the other person, before you actually mail it, you know, you can always just throw it away. You don't have to send it. Not every feeling has to be expressed. I mean, I've done that. You write the angry email or you write the whatever. You sleep on it, look at it in the morning and be like, you know what? I feel better. This doesn't need to leave the house. There you go, folks. Always sleep on stuff. You'll get a fresh perspective in the morning. So, but anyway, there's a, yeah, it was important to read in this context, though. There's a lot going on here. But, again, to your point, you have to remember this. It adds to the mystery of what his words meant. And maybe she knew something more about that than we do now. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's true. Maybe it was something discussed. Did they talk about this? And we'll talk about this in part two. But there supposedly was another letter written, but no one has ever been able to find it. And there's some question about this letter and its origin. So, again, we're going to save that for theories. Exactly. There's some communication that was taken down by his secretary, not, I think, Blanche at the time. But, like, you don't have the actual letter. You have the notes of the letter or the correspondence. And that's what people are criticizing later. But what makes this story so compelling? Well, I think also because you have a lack of evidence here, not totally documented. And you have a lot of speculation. But you don't have anything really concrete. You know, there's no witnesses. There's no person commenting on this later. So it all makes it very tantalizing. Yeah, well, there is one witness, at least, theoretically, to his disappearance. But people don't necessarily trust this guy. So you mean the story from Tex O'Reilly, which we're going to discuss here in a bit. But even he never claimed to have met Beers or saw his body. That's right. So this is the kind of mystery that breeds conspiracy theories. People latch on to anything. They want answers. They need cognitive closure. And with Beers, there's nothing, just an endless supply of what ifs. But I think there may be something in some of his other letters. There's some patterns here. So let's start there. Towards these letters that you look at near the end of his life, he seemed to be incorporating the fatalistic viewpoint in a lot of his sign-offs. I want to read this one that's to his daughter, Helen, which he sent on September 10th, 1913. This was three months before the last one that Forrest just read a few minutes ago. From Washington, D.C., where he was living at the time. My dear Helen, I fancy we are not very good correspondents, in quotes. But really, we have nothing to write about. Nothing occurs to either of us. However, I have had an outing or inning in New York whence I have just returned. I expected to meet Carrie there on her way back to Washington, but we missed each other. Her trip to Sag Harbor seems to have done her some good, but she does not look very well. This is my aside. We're going to introduce you to who Carrie is here in a bit. That's Carrie Christensen. All right, getting back to the letter. If I am to hear from you again for a long time, you'll have to answer this letter pretty soon. I am going away. My plans are not very definite, but they include a journey into, possibly across, South America. I have arranged for a pretty long absence. If we have trouble with Mexico before I leave, I shall probably go there instead, or at least first. My health is excellent. With love to Harry and the boys, affectionately, your father. So, there you can see there's a little bit of a, like, hey, I'm getting ready to do something kind of mysterious just to let you know. But I'm feeling good. My health is good. Just letting you know you might not hear from me for a while. And he, quote, has arranged for a pretty long absence. And he mentions having trouble in Mexico as well. Now, keep in mind the letter we read you, the final letter, which Forrest just read a few minutes ago. That was sent from Chihuahua. That's why he was talking about there's no trains to El Paso to get the letter into the U.S. That was sent from Chihuahua, Mexico. Protein bars often feel like you're choosing between taste and nutrition. If it tastes good, you flip it over only to discover it's made with a whole paragraph of ingredients you've never heard of. Or artificial sweeteners do all the heavy lifting. It's basically dessert in disguise. You shouldn't have to choose between tasty and nutritious. And that's what makes Aloha stand out. Aloha protein bars nail the delicious and nutritious. They're USDA organic and made with ingredients that actually grow somewhere. 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Patients with a positive test result should be referred for a colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer. Patients with a negative test result should discuss with their doctor when they need to be tested again. False positives and false negative results can occur. This is Lucy in Shropshire, England, and when I'm not castle-bothering, I listen to astonishing legends. Now, let's get back to the show. So this next missive is to Neal Publishing, owned by his good friend Walter Neal. And what's significant about this letter is that, curiously, he's giving all the rights to his work to his secretary, who we just mentioned, Cary Christensen, and it goes a little something like this. The Neal Publishing Company, Union Square, New York City. Gentlemen, I have sold and assigned to Cary J. Christensen of this city all my copyrights and all my right title and interest in the contract, in parentheses, dated the first day of June 1908, close parentheses, between you and me for the publication of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, and in all royalties or other profits accruing therefrom, both present and future. This is to notify you of the transaction, in accordance with the terms of said contract. Kindly acknowledge receipt of this notification, and that it is satisfactory to you. Very truly yours, Ambrose Bierce, September 19, 1913. And here's another kind of a postscript here. The assignment to Cary J. Christensen covers and includes all my other contracts with you and all my interest in which your house is concerned, Ambrose Bierce. So, giving away the keys to the kingdom. That's right. And giving it not to one of his blood children, which is fascinating. Yeah, well, if you know some families that's, and no family has ever been, you know, that different from all other ages, but you don't know what the dynamic was in his family. Maybe he was closer to or thought that she would take better care of his works, having been more familiar with them. Yeah, and maybe he was more worried about her financial needs as well. Again, knowing his status there, because he was lauded and famous in his own time, he knew they would be worth something. Maybe a bit of a severance package, you could say. Yes. Hopefully taking care of her for the rest of her life. Again, not huge amounts of money, considering at the time. It's not like he's Charles Dickens, you know, considerably, but again, worth something. And maybe he thought his kids didn't need it, or it would spoil them, or, you know, there's all sorts of family dynamics people know about today. And has been the same always. But just kind of curious, though, again, a big thank you for all her work. And maybe she was the most trusted of all the people of his compatriots. Okay, so he seems to be getting his affairs in order in that one, which is interesting. Now we're coming down again to the next one that we wanted to share. And this is to his daughter, Helen Bierce Cowden, who is at this point married. To my dear daughter, I have your letter and telegram. Doubtless you already know why I did not have them before. I did not suppose that you cared particularly to see me, or I should have gone your way. It does not greatly matter. I can see you on my return, if I return. It would not be prudent to tell you of my plans. This country is full of spies and watchers, and I have no confidence in even the U.S. mails. I mean to go into Mexico. That is all you need to know. There is good fighting all along the border and everywhere. Maybe I shall see some of it as an, quote, innocent bystander. I visited all my old battlefields, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Stones River, Franklin, Nashville, and Shiloh. Arriving here on Monday last, pretty well worn out. She'll stay a few days longer. After that, I shall be out of reach of letters, so cannot hear from you. My love to Harry and the boys. God bless and keep you all your dad. So here he's talking about how he's visited all the places he fought at in the Civil War. That's corroborated by multiple sources that he did that before, theoretically, heading to the border with Mexico. But again, I was talking about the sort of fatalistic sign-offs. He's like, after that, I shall be out of reach of letters, so cannot hear from you. So, I mean, it's not fatalistic in like, oh, woe is me. I'm never coming back. I'm going to die. But it's like, it's getting a little bit more like, that might be a possibility. He kind of seems to be saying, it's a little vague where I'm going, and it's a little vague whether I'll return. Don't look for me. Yeah. Somewhat. But also, again, this man was not just a man of letters. He had an adventurous spirit and was a soldier. That's right. Through and through. And so he wanted to visit all of his old battlefields where he saw some really horrific things, especially at Shiloh, which he wrote about. But yeah, this is interesting in that they're close, but maybe a little distant, it seems like, from the tone of the letter here. Yeah. And I think, you know, it's possible he's less worried about her. Going back to why did he give stuff to Carrie, Carrie was not married. And so maybe he was concerned that she would have no means, whereas Helen is married and maybe her husband was supporting her. I didn't go that far down the rabbit hole on research into her. Or, you know, so maybe that's a possibility as to why he willed all of his works to Carrie. That letter that you just read was dated October 30th, 1913. So I wonder if he was excited about Halloween as we are. I don't think so. I think. Yeah, I know. I didn't wonder that. Well, I don't think it was as big of a deal then. A lot of these letters are only a few days apart that he's sending to the same people. So I think that's interesting. He was doing a lot of writing. A lot of writing. This one is notable to me and many others who have been there or know about it because it was sent to Helen at the Manger Hotel, San Antonio, Texas. I've been there. Notoriously haunted. Very famous place. Yeah, very cool. That is cool. Very cool old hotel. Those who know about it know it's illustrious and notorious past, especially, yeah. Now, a lot of San Antonio, of course, is haunted and he got the Alamo, which we'll have to cover one day because I just quickly, I went on a walking tour and there's a great story. You think like, okay, big battle, blah, blah, blah. Phil Collins was reincarnated as he fought there. Not putting it down. I totally believe that actually. But that's what I was saying. Some people have real connections to places and times and battles and significant historical things. A lot of people. Yeah, that's what In the Air Tonight is about. It's about the Alamo. Yeah, yeah. So he donated like over a million dollars. What? I'm kidding. It's not. Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't even paying attention to you. I was on my own rant. Apparently not. But I would not doubt that. No, that's a very also mysterious song people have a lot of speculation about. But no, I was going to say he donated a lot of over a million dollars worth of his stuff. I think memorabilia that he collected. He's got a huge connection, which is odd. It's Phil Collins, okay? He's a British man. But a lot of people from all over, a famous episode of King of the Hill, which, of course, Hank, I'm talking about the animated show, which her wife wrote for. Terrific writing on that. But Hank would not be caught dead, have anything to do with New York. But it turns out he does have a connection. I'll leave it at that. And it's noted at the Alamo. But you go there and it's like, well, very historic, very cool. And then there's a terrific story we should cover one day when, I'll just leave it at this. They, Santa Ana's troops, I believe, I probably got that wrong. They came back to retake it. Or basically, they came back. And as the troops were approaching the Alamo, they saw a vision of six ghostly figures, angelic guardians above the door of the Alamo, protecting it. Oh, yeah. Illuminated, glowing. And it scared them so much, they turned tail and ran. Yeah. That's pretty wild. At least that's what I heard on the walking tour. But anyway, please continue, sir. Sorry about that. Well, yeah. Oh, one other quick thing. Since you mentioned the hotel, the Menger Hotel, I will also mention that the letter that you read, two letters prior to the Neal Publishing Company, where he was giving the rights over, or explaining that he was giving the rights over to Christensen, that was sent from his tenement apartment in Washington, D.C. Yeah. Called the Olympia. Yeah. And this building's still there on Eucard Street. There are people living at the Olympia. You can go there. I don't know which apartment he was in, but I think that was pretty cool to think that you could be living in the apartment that Ambrose Bierce used to live in. Yeah. Try and get an EVP. Ask what happened to him. Yeah. So here's the next letter. This is also to Helen, the same daughter that he just wrote a few minutes ago. As Forrest said, this one is on November 4th. So it's after Halloween now, but here we go. Dear Helen, I am still detained here, partly by ill health, for I arrived a week ago pretty well run down. This was after he toured all the Belizehands. But now I'm nearly well, and she'll leave in a few days for Laredo, and I don't know where else. This is a pleasant city. I have a charming hotel, and many persons have been exceedingly kind to me, but I'm eager to be off about my affairs. I can give you no address, so cannot hope to hear from you soon. I could have heard from you if I had known that I was going to be here so long. Carrie writes me every day, and I've had a letter from your Uncle Grizzly. Carlt and Laura are still expecting to go to the mine in Calaveras County. I hope you are well and happy. My future is uncertain. There cannot be much of it anyhow. But I am a bit better satisfied with myself than when idling away my life in Washington to no purpose. Affectionately, your father. So there's a lot of interesting stuff there. You know, my future is uncertain. There cannot be much of it anyhow. Well, maybe that's just, maybe it's just like, I'm 71, you know, or. No, I think that's a lot of it, yeah. Yeah, I can be that. Or it's like, I'm going to Mexico, and I'm going to hook up with Pancho Villa, and good luck to me, because the Mexican Revolution is in full tilt boogie right now. So I think, like he said, or intimated later, you know, this was a great adventure and a good one to go out on, rather than, as he says, tripping down the cellar stairs or by illness or by just old age or disease. And so what a great adventure and a great way. It is a good day to die. So they quote Chief Dan George from. Yes, Little Big Man. That's right. So in this case, though, yeah, it is kind of enigmatic. We don't know if they knew more of what he was talking about, or if they thought, you know, his kids or the receivers of the letters thought they were enigmatic as well, but maybe they knew more inside information. And it's like, okay, yeah, he'd been talking about this, and he's just going to do it. So he's just kind of reiterating here. But obviously, he knows it's dangerous. He's looking for danger. He's purposely placing himself in harm's way. And if that's a way to like, well, maybe I'll catch a bullet before I have to die in a, you know, withering away in a deathbed somewhere, it is a fitting way. And what better way to die than for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods? You could be just like, well, if you don't hear from me again, I'm kind of in this region and yeah, it was dangerous. And that's what happened to me. And don't ask too many questions. The other thing that's interesting here is that, you know, there's an implication maybe that, well, maybe he was thinking at this point of crossing into Mexico from Laredo. Keeping in mind, he is worried about spies. He's worried about what he's saying in the letters. But by the same token, he theoretically told the press he was going to meet up with Pancho Villa. So there's a lot of obfuscation going on, maybe on purpose, maybe for the sake of entertainment, but maybe legitimately for personal security. But he wrote two letters to Laura, his daughter, about being in Laredo. And in one of them, he said that Laredo was a Mexican city and is Mexican now. But the Nuevo Laredo on the opposite side of the Rio Grande is held by the Huertistas. That's a regime we're going to talk about here in a minute. But Beers states that Americans are not permitted to cross the bridge into Nuevo Laredo, but they can sneak across by wading the river and traveling by night. And he implies that's what he plans to do. So there's this possibility in that letter, at least, that that's what he's thinking of doing. But another thing I want to talk about is that he says, you know, I cannot stay any longer in Washington to no purpose. So let's talk a little bit about that. The reason he was in Washington was because he worked for the publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Yeah. Folks who are younger than us may not have heard of Mr. Hearst, but at one time he owned pretty much every newspaper in the United States. Hearst Mansion. That's right. The Hearst Mansion, Citizen Kane was loosely based on him. Right. Which is a famous movie by Orson Welles. So Hearst was a very big deal, very big man, very big personality at the time. And he is the one that sent beers to Washington, D.C. initially to thwart a bill that was going to allow the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads to default on $130 million they borrowed in low-interest loans to complete the first transcontinental railroad. So that's when they connected the railroad going across the country there. The plan that the two railroads had was to push this bill through Congress. Well, no one was paying attention. That would allow them not to have to pay that back. Right. A slow news cycle back then. A slow news cycle. Yeah, exactly. So Bierce was sent to use his considerable sway as one of the most famous journalists in the U.S. to make sure the public knew what was going on and get opposition going. It actually made an executive from the Central Pacific Railroad go up to Bierce and attempt to bribe him. He said, quote, name his price to him, theoretically, to make it all go away. And Bierce responded, and this was published in newspapers all over the country, quote, quote, my price is $130 million. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the treasurer of the United States. That's the quote we were talking about before. Yes. Again, it got published and was made famous. And that was the owner, I think, of the railroad who was pretty peeved. His plans were foiled. They didn't want to pay that money back. Now they're connected. They want to make all their money. And the railroads, you know, they made a lot of people rich. This was, I'm pretty sure this was pre-income tax because I know that that's part of what made Cornelius Vanderbilt or Commodore Vanderbilt so rich, who built the Biltmore House here in North Carolina that I've toured like 50,000 times, so I should know this. That's the idea, though, is that, look, it's a loan. It's not a giveaway. It's not a handout. It's a hand up. And the idea was that eventually you'll make money on this. We all know that. You're going to be rich. But for the uber wealthy, you can always be richer. And of course, get out of paying anything more than you have to. So that was the idea here. And Bierce foiled that plan and ended up that quote stuck. But people point to that as a sign of his integrity. He could have easily just said like, all right, how about $20,000 and I don't say anything. Yeah. And by the way, that would be $130 million in 1896 is $3.2 billion of today's dollars. So that's what they were trying to be like. We're not going to pay that back, really, do we? So anyway, again, that was 1896. In 1899, he actually wound up moving to D.C., still working for Hersey, stayed there until he disappeared in 1913. My takeaway from the letters and the research we've done was that he didn't really enjoy that work. He seemed kind of bored. And also, not to whitewash history, but according to an article from the Oakland Tribune in October of 1914, Bierce told his friends, quote, this damn country was not fit to live in with prohibition and women voting, end quote. And also that he wanted to see a scrap before he died. Okay. That second part there, that's really telling. Is that, again, he wanted to go out with his boots on standing up, not sweating away in some deathbed. Yeah. So that's the question. Is that part of what took him to Mexico? Like he's touring all his old battlefields. He's reminiscing about being a man of action. And he's like, how am I going to go out? Is that possibly what happened here? Did he miss war? You know? Yeah. Yeah. This episode's not really about the Mexican Revolution per se, but since Bierce said he's going to be a part of it, we feel like we need to do some broad strokes there. It was way more complex than the Civil War here in the U.S. Where do we start with this, Forrest? Well, I think we should begin with some context here. It really started with what is called the Porfiriato, which was a long dictatorship under Porfirio Diaz. Yeah. That was 35 years from 1876 to 1911. Diaz had brought a period of relative peace and economic growth thanks to foreign investment, but it came at a cost. The benefits were concentrated in the hands of a wealthy elite. Never heard of that happening before. While the majority of Mexicans suffered from poverty and inequality, which is pretty much how a dictatorship works. And that's how he ultimately came to be regarded was as a dictator. Yeah, exactly. Well, it was a period of progress for some, but stagnation and oppression for many others. And the land ownership was hugely concentrated, haciendas controlled by a small number of powerful families. That's just the way of history always there, but that's the way things work. I don't care if you're in a idyllic type of other, let's say other type of political arrangement with your living. There's always the few, the haves and the have-nots. That's right. That's the way things kind of suss out there. Peasants, though in this case, were often landless and, as to be expected, exploited. Yes, they were the have-nots in this scenario. Right. It's just like when we talked about Versailles in the Time Slip series. The key ingredient to a revolution is the discontent of the people, and that's what happened here. People started demanding political and social reform. Francisco Madero emerged as a key figure challenging Diaz in the 1910 elections. Even though it was rigged in Diaz's favor, Madero's challenge was significant. And when I say rigged, the campaign was suppressed. There was intimidation, arrests of his supporters. There was no oversight of voting or verification of results. Voters were coerced to support Diaz. There was ballot stuffing. Everything about it was completely unfair. And, you know, still goes on. So, because that stuff seems to work to some degree until it doesn't. Well, Madero's campaign calling for, quote, effective suffrage and no re-election, end quote, struck a poignant chord with many Mexicans. This is where the seeds of revolution are truly sown. Diaz, underestimating his opponent's popularity, jailed Madero. And, well, that sometimes works, doesn't it? Not every time. Not every time. This is the road to martyrdom. No, I know. But, well, like I said, sometimes it depends on how much of a clamp down you got. Yes. And so, whoever owns the guns and the army controls and this and that, that makes the rules. Again, the idea is you lock up the more popular guy and he can't sow discord anymore. But in this case, it led to a widespread revolt. And then suddenly the whole system was challenged. So, it wasn't just a small group anymore. It was a widespread rebellion. And most historians point to the fraud and the oppression of the Diaz slash Madero election as the catalyst for kicking the revolution off in earnest. Yeah, that's right. And the thing is, and this is where it gets more complicated. The revolution wasn't really a single event. It was a series of conflicts involving various factions with diverse aims. Madero was just one player, but you also had the now legendary Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, each with their own goals and their own armies. Absolutely. And we've also, many of us have heard of Zapata. Maybe Pancho Villa gets more, more press, I think. Yes, he does. But yeah, those familiar, we also know the name Zapata. So now you have, like anything else also, you have the freedom fighters and then they don't always agree and they got their own, their warlords. They got their own factions and armies and interest, as you said. So Villa here represented the Northern peasants who were mostly focused on land reform. But Zapata in the South, well, he was fighting for the return of land to the villages or ejidos. And they each had very different approaches and agendas and they sometimes would fight each other as much as they were fighting the government. So yeah, we're, again, just the word. Yeah, that's what we're talking about when we say it's complex. On top of all of this, there was the constitutionalist faction led by Venustiano Carranza. The goal of that was to create a new Mexican constitution. Yeah. And that worked to a degree. So the 1917 constitution is the result of that. And it enshrined many significant reforms, including land redistribution, workers' rights, and limitations on the power of the church and military. That was a victory for the Mexican people, but it wasn't the end of the violence. Now to be clear, this was after Bierce disappeared, but we want you to understand the bigger picture and the outcome of the revolution. It continued for several more years. There was still a lot of conflict. Yeah. So as we said, it wasn't just all about political power. It was about redefining how the Mexican government worked and was more fair to the people of Mexico. So that's the big picture, you could say. But all the players and movements we just mentioned, the one that Bierce allegedly went to embed with. Well, he's also a war journalist. Yeah, he's a journalistic. Yeah, right, right. And so, yeah, he wasn't going to pick up a rifle, I don't think. But he was, he wanted to observe. He wanted to see action, as he said, some good fighting. Yes. And that man that he embedded with was Pancho Villa. Yeah. Now, so Pancho Villa was this legendary figure with fame, even in the US. He had a huge personality. He had a rough upbringing. He was a bandit, but, or bandito. Yeah. But he had a lot of charisma. So he went from being a bandito to joining the Revolutionary Army, which wasn't one unified force. It just means like one of the many forces fighting the government at this time. Right. And then the other thing that's fascinating about him is that he may have started out as a bandit, but he is known today as an amazing military commander. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it happens. He's not just a mindless criminal you see on these reality shows. That's right. He had tactics in his quiver here. He's fond of guerrilla warfare and he knew how to use the cavalry and mounting these bold raids and his men loved him. So he was, he would go in guns blazing, charging, and they ended up being very extremely loyal to him, which you also need. You don't need your people turning on you as soon as you achieve power. Yeah, that's right. He was kind of a Robin Hood too. His focus was putting land back into the hands of the poor and social justice. Well, there you go. Well, that's the branding. That's the, that is, that's his brand. And he, yeah, he was aligned with other revolutionary leaders, but eventually there was discord of course. And then sometimes, as we said earlier, these revolutionary groups would wind up fighting each other again, because, uh, you know, you're all fighting for the same goal, but who's going to lead? Who gets all the spoils? Who gets all the, the fame and the riches? Well, it was ultimately Villa's army, who was one of the most powerful ones when things shook out here. And it was in fact, his army that managed to contribute to removing Victoriano Huerta's regime from power, which was yet another dictator who took over with a coup after Madero managed to replace Diaz. Right. There's just so many players and people hungry for power. It's a complicated mess. There's a lot more to it, but that's it in a nutshell in the broad overview. But by 1912, Diaz, who we mentioned earlier, had already gone into exile and the opponent he had jailed in the rigged election, Madero was now president. But after Madero came Huerta, who Villa wound up helping to unseat. But anyway, it's a struggle to unite everybody. You need a playbill and a scorecard here. Yeah. Uh, well, yeah. So, uh, there's a coup that takes place February 9th and 10th of 1913, which was when Huerta becomes president by assassinating Madero and then seizing power. So, Bierce is going down now to hang out with Pancho Villa's army during the brutal dictatorship of the Huerta regime. Yeah. At this point, Villa is fighting Huerta's forces. He's teamed up with Venustiano Carranza and his forces too. So, if Bierce wanted to, quote, see a scrap before he died, if he embeds himself with Pancho Villa, there's a pretty high chance he's going to be able to do that. You know, some people want to go see the, uh, I had heard of this guy, a friend of a friend who, uh, his goal was to go to the biggest party in the world happening at the time. So it'd be like a Bastille day in France. Right. So he would plot out the, you know, his vacations to hit these, uh, world things. Maybe this is something like that where, where's the most action happening now? Well, in 1913, it's here. As we mentioned earlier at the battle of Shiloh in 1862, it was so, well, nowadays, definitely you'd be suffering PTSD of just the horrors that you saw with the more modernized weapons, the brutality of it and the, uh, the horrific, well, there was not much of any kind of, uh, medical stuff. That's where you see in the movies, the guy hacking off your leg while smoking a cigar and, uh, he not washed his hands, let's say battlefield injuries and just horribly brutal. And he was so, he's made such an impression, this horror of war on beers that, uh, well, he put it into several short stories and then he wrote about it in a memoir that he called what I saw of Shiloh. And then, uh, and again, you were talking earlier, of course, we were about the battle of Philippi. We were also talking about him receiving attention. And as we didn't mention earlier, this was that the battle of rich mountain. Yes. That was July 11th, 1861. This is again, another one that took place in what is now West Virginia. Right, right. So, uh, you know, it could be just reliving past glories, his salad days, uh, as a man of action, but also there was horror there. And again, he had a pretty dark view of some things and was known for his horror fiction. And I, something in him though, called him to that, to want to visit. And, and it's a bit of nostalgia, I believe, but also, I think, as he said, in Washington DC, he felt he had no purpose. And so that's one of the worst things in life is losing your purpose. And I think this made him feel alive again. Yeah. Another civil war battle, the battle of Chickamauga, they think as many as 34,000 soldiers died in that one. Just imagine that one battle, I think in Pearl Harbor and that one attack, there were 6,000 East allied soldiers, uh, American Navy personnel and others, uh, civilians that had died in that sneak attack. And just because again, because of the, the warfare here and the, you're, you're getting better weaponry, more effective. So many people can dice in such a short amount of time, but that one, uh, Chickamauga was a Confederate victory, but the casualties were so high. It didn't really matter. And Beers was there. And not only that, it was Beers's service that really informed a ton of his short stories, as we're saying, is that those experiences- Yeah, exactly. So they made such an impression, horrific or not. He had to write about it in one way or the other. And so it comes out in his, uh, in his writings. And, uh, but according to the history guy on YouTube, it was the 50th anniversary of Chickamauga that made Beers want to revisit his old battle grounds, his old battle sites there. Protein bars often feel like you're choosing between taste and nutrition. If it tastes good, you flip it over only to discover it's made with a whole paragraph of ingredients you've never heard of, or artificial sweeteners do all the heavy lifting. It's basically dessert in disguise. You shouldn't have to choose between tasty and nutritious. And that's what makes Aloha stand out. Aloha protein bars nail the delicious and nutritious. They're USDA organic and made with ingredients that actually grow somewhere. 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Patients with a positive test result should be referred for a colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer. Patients with a negative test result should discuss with their doctor when they need to be tested again. False positives and false negative results can occur. This is Jonathan in California, and when my wife isn't telling me I'm a nerd, she's listening to astonishing legends. Now we're at the point where we're taking Bierce at his word that he actually did go to Mexico. That's not what everyone says when we'll get to that, but we're going to say he did to check in on the Mexican Revolution. Now we mentioned a newspaper article earlier from the Oakland Tribune. This was from October 4th, 1914, page 11. This really covers the big picture on Bierce's disappearance. I wanted to share this article with you. Where is Ambrose Bierce? Is he living or dead? If he is dead, did he die a natural death or was he killed in war or murdered by bandits? These are the questions which the friends of the Dean of American Letters are asking, which they have been asking for a long time. There is not a soul in the United States who can answer these questions, and thus far no answer has come from anywhere else. Efforts to locate Ambrose Bierce have been made by the War Department, by the Department of State, by consuls and consular agents on two continents, by officers of the Navy, by press associations, by publishers. Three efforts have been quite fruitless. I think that's probably supposed to be their efforts. Bierce has not been heard of for nine months. The search for the missing author was started at the instance of one of his most intimate friends, John S. Dunnigan, clerk to the board of supervisors of this city. That city being Oakland. It is still going on and will be prosecuted until Bierce is found or conclusive proof of his death has been unearthed. Dunnigan himself fears that Bierce is no longer among the living. To give the full history of the strange disappearance of Bierce, it is necessary to go back to his 71st birthday, which he celebrated with friends in Washington last October. That would be D.C. where he lived. Shortly afterwards, he left Washington to make a tour of the southern battlefields where he had seen service as an engineer on the staff of the Confederate General Hazen. So this is an error in this article, by the way, and this is something we've encountered a ton whenever we go back to old articles like this. Fact-checking is out the window. There's a lot of fictionalization, whatever. General Hazen was a union general. So you would think that they would have known that. But anyway, in 1913 was commemorated the 50th anniversary of Chickamauga and other great battles in which Major Bierce had taken part. And it was that fact which prompted him to make the tour. He did not intend to return to his home in Washington. In his characteristic fashion, he told friends that the damned country was not fit to live in with prohibition and women voting. He also stated that he wanted to see a scrap before he died. His announced plan was to cross the border in New Mexico to make his way to the west coast, sail, vents to the west coast of South America, cross the Andes to the east coast of South America, and then return home. Armed with credentials from Washington, which accredited him to the forces of General Pancho Villa and empowered him to pass through constitutional territory, Bierce crossed the border at Juarez about the end of November or the beginning of December. It was his intention to spend some time with Villa's cavalry as an observer. The last letter received from him reached the United States around the December holidays. It had been written at Chihuahua and was delayed in transmission. Since that time, there has been no word of Bierce. He vanished, as completely as though the earth had swallowed him up. In that last letter from Chihuahua, Bierce stated that he was in the saddle and on the move. If you don't hear from me for some time, don't be alarmed. It's the substance of one sentence this letter contained. So there was no alarm felt for some little time. But when a month, two months, three months passed, and there came no word from him, his friends became very greatly alarmed. They knew it was not like him to remain silent so long. And I want to just chime in there. Look at these. There's various collections of his letters. He was writing every day, multiple letters a day, it seemed like. So that's when folks are like, wait, it's gone quiet here. But there are a half dozen people in this country who were always receiving a letter or a postcard from him. In his correspondence with these, he was very punctilious. Bierce's wife and two sons are dead, but he has a married daughter living in Illinois. His strange silence worried her terribly. It also worried Jack, Dunagan, of this city. At their instance, a thorough going search was started. The War Department asked General Villa to locate him. Villa and his agents have so far been unsuccessful in tracing him from Chihuahua. All that has been learned from this source is that there is no record of his having joined the Mexican forces as a combatant or of his taking active part in any of the fighting. The State Department sent a query about him to all the American consuls and consular agents in Mexico and along the west coast of South America. It also wired directions for a thorough search to its representatives in the city of Mexico. From these sources, no information of any sort has been received thus far. Members of the Army and Navy Club of Washington, that's where he hung out all the time and a lot of his letters were sent from, officers of the army along the border, press associations with correspondents and agents in Mexico, publishers and authors with friends there have given what assistance they could, but all without a veil. The search has been conducted for quite a while now and it will not be given up. If Bierce is not located soon, his friends will send somebody through Mexico to make a systematic hunt for him. They are determined to spare no expense and they will not cease until their quest bears fruit. Those who know Bier best say that he would never stay in Mexico once he received news of the Great War in Europe. It was to see fighting that he went to Mexico, but his friends declare that he would never waste his time on the Mexican Revolution while the most tremendous conflict of history waged in another theater of war. Bierce always delighted in the scientific study of war. Tactics was the hobby he had cultivated assiduously ever since his own fighting days. They feel sure that if he were alive, he would hasten home to study the war with his cronies of the War Department in Washington. He has not done so and that is one reason why they fear that he is no longer alive. Did he join the forces of Villa and die in battle? Did he meet death at the hands of Mexican bandits? They are asking the latter question because it was Bierce's habit to carry a very large sum of money on his person whenever he traveled. Or did the privations and hardships of the Mexican trip prove too much for him? For several years, Bierce has suffered greatly from asthma. His friends fear that he may have caught cold or that he may have taken sick in some other way and his asthmatic constitution may have failed to rally. Or again, a happier thought, he may be incommunicado somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Mexico. So that's a pretty great article. It's very, it's very colorful. Indeed, I think illuminating some perspectives and theories. Yeah. Before we get into those. That's why I wanted to get to that there because we wanted to, we want people to understand. It's like, oh, this is how the word came out. Because, you know, in this day and age with as connected as we are, when somebody goes missing or disappears, whether it's a famous author or journalist like Ambrose Bierce or somebody just from your local neighborhood, you know about it almost immediately. It goes out, you know, there's Amber Alerts, there's whatever, there's all kinds of things. There's Silver Alert, this person's gone, they're missing, whatever. And in this case, it's like, well, he kind of drifted off and then people were like, I haven't heard from Ambrose in a minute. So it's very kind of unceremonious end to him, presuming there was an end. Yeah. But that also seems like something that he might have wanted. Yeah. Well, again, he lived his life with a little bit of mystery. And also, I guess you could say, not poking the eyes of folks, but just confounding them a little. I think he liked to confound people. And so he's like cutting the tags off your clothes. Yes. And ending up on a beach in Australia. In this case, it's not wanting to be found, but again, we don't know, but it seems like he was dropping hints in his letter to his friends and family about what he might be facing. And think about this. Well, keep this in mind as well. He was a celebrity of his day to a certain degree and well-known. And so same thing that happens today. You know, somebody who is not in any kind of great social circles goes missing. It's really their only friends and family. And then sadly, it's if it's somebody who's living on the streets, you don't hear about them for a long time or their death or murder or disappearance goes unreported because nobody knows they're missing. And if they were a celebrity once, like Yvette Vickers, they could go on living in an apartment or go on dying. Man, that is a callback. To the first. I'm just saying it's like, yeah, she was known. Was that the very first episode of Astonishing Legend? Well, it wasn't the very first recorded one. Yeah. That's also part of our lore. Well, the first recorded one was our interview with Paula Pell. That's right. The very, very first thing we said. But the first one that ran was Hollywood ending about Yvette Vickers. That's right. Yeah. So it just goes to show you, you can be known to some. And if your friends and family drop off, people don't come checking for you. In this case, people, again, this reached government levels of like, what happened to this guy? People report in. So that was happening, but nobody had word. Well, in September of 1913, getting back to letters, he wrote to his friend, Josephine Clifford McCracken. And she's a really interesting woman. She had a pretty interesting career, worked as a journalist and editor, having lived from 1861 to 1923. And she wrote for papers like Out West and Western Field. The second one I remember pretty well, Western Field. This is while traveling the American Southwest by covered wagon with her husband. Also not, not touring your Airbnbs of the South. No. I know people that are into overlanding, by the way. Yeah. This is real overlanding. Yeah. This is real overlanding. This is the origin of overlanding. Yeah. Like I said, you could be killed by a war party, die of disease, break a leg and get gangrenous. It just all, yeah. Eight million ways to die in the old West, as they say. Yes. Eventually, she also reached San Francisco and settled there. And like Bierce's other friends became a major part of that literary scene there because the cream rises to the top there with the, in those circles. And she knew everyone. Bierce, of course, but also Bret Hart. You know that name? Isn't there a wrestler? I think. I don't know if there's a wrestler. Yeah. I'm sorry. We're talking about the poet and short story writer. Let's see. She also helped launch the Overland Monthly. Again, talking about overlanding. Well, she and him launched that together. Right. They did. So yeah, together. That's also a magazine that Bierce and his friend, Mark Twain, wrote for. She also got to know Ina Kulbreath, the poet, and even John Muir, the father of the National Parks Systems. Yes. So everybody knew, everybody's heard of John Muir, the Muir Trail. Well, Bierce's letters to Josephine, again, you know, it might give us some clues into his disposition leading up to his purported trip to Mexico. And the first one here was sent on September 10th, 1913. This is from the letters of Ambrose Bierce, edited by Bertha Clark Pope and was published in 1922 by the California Book Club. Dear Joe, the reason that I did not answer your letter sooner is I have been away in New York and did not have it with me. I suppose I shall not see your book for a long time, for I am going away and have no notion when I shall return. I expect to go to, perhaps across South America, possibly via Mexico, if I can get through without being stood up against a wall and shot as a gringo. But that is better than dying in bed, is it not? If Duck did not need you so badly, I'd ask you to get your hat and come along. God bless and keep you. So then he sent another one, again, to Josephine McCracken just three days later. And this is coming from that same book that Forrest just mentioned. This is from Washington, D.C., September 13th, 1913. Thank you for the book. I thank you for your friendship and much besides. This is to say goodbye at the end of a pleasant correspondence in which your women's prerogative of having the last word is denied to you. Before I could receive it, I shall be gone. But sometime, somewhere, I hope to hear from you again. Yes, I shall go into Mexico with a pretty definite purpose, which, however, is not at present disclosable. You must try to forgive my obstinacy and not perishing where I am. I want to be where something worthwhile is going on, or where nothing whatever is going on. Most of what is going on in your own country is exceedingly distasteful to me. Pray for me? Why, yes, dear. That will not harm either of us. I loathe religions. A Christian gives me qualms and a Catholic sets my teeth on edge. But pray for me just the same, for with all those faults upon your head, it's a nice head too, I'm pretty fond of you, I guess. May you live as long as you want to, and then pass smilingly into the darkness, the good, good darkness. Devotedly, your friend, Ambrose Beers. Those are the finality to all these letters that's happening. It seems like he has a plan, to me, to not return, wherever he's going, whatever he's saying about what he's doing. Forrest, I think you should read this one to his niece, Laura Beers, that was written in October of 1913, because this has a quote that you, I think, are fond of. Right, and she's the wife of his nephew, Carlton. Right, who he calls Carl, C-A-R-L-T, he calls him Carlton. Yeah, so this is from October 1st, 1913, and again, echoes the same themes here. Again, he's writing from the Olympia on Euclid Street in Washington, D.C. Dear Laura, I go away tomorrow for a long time, so this is only to say goodbye. I think there is nothing else worth saying. Therefore, you will naturally expect a long letter. What an intolerable world this would be if we said nothing but what is worth saying, and did nothing foolish like going into Mexico and South America. I am hoping that you will go to the mine soon. You must hunger and thirst for the mountains. Carlton, likewise. So do I. Civilization be dinged. It is the mountains and the desert for me. Goodbye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a gringo in Mexico. Ah, that is euthanasia. With love to Carlton, affectionately yours, Ambrose. Right, so this is a few months before his final letter, but right here in it, he's setting the stage for what seems like a desire to die a soldier's death in the Mexican Revolution. And we know that people know what euthanasia means, but let's take a look at the definition for clarity here. From the Oxford Dictionary, it is described as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Or from Merriam-Webster, the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. So reasons of mercy. Now, to me, I think these messages, because he thought about every word he put down everywhere. He was very careful. His messages were very precise. And I think, you know, reading between the lines here, that's how he sees death. He sees at this point in his life, he sees death and even a adventurous death as a mercy of some kind. Again, from a, let's say, withering away, a wasting away kind of end to life, you know, which is old age. It's cruel to often to people who were so big in life and that's how you go out. And sometimes I think it can cause a depression. I think maybe that's how you saw, I don't know, speculating here, Hunter S. Thompson, another great writer, journalist, novelist, and a big character and personality. And, you know, I haven't read much about the ending of his life, but sadly, he took his own. And, you know, I think depression can set in. It's like, well, is this it? Well, I don't want to keep on lingering like this. So that symbolism is not lost on us. All right. Well, so before we wrap up part one here, let's look at the big picture of some of the core people in his life. Blanche Partington, who we have talked about extensively, she was a journalist and a close friend of Beer. She was one of his most favored correspondents, meaning someone that he loved to send letters to and get letters from. The nature of their relationship is a little debated, but many scholars believe they were lovers, including one in particular we're going to talk about in part two, Leon Day. She was the last person to receive a letter from Bierce before he disappeared to Mexico in 1914. Her sister was actually an opera singer. He went by the stage name of Frances Peralta, but her real name, their sister, was Phyllis Partington. Yes, all the family, the Partingtons were gifted in arts and music. And so also Blanche took up music very well herself. Again, another big name here, William Randolph Hearst. If you grew up in the 70s, you certainly heard of his daughter, Patty Hearst, and the Anthony that followed her. Newspaper magnate, William Randolph, and Bierce's employer for a long time. He's the one who sent Bierce to Washington, D.C. to oppose that railroad financing, the refinancing bill we spoke of. So Bierce also worked for other Hearst newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner, for much of his career. Yes, and then there's Walter Neal. That was Neal Publishing. He was a publisher and close personal friend of Bierce. He published the collected works of Ambrose Bierce. He also wrote Life of Ambrose Bierce, a biography of the author. And Neal believed, just to tease something out here for part two, that Bierce committed suicide, possibly in the Grand Canyon. There's a curveball. Okay. Well, and then there's, we mentioned her before, Carrie Christensen, Bierce's secretary and friend. And she's the one who kept that notebook that referenced a letter from Bierce that no one has been able to locate. So that's a little controversy there where the only note we have of it comes from Carrie's notes. Christensen spent her last years in a state asylum in Napa, California. Interestingly, she was his adopted daughter, and that's in quotes, and the sole beneficiary of his will, as we said earlier. But she suffered from mental illness and then later spent her remaining years at a state asylum in Napa, where sadly she ultimately committed suicide in a particularly painful way. All right. So those are the major players. We're going to try to remember those for part two. We'll do a little refresher course when we get to it next week. But the real question here is what happened to Ambrose Bierce? Did he die in the chaos of the Mexican Revolution? Did he fake his death and disappear? Was he involved in something clandestine, something darker? There's several prominent theories here. And what are they? Well, one is he did exactly what he said he'd do. Went to Mexico looking for Pancho Villa and to see the Mexican Revolution up close and in person for himself. And he was killed during the travels that took him to that. There are subsets to this one that include him being killed by Mexican federal forces for being a spy, or that Villa himself may have killed him. Because as we said earlier, Villa had a strong personality, a lot of charisma, pretty decisive about whose company he tolerated. Right, right. And there's another that suggests that he had plans to commit suicide in a particularly mysterious way. And he made up the Mexican Revolution story as a cover for his plans to actually make his final resting place a secret spot in the Grand Canyon. Maybe Kincaid's cave. Yes, going to a cave. But it's just, again, a convergent, but kind of a jerky thing to do to a lot of people. But as we know, sometimes that happens. Well, okay, so we have that. And, you know, the suicide theory story, it's supported by his writings on the topic, as well as the fact that, you know, Joe Nickel, who we often talk about, or used to a lot, we haven't mentioned him in quite a while, but he is the skeptical writer, researcher, author. Well, he points out that author Mary Grenadere wrote in her 1971 book, Ambrose Bierce, that he had sent a letter to his daughter in early 1913 saying he was giving up his cemetery plot and that, quote, that matter is all arranged and you will not be bothered about the mortal part of, sign, Ambrose Bierce, your daddy, end quote. Well, he also may have just died from natural causes anywhere along the way to any of these adventures. Oftentimes, a great legend is really just a story that emerged after something ridiculously mundane happened to a person that resulted in death. And, you know, a lot of people think Edgar Allan Poe just drank too much, for example. Jeez, that's another can of worms there. You know, again, a lot of weird stuff with that one. Remember we talked about, I think this is often quoted, his, I think on one of the last beds that he slept in was the word scratched into it, croton. Okay. Yeah, that's right. That's right. It was him. Or again, it could have been Ambrose Bierce. I mean, there's just, yeah. So that's another mystery, even though he was found, of course, his body was. Yes. Another mysterious ending with a lot of speculation there and a great mystery. But we need to look at all of that. And we also need to look at the idea that Bierce disappeared on purpose. We just don't know at this point whether, again, it's by prosaic means or something more exotic. He might have still engineered it. He was a very cunning and smart guy and crafty. And I think he liked putting one over on people, as you said. He did. Well, as you said, he liked to, he liked to troll folks to an agree. Exactly. There is one more theory though. Yes, there is. And as I just alluded to, it's maybe my favorite because for reasons I'll get to in part two, but it involves ancient ruins, a British adventurer obsessed with crystal skulls and the potential for multidimensional travel. It's called the Becky May theory and folks, it's a wild ride. It's chock full of woo. And actually what reminded me to bring this up to Scott again, to, uh, to cover this again, it's, it's mentioned in a, uh, in a very entertaining series we'll talk about later, but this angle on it is what like got me to thinking like, Ooh, could this be a possibility? It personally has a lot of appeal to me. And yes, it's, uh, you know, deals with ancient scientific secrets, fringe science, uh, pseudoscience. Joe Nickel would be, uh, scoffing and rolling his eyes right now because maybe it involves even a portal to another dimension. So it's out there. We'll grant you that, but is it completely impossible? Because as we'll talk about a little later as well, Ambrose wrote about impossible things happening and, um, possibly something having to do with interdimensional disappearance. So we'll explore that one and all the other equally bizarre theories about Ambrose Bierce's disappearance in part two next week. That's going to wrap up part one of our series on the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce. We'll be back next week with part two. There's no dark week between them. Look for new episodes of the Dead Letter Office weekly on Tuesdays. Astonishing Legends is edited by Sarah Voorhees Wendell at VW Sound. Our co-producer is Tess Feifel, who also leads our research efforts and manages our social media. And we're grateful for the hard work of our technical producer, Ed Vecola, behind the scenes. Special thanks to our announcer, John Bolin, for lending his voice to our shows. Hi, Scott and Forrest. I understand this is with no implied promise of present or future compensation. Hi, I'm Scott Thrower and I give permission to Astonishing Legends. You can spell my name L-U-C-Y. Galaxy wide and perpetuity. Our theme, which is available as a ring tone, was composed by Judson Crane at FounderMusic.com. All other music and sound design for the show is composed and created by Alan Caressia. Our logo was created by Tommy Beaver Design and our animated graphics for social media and YouTube are done by Joshua Sloan at DeadStreetProductions.com. Many episodes have transcripts available. For ones that don't, you can request them by emailing transcripts at AstonishingLegends.com. Astonishing Legends would not be possible without you, our listeners. Visit our store at AstonishingLegends.com or interact with us and other listeners on Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, Discord, and YouTube. You can also visit us at Patreon.com slash AstonishingLegends, where patrons have access to commercial-free versions of both the main show and the Dead Letter office, as well as additional bonus content, including the Patreon exclusive show, The Astonishing Junk Drawer. No part of this show may be reproduced anywhere without permission. Copyright Astonishing Legends Productions. Good night. Raise your hand if you want your nails to look perfect all the time. Me too. I'm Sarah Gibson Tuttle from Olive and June, and this is exactly why we created the Manny System. We wanted to make it possible for everyone everywhere to give themselves a beautiful manicure at home. With our tools and our long-lasting polish, each manicure with our Manny System comes out to just $2. That's right, $2. No more $30, $40, $50 Manny's that you get at a salon and they take hours. Now you can paint your nails on your time and love them more than ever. And by the way, when people ask, who did your nails? 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Go to marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod 45 for 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's right, 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod 45. Hello, hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I recently spoke with IBM's new director of research, Jay Gambetta. We discussed his vision for the future of quantum computing. At IBM Research, what we always do is answer what is the future of computing, whether it's coming up with new algorithms, coming up with better AI, coming up with quantum, or coming up with just how do different accelerators go together. It's our DNA to answer the question of what is the future. Isn't it a perfect problem for IBM because you kind of need to have a legacy of building stuff? Yes. Building actual physical machines? Yeah, it's why I came to IBM. I wanted the experience, the culture of building hard things that others have not done before. Where do you imagine we are in the timeline of this technology? There will come a point when it will mature, right? Yeah. My cell phone is a mature technology at this point. How far are we from that point with quantum? By 2029, we'll build the first fault-tolerant quantum computer. That is one that can run a very, very large, large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit ibm.com slash quantum. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you ever printed out directions and hoped you didn't miss a turn, it may be time for you to screen for colon cancer. Luckily, things are a lot easier these days, even screening for colon cancer. When caught early, colon cancer is treatable in 9 out of 10 people. With more options than ever, it's key to start screening at 45 if you are at average risk. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and it ships right to your door, so you can use it in the privacy of your own home. 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Made with no artificial ingredients or fillers, just something that tastes good and works the way it's supposed to. So if you're in the mood for something truly craveable and nutritious, try any of Aloha's protein bars. Grab one at your local grocery store or head to aloha.com. Exploring the unknown is what makes astonishing legends so much fun. But when it comes to dinner, nobody wants surprises. Marley's Spoon helps you eat well without overthinking it. Each meal is chef designed, made with quality ingredients, and balanced so you feel good about what you're eating. With over 100 recipes to pick from every week, there's always something new to try, whether you're in the mood for a comforting classic or something a little more adventurous. Marley's Spoon adapts to your life, from breakfast to dinner, and even those in-between snack moments. The subscription is simple and flexible, so it fits your schedule no matter how busy things get. Go to marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod 45 for 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's right, 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod 45. Hello, hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Smart Talks with IBM. I recently sat down with IBM's chairman and CEO, Arvind Krishna, and I asked him, how can companies use AI to its fullest potential to create smarter business? My one advice to them, pick areas you can scale. Don't pick the shiny little toys on the side. For example? If anybody has more than 10% of what they had for customer service 10 years ago, they're already five years behind. If anybody is not using AI to make their developers who write software 30% more productive today, with the goal of being 70% more productive. So we are not asking our clients to be the first experiment on it. We say, you can leverage what we did. We're happy to bring out all our learnings, including what needs to change in the process, because the biggest change is not technology. It's getting people to accept that there's a different way to do things. To listen to the full conversation, visit ibm.com slash smart talks. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you ever printed out directions and hoped you didn't miss a turn, it may be time for you to screen for colon cancer. Luckily, things are a lot easier these days, even screening for colon cancer. When caught early, colon cancer is treatable in 9 out of 10 people. With more options than ever, it's key to start screening at 45 if you are at average risk. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and it ships right to your door, so you can use it in the privacy of your own home. With just three simple steps, setup, sample, and ship, completing your Cologuard test is easier than finding the right track on your mixtape. If you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your doctor about the Cologuard test, available by prescription only. Learn more or request a prescription at Cologuard.com slash podcast. Do not use the Cologuard products if you have had adenomas, which are a type of colon polyp that can sometimes become cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or other hereditary syndromes, a personal or first-degree family history of colorectal cancer, or a positive result from another colon cancer screening method within that test's recommended screening interval. Cologuard results should be interpreted with caution. A positive test result does not confirm the presence of cancer. Patients with a positive test result should be referred for a colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer. Patients with a negative test result should discuss with their doctor when they need to be tested again. False positives and false negative results can occur. 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