An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
| "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Ambrose Bierce | |
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Tales of Soldiers and Civilians |
| Publication date | 1890 |
- For the Twilight Zone episode of the same name, see An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (The Twilight Zone).
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (sometimes called An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge) is a famous short story by Ambrose Bierce. It was originally published in 1890, and first anthologized in Bierce's 1891 collection, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The story is famous for its irregular time sequence and twist ending.
Plot introduction
Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to die by hanging upon the Owl Creek Bridge of the title. The main character finds himself already bound at the bridge's edge at the beginning of the story. We later learn that a disguised Union scout enlisted him to attempt to demolish the bridge, and subsequently he was caught in the act.
Plot summary
The story is divided into three parts. Part I describes the scene at Owl Creek Bridge just before the hanging. Part II introduces Peyton Farquhar, going back in time to before the hanging, and implies that he was tricked into being captured by a Federal scout disguised as a Confederate soldier who tempted him into attempting to sabotage Owl Creek Bridge. Part III links the first two parts, giving the story of Peyton Farquhar's "escape" from being hanged.
When he is hanged, the rope breaks. Peyton falls into the water, escapes his executioners through hails of gun and cannon fire, and makes his way down the river and through a forest, attempting to reach his home. During his journey through the night, he starts to experience strange physiological events and believes he has lost consciousness. He wakes up to see his home, with his wife outside it. He runs forward to reach her when he suddenly feels a searing pain in his neck.
It is revealed that Peyton never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between being pushed off the bridge and the noose finally breaking his neck.
Allusions/references from other works
Another literary work that can be thought of as an adumbration of the Owl Creek Bridge theme is the short story "The Secret Miracle" by Jorge Luis Borges. Another work, the 1990 psychological horror film "Jacob's Ladder" is also very similar in regard to the specific plot twist at the ends of both works.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
At least three film adaptations of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" have been produced.
- A silent movie made in 1929 titled The Spy.
- A French version called "La Rivière du Hibou", directed by Robert Enrico and produced by Marcel Ichac and Paul de Roubaix, was released in 1962. Filmed in black and white. It later went on to win the award for best short subject at the 1962 Cannes film festival and 1963 Academy Awards. In 1964 "La Rivière du Hibou" aired on American television as an episode of the anthology series The Twilight Zone. See An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (The Twilight Zone).
- In 2006, "Ambrose Bierce: Civil War Stories" was released which contains adaptations of three of Ambrose Bierce's short stories, among them "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" directed by Brian James Egan. The DVD also contains an extended version of the story with more background and detail than the one included in the trilogy.
- The 1962 film Carnival of Souls, the 1990 film Jacob's Ladder, and the 2005 film Stay were inspired by An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (the latter even took place on a bridge), along with countless others. Sir William Golding's novel Pincher Martin uses a similar artifice as Bierce's story, and Golding admits the similarity in an afterword to the novel. Richard Kelly, the director of Donnie Darko has said it was an inspiration for his film. Lucille Fletcher used a similar plot for her story "The Hitch-hiker", which was itself adapted as a memorable episode of television's The Twilight Zone.
- David Lynch's movie Lost Highway is thought to be based on this story as well.
- The radio series Escape adapted the story for broadcast in 1947, and CBS Radio Mystery Theater did so in the 1970s.
References in popular culture
In 2005, Kurt Vonnegut referred to "Occurrence" in his book A Man Without a Country as one of the greatest works of American literature, and called anyone who hadn't read it a "twerp".
In 2006, Bierce's story was referenced on an episode of the ABC television series Lost entitled "The Long Con".
At the end of My Occurrence, an episode of the TV series Scrubs, it becomes apparent that the lead character has imagined many of the events of the episode as he does not want to believe that a friend has cancer.