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Staley Fleming's Hallucination

Of two men who were talking one was a physician.

'I sent for you, Doctor,' said the other, 'but I don't think you can do me any good. Maybe you can recommend a specialist in psychopathy. I fancy I'm a bit loony.'

'You look all right,' the physician said.

'You shall judge -- I have hallucinations. I wake every night and see in my room, intently watching me, a big black Newfoundland dog with a white forefoot.'

'You say you wake; are you sure about that? "Hallucinations" are sometimes only dreams.'

'Oh, I wake all right. Sometimes I lie still a long time, looking at the dog as earnestly as the dog looks at me -- I always leave the light going. When I can't endure it any longer I sit up in bed -- and nothing is there!

M, 'm -- what is the beast's expression?'

'It seems to me sinister. Of course I know that, except in art, an animal's face in repose has always the same expression. But this is not a real animal. Newfoundland dogs are pretty mild looking, you know; what's the matter with this one?"

'Really, my diagnosis would have no value: I am not going to treat the dog.'

The physician laughed at his own pleasantry, but narrowly watched his patient from the corner of his eye. Presently he said: 'Fleming, your description of the beast fits the dog of the late Atwell Barton.'

Fleming half rose from his chair, sat again and made a visible attempt at indifference. 'I remember Barton,' he said; 'I believe he was -- it was reported that -- wasn't there something suspicious in his death?'

Looking squarely now into the eyes of his patient, the physician said: 'Three years ago the body of your old enemy, Atwell Barton, was found in the woods near his house and yours. He had been stabbed to death. There have been no arrests; there was no clue. Some of us had "theories." I had one. Have you?"

'I? Why, bless your soul, what could I know about it? You remember that I left for Europe almost immediately afterward -- a considerable time afterward. In the few weeks since my return you could not expect me to construct a "theory." In fact, I have not given the matter a thought. What about his dog?"

'It was first to find the body. It died of starvation on his grave.'

←2→

We do not know the inexorable law underlying coincidences. Staley Fleming did not, or he would perhaps not have sprung to his feet as the night wind brought in through the open window the long wailing howl of a distant dog. He strode several times across the room in the steadfast gaze of the physician; then, abruptly confronting him, almost shouted: 'What has all this to do with my trouble, Dr. Halderman? You forget why you were sent for.' Rising, the physician laid his hand upon his patient's arm and said, gently: 'Pardon me. I cannot diagnose your disorder offhand -- to-morrow, perhaps. Please go to bed, leaving your door unlocked; I will pass the night here with your books. Can you call me without rising?"

'Yes, there is an electric bell.'

'Good. If anything disturbs you push the button without sitting up. Good night.'

Comfortably installed in an arm-chair the man of medicine stared into the glowing coals and thought deeply and long, but apparently to little purpose, for he frequently rose and opening a door leading to the staircase, listened intently; then resumed his seat. Presently, however, he fell asleep, and when he woke it was past midnight. He stirred the failing fire, lifted a book from the table at his side and looked at the title. It was Denneker's Meditations. He opened it at random and began to read:

'Forasmuch as it is ordained of God that all flesh hath spirit and thereby taketh on spiritual powers, so, also, the spirit hath powers of the flesh, even when it is gone out of the flesh and liveth as a thing apart, as many a violence performed by wraith and lemure sheweth. And there be who say that man is not single in this, but the beasts have the like evil inducement, and -- '

The reading was interrupted by a shaking of the house, as by the fall of a heavy object. The reader flung down the book, rushed from the room and mounted the stairs to Fleming's bed-chamber. He tried the door, but contrary to his instructions it was locked. He set his shoulder against it with such force that it gave way. On the floor near the disordered bed, in his night-clothes, lay Fleming, gasping away his life.

The physician raised the dying man's head from the floor and observed a wound in the throat. 'I should have thought of this,' he said, believing it suicide.

←3

When the man was dead an examination disclosed the unmistakable marks of an animal's fangs deeply sunken into the jugular vein.

But there was no animal.

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Thu, 07/17/2003 - 06:46

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Im a brazilian student. Im at the seventh grade of my school. I think this storie was very good for me to know new words. But the true fact is that i really didnt understand the storie.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/20/2004 - 22:43

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Even though that 2was a old ghost story, it mightve worked if it was a little longer. But, at 3 pages, it was awful. The character of the murderer was so obvious that the whole story could easily be predicted. Im not saying this to act like Im so cleaver for "figuring this out" it was just so obvious. There was nothing scary about the story, I think, for the same reason watching the end of a scary movie isnt scary: Theres no surprise or buildup. I think this story couldve worked, I really do.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/29/2004 - 11:50

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I think that this story is very strange because we dont know more things at the end than at the beginning. The writer lets the reader makes assumptions. I like this novella because I can imagine my own end. But, its too short and there are not enough descriptions.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/29/2004 - 11:55

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I have liked this story because we are in a srange atmosphere. The dog who appears all the time in Staleys room is the Atwells dog, what is strange is that Atwell is dead and he was Staleys enemy. So,now, we understand that the dog, who died of starvation on the grave of his master,has come back to avenge him.So, we know at the beginning that there will be a murder and I love murder stories.When I have read first the story, at the beginning,I have had doubts about the physician.But this is a real good story.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 07/01/2004 - 14:39

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Hazy on the details. Why are Atwell and Staley enemies? Why would the dog wait so long to kill Staley? A bit dry but otherwise catchy, try and spice up the part before the physician breaks down the door, add some suspense.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 12/02/2004 - 13:44

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The moment i started reading, I knew how it would end. It was a waste of a classic tale, the length of the story could have something to do with it. Maybe more suspense, a build up of atmoshere wouldnt have gone to waste.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/07/2005 - 14:11

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To the person who thinks Ambrose Bierce is pedestrian, judging from your writing, the only pedestrian here is you. Its irrelevant why the two men were enemies. The point of the story was to describe the aspect of revenge, and part of that revenge was scaring the man out of his wits. It saddens me to see so many ignorant people these days. Stick to reading Dr. Seuss.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 05/06/2005 - 04:28

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Ive read this before in an old childrens horror book. Its not totally the same, but it all basically is..and the ending in that story had the man dead, with dog hairs on him :- Really did not enjoy it. gimme my 4 minutes back

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/01/2005 - 19:27

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the reader doesnt even need to guess, he already knows how its gonna end Kind of the point really, there is no twist because there doesnt need to be, the man murdered Atwell and the dog avenged his master, end of, moral, bad people get there commupence. Seriously people do need to look at thereselves as lovers of writing if they always need a surprise ending, the surprise was that there was no twist, you as the reader much like Fleming knew he was going to be killed. Not Bierces best work but still better written than many other stories.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 07/03/2007 - 09:01

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Would like to know what happened next and what happened to the man. A lot of action liked the story a lot. Quite good should have been more to it, felt it was just getting started when it ended. Ended on a cliff hanger, enjoyed the tension built up. Enjoyed the scary flash backs. Realistic enough to give you nightmares.
From Class 5 Crofton

Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:47

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I think it was a great story, i used to have a newfoundland dog, he was so big!! but i loved him to death and never once did he ever growl, but the story was great, i loved it. I would like to read more like it, it shouldve had more to it though.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 12:12

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There was alot of potential in this story, however the delivery was uninspired and rather rushed. The ending was obvious and the descriptions rather bland. Alot more could have being done with this classic tale.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/29/2010 - 11:53

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This is another example of flash fiction, though at the ending there’s no so much of a twist. I liked the air of mystery in this story, how we’re only given a few clues and aren’t sure if this guy really killed his enemy (which was murdered years before). However, towards the end, we see that the hallucinations were real and the ghost dog sought revenge.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 15:29

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This story was very interesting and i liked how the author put detail in what was happening, but not as much detail as to spoil the (yes predictable) but horrific ending. The mentions of the ghost dog was eerie especially at the end when we find out he was killed by a mysterious animal that wasnt anywhere to be found!

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 12:36

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I think this story is a bit over looked. Tis true that the story was not the most horrifying thing we have every read, or the most symbolic story partially due to the length. I do think that most people don’t see a very important sign. The ghost dog represents his guilty conscious for accidently killing his neighbor on a small hunting trip in the woods between their houses and not having the courage to tell anybody. His conscious was waking him up every night to the thing that most reminded him of his dead neighbor, his unmistakable dog. Ultimately killing him in the end.

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