The famous American writer Ambrose Bierce is one of the pioneers of the “scary story” genre - the thriller, which has gained wide popularity today. The plots of many of his stories were based on the indelible impressions of the American Civil War - a war in which A. Beers went from private to major. In the stormy stream of “terrible” literature that poured on our reader, the stories of the “king of California journalism” A. Beers stand out for their undeniable literary and artistic merits and deep psychologism.