ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD

On This Day in Weird, January 1...

1914: Author and critic Ambrose Bierce last seen alive in Chihuahua, Mexico, sparking controversy over his continued life or death that continues to the present day. His grimly realistic short stories describing war, sometimes verging on the otherworldly, include "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," "A Horseman in the Sky," "One of the Missing," and "Chickamauga." According to Milton Subotsky, Bierce helped pioneer the psychological horror story. Another of his famous works is the is the much-quoted Devil's Dictionary, originally an occasional newspaper item, first published in book form in 1906 as The Cynic's Word Book. In life, Bierce was also known for the motto, "Nothing matters."