Ambrose Bierce Luck or Intervention?

War Horse

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How is it possible to explain Ambrose Bierce’s survival from being shot in the temple and surviving? I’m watching the history channel and I’m not sure I’m buying their explanation. I’m curious, has anyone studied this man and what information can you provide?
 
I have read an edition of his book there are several, he was abstract and impressionistic, feverish and halluctiontory at times, but he was there and tried to make of it what he could in the !890's, no one knew what the larger picture was at that time or what part they may have played, i skip through parts of the book but some parts are amazing
 
I have read an edition of his book there are several, he was abstract and impressionistic, feverish and halluctiontory at times, but he was there and tried to make of it what he could in the !890's, no one knew what the larger picture was at that time or what part they may have played, i skip through parts of the book but some parts are amazing
His accolades speak for themselves. He was a very gifted author. The thought that his life was spared by extraterrestrials is a bit more than I can accept. However a bullet to the temple that travels around the skull and lodges in the opposite ear is difficult to explain. He should have been killed.
 
From what I've read of him the bullet hit his left temple then followed a path underneath the skin and was lodged behind the left ear. So it seems the bullet didn't penetrate the skull. But it does seem almost impossible that he survived. I chalk it up to one of those amazing events in life where you hear of someone surviving an incident that 99.9% of people would die from. I think luck was on his side that day.
 
From what I've read of him the bullet hit his left temple then followed a path underneath the skin and was lodged behind the left ear. So it seems the bullet didn't penetrate the skull. But it does seem almost impossible that he survived. I chalk it up to one of those amazing events in life where you hear of someone surviving an incident that 99.9% of people would die from. I think luck was on his side that day.
I’m inclined to agree. The program even went on to say Lincoln’s death premonitions were the result of aliens interaction. The aliens were conducting a human experiment that resulted in the Civil War. As the experiment worn on the aliens were forced to intervene to ensure the Union prevailed. They called it the human experiment.
 
I suspect, as in many war stories, that he fudged a little on how far the ball traveled under his skin. It could well have been a partially spent bullet that hit his head at an angle from the front so his skull wasn't hit perpendicularly. I've seen other accounts of shots that traveled under the skin before coming to rest, so it could well have happened. As far as the aliens....?
 
I suspect, as in many war stories, that he fudged a little on how far the ball traveled under his skin. It could well have been a partially spent bullet that hit his head at an angle from the front so his skull wasn't hit perpendicularly. I've seen other accounts of shots that traveled under the skin before coming to rest, so it could well have happened. As far as the aliens....?
Lol.
 
I suspect, as in many war stories, that he fudged a little on how far the ball traveled under his skin. It could well have been a partially spent bullet that hit his head at an angle from the front so his skull wasn't hit perpendicularly. I've seen other accounts of shots that traveled under the skin before coming to rest, so it could well have happened. As far as the aliens....?
The History Channel can be very entertaining at times. A partially spent bullet makes sense to me. He was a very lucky man.
 
The History Channel can be very entertaining at times. A partially spent bullet makes sense to me. He was a very lucky man.

I used to hold the History and Discovery channels in high regard, recently I did a little research (very little) and found that the fine print indicates they take vast liberties with the truth as it is known at that time. So now, not so much high regard, more as entertainment
 
Stranger things have happened than the survival of Bierce:

In 1848, a 25-year-old railroad worker named Phineas Gage was blowing up rocks to clear the way for a new rail line in Cavendish, Vt. An 18 pound bar was blown through his head while blowing away rock for the railroad. The iron bar was about 6' long. It entered his head under the cheek, went behind his eye and exited the top of his head. Surgeons removed the bar and he survived. He, like accounts of Ambrose, was vastly changed in temperament : whereas prior to the accident he had been a happy and friendly guy, after the event he was prone to fits of rage and utterances of profanity at the drop of a hat, and worse.

The event is widely acknowledged and I believe Gage's skull, holes and all, have been donated to a medical institution.
 
Apparently, he suffered from personality changed and rapid mood changes after his wounding. We've become sensitized to these side-effects of massive head trauma in this generation.
He also had terrible migraines and spells of dizziness, nausea, and fainting because of his head wound. He was notoriously testy after the war--I'm not sure he had his famously misanthropic personality before it--and I am sure it was a combination of personality change and also just being in a lot of pain. He also had severe asthma, so between that and the head injury, he could be pretty miserable.
 
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