Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the classic short story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to death by hanging from Owl Creek Bridge. Flashing between the present and the past—from Peyton's thoughts as he stands on the bridge to his memories as a major Confederate supporter in the South—he creates parallel realities in which truth and fantasy become indistinguishable.

A story of war, death, and the power of the mind, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is Ambrose Bierce's most anthologized work and an enduring piece of American literature.