マカーガー峡谷の秘密The Secret of Macarger's Gulch

Read a sample in Japanese

What you'll learn

The narrator describes the McCarger Canyon and its abandoned cabin. He hunts there, stays the night, has a strange dream of Edinburgh and a couple with a scarred man, then wakes to hear a woman's scream. Years later, he learns from Morgan that the canyon's real name is MacGregor, and the skeleton of Janet MacGregor was found, killed by her husband Thomas.

Key vocabulary

Grammar points you'll meet

• ～たところで N1Even if; no matter how much one does X, the result is unsatisfactory.
  考えてみたところで仕方はなかろう。
• ～とはいえ N1Although; even though; be that as it may.
  峡谷とはいうものの、じつはあまり高くもない。
• ～ずくめ N1Entirely; full of; nothing but.
  すべてが不合理にこんがらがったような気がするが、それは夢のなかに、意識の光がさしこんできたためだろう。
• ～てやまない N1To never cease (doing); to always (feel). Often used with emotions like hope or love.
  （No direct example in text; similar pattern found in '拒む').

Cultural notes

• California Gold Rush and Mining CampsThe story's setting in a remote canyon with an abandoned cabin reflects the aftermath of the California Gold Rush, where many prospectors built temporary structures that were later abandoned.
• Ambrose Bierce and the MacabreThis story is typical of Ambrose Bierce's style, blending psychological horror with supernatural ambiguity and a twist ending involving a dream that mirrors reality.

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Topics & grammar

Short Storymysterywildernesseeriesuspensefulaozora bunko〜たところでeven if (futile)