
A solitary voice begins his confession, promising to lay out the strange and unsettling experiences that have haunted him since his sudden departure. He speaks of a restless mind plagued by sleep‑walking, an affliction that drags him into the wild frontier where danger lurks in every shadow. The narrative quickly immerses listeners in the stark, untamed wilderness of early America, where encounters with hostile Native tribes and the unforgiving landscape test both body and conscience.
Through vivid, almost feverish description, the narrator reveals a tangled web of fear, curiosity, and moral conflict. As he pieces together fragmented memories, the story captures the raw terror of night‑time wanderings and the eerie, almost gothic atmosphere of a world far removed from civilized comforts. Listeners will feel the pulse of a man torn between rationality and the primal forces that drive him, all set against the expansive, mysterious American frontier.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (540K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Release date
2005-06-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1771–1810
A pioneer of early American fiction, this Philadelphia writer helped shape the nation's first Gothic novels with tales full of mystery, psychological tension, and moral uncertainty. His best-known works, including "Wieland" and "Edgar Huntly," still stand out for their restless energy and dark imagination.
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