Conduct research to find out more about the opening of the American frontier in the early 1800s, particularly such aspects as settlement patterns and economic trends. Do the comments of the narrator in "The Boarded Window" aptly reflect what you have learned?

Read some supernatural horror stories, such as those of Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft. How do true ghost stories compare to "The Boarded Window"?

Study gothic-type paintings such as Henry Fuseli's "The Nightmare" (1871). What elements of the supernatural do these works contain? What kind of mood is conveyed by them?

Analyze Murlock's reaction to his wife's apparent death from a psychological standpoint. Consult psychology reference books or textbooks as needed. Then write up a psychological profile of Murlock.

Read samples of Bierce's journalism from the 1890s. Then imagine that Bierce were writing a newspaper column about the events...