Led by a servant, Ibarra travels to the cemetery to visit the grave of his father. The servant cannot find the grave, so the men ask the current gravedigger where it is. The gravedigger tells them that he was ordered by a priest to dig up the body and move it to a Chinese cemetery. Rather than taking it there, the gravedigger dumped it in the river. Irate, Ibarra heads to Father Salví’s house. Salví tells him that it was Father Dámaso who gave the order to remove the corpse.

This chapter introduces Tasio, the old man who was looking for his wife’s skull in Chapter 12. Tasio is referred to as a philosopher by some, and a madman by most. He speaks to the deputy mayor Don Filipo and his wife Teodora Viña at their house. They discuss Ibarra’s visit to the cemetery, and it is revealed that Tasio was one of six people who contested the exhumation of Don Rafael. A storm rages outside, and Tasio discusses the history of purgatory as a concept—and the way it has been corrupted by the church. He departs into the storm and yells at God while lightning flashes.