The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Synopsis:

This is a short story set in Sleepy Hollow, New York. It is about Ichabod Crane, a superstitious schoolteacher. He is interested in Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. His rival Abraham (Brom) Bones is also interested in Katrina.

One night, Ichabod attends a harvest party at the home of the Van Tassels and hears the story of the Headless Horseman, the ghost of a Hessian trooper decapitated by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. The Horseman is supposedly buried in a churchyard and rises from his grave every night to look for his missing head but is stopped from crossing a wooden bridge. After Ichabod is rejected by Katrina, he rides back home on a horse named Gunpowder and runs into a rider wearing a cloak whom he believes to be the Headless Horseman. At the bridge, the Horseman rears his horse and throws his head at Ichabod Crane, knocking him off his horse. The next morning, Ichabod has disappeared from the area, and Brom Bones marries Katrina Van Tassel.

Review:

I enjoyed this story and it was very spooky.

“There is something in the very air of Sleepy Hollow that seems to bring forth enchantment.”

“Over a deep, dark, part of the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it, and the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime; but occasioned a fearful darkness of night. Such was one of the haunts of the Headless Horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered.”