![]() ![]() Crane also never marries her like he wishes to in the short story, although he has in the series. Katrina in the series is a witch, a trait that was added into Burton's film as well, although we know Irving didn't write her this way. The series also added the apocalyptic aspect of the character, as he is also the Horseman of Death. In the series, Katrina's former fiancé Abraham (Katrina's soon-to-be husband in the short story) is the Horseman. ![]() While the Fox series does use the Headless Horseman as the former Hessian solider who haunts and chases his victims during moonlit nights, the writers morphed this character with that of Brom Bones. The SeriesĪfter reading the short story, we know that the series is only loosely based on Irving's tale. Crane in the short story was actually based on a schoolmaster Irving became friends with when he was in Kinderhook. Irving met the solider, the name sticking with him because it sounded like a schoolteacher's name. The namesake Crane was born in New Jersey in 1787 and was a solider who later was stationed in New York. Historically, there even was a real Ichabod Crane. It is believed that the town of Sleepy Hollow was based on the town of Kinderhook, N.Y., but interestingly enough, the village of North Tarrytown renamed itself to Sleepy Hollow in 1996. Instead, it is believed that the tale of the Horseman originally came from Dutch settlers who would tell the story of the Wild Huntsman, the German ghost who would chase people down in the woods. But this was not just some old war ghost story passed down. However, according to Dutch wives, Crane was "spirited away by supernatural means." The True Story of Sleepy Hollowīut is there truth to this ghost story? Irving writes that the story was based off a folklore he heard about the ghost of a Hessian solider from the Revolutionary War who was beheaded in battle and who continued to haunt the town. We never know exactly what happen to him, leaving his fate up to the reader's imagination. They discover the saddle that belonged to Van Ripper's horse along with a smashed pumpkin, but Crane never appears. When he doesn't show up for class, the townsfolk begin to worry. Van Ripper's horse returns the next day, but there is no sign of Crane. "Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his heat at him," Irving writes. The townsfolk share ghost stories late in the evening about the Horseman who often lurks in the churchyard cemetery before calling it a night.Ĭrane then goes to pursue Katrina, who refuses his advances (she instead ends up with Crane's nemesis Brom "Bones" Van Brunt-who claims to have beaten the Horseman in terms of speed while riding), which leaves him heading back home brokenhearted on the old and evil-looking horse borrowed from farmer Hans Van Ripper.īut as Crane reaches the bridge, the Headless Horseman appears, causing him to attempt to race away as fear rushes over him. Looking to court the rich and beautiful Dutchess Katrina Van Tassel, Crane attends a party at the Van Tassel mansion that is attended by the entire town. one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield," Irving writes, quite a difference from the charmingly handsome Tom Mison. "He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. The story's protagonist is Ichabod Crane, the local school teacher, who enjoys singing and is a great dancer and a master of Cotton Mather's History of New England Witchcraft. As the legend goes, he is a Hessian solider sometimes referred to as the "Galloping Hessian of the Hollow," and is a ghost without a head that rides around on horseback only at night. The town called Sleepy Hollow was given its name by its original Dutch settlers for its dreary atmosphere and supernatural occurrences surrounding witches and other ghouls, and this story features one in particular-the Headless Horseman. ![]() The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place on the eastern shore of the Hudson River valley in New York, in a town Irving writes is about three miles from Tarrytown. Let's take a look at the "real" story of Sleepy Hollow, and how much the short story ties into the series. ![]()
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