Nothing out of the ordinary happened at first, but it was soon reported that 'unexplained lights' were seen floating around the empty set in the late evening and at night. In appreciation, the production company made a charitable donation to the priest's church. As a 'precautionary measure', a local priest was asked to perform a blessing on the filming location. Film production had already begun before anyone involved with the movie 'learned' of this legend. Rumors soon arose that the junk yard was haunted by his ghost. Several years prior to the film's production, a yard worker was crushed to death by a piece of heavy machinery which was being driven by another employee to move junk cars. We can guess, though, that the Headless Horseman and the town of Sleepy Hollow will continue to be a classic tale of horror told for many more years to come.The junk yard seen in the movie is real. Whatever happened to poor Ichabod may never be certain. After a few ill-fated attempts to court Katrina and pranking by Brom and his crew, Crane is ultimately pursued along the road by the Headless Horseman himself! Ichabod is never seen again and we are left to wonder if it was just a prank that caused him to flee in terror, was he murdered, or as the locals preferred to speculate, did Ichabod Crane meet a supernatural demise? Crane is tormented by his own shy nature and by a rival for Katrina’s hand – the big local hero, Brom Bones.

The main character of the tale is Ichabod Crane, a gangly, poor schoolteacher who becomes smitten with the lovely Katrina Van Tassel (and her grand inheritance).

In 1776, General William Heath reported the gory death of a Hessian cavalryman whose head was carried clean away by a cannonball! The Sketch-Book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent listed by Anniroc Books Irving traveled through Europe and picked up a few fantastical threads that he wove into his stories, but it was also inspired by more recent battlefield tales. While The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is considered one of the earliest popular American fictions and has become a classic read for October classrooms, the concept of the Headless Horseman is an ancient legend found repeated across Northern European countries. The quaint village with its Dutch customs and ghost stories seemed to enchant the young author, and he revisited them many times in person as well as in his tales years later. The journey was prompted by an outbreak of yellow fever in Manhattan, driving the young Irving upriver to visit a friend in Tarrytown and a nearby small town called Sleepy Hollow. Neither of those famous tales might exist if not for Irving’s visit to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Listed for sale by John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller. A beautiful edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

The headless horseman washington irving