One of my favorite autumn rituals is reading Washington Irving’s spooky tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow every year. Irving’s long, descriptive sentences paint a beautiful picture of the quaint New England countryside, complete with an autumn feast full of friends and family. The contrast of a headless phantom terrorizing a party-goer on his way home from such a cozy afternoon makes the tale all the more creepy and entertaining. The fun of the story lies in its ending, open to interpretation and thereby endlessly thrilling to revisit.
Washington Irving bio
Today Irving’s name is synonymous with American literature, the short story, and his time serving as a statesman during the Andrew Jackson and John Tyler presidencies. He was born in 1793 in New York, to a large Presbyterian family. The youngest of eleven, young Washington loved color and first pursued becoming an artist, though he eventually found work as a lawyer. His love and appreciation for color and the visual medium are evident in his lively descriptions, like the following:
“The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of the beech and hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble field.”
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is considered the first American ghost story and was first published in an 1820 collection of short stories, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Irving is called the first American man of Letters, and was the first American to make his living from writing. He certainly has a rich legacy of writers who have followed in his example.
Irving is often thought to have lived earlier than he actually did because he frequently sets his stories in colonial New England. He was often inspired by the stories of the Revolution and life in the early days of America.
It is unclear exactly who and what directly influenced Irving for this particular story, as folk tales of headless horsemen have been circulating in Europe since the Middle Ages, including the Irish “Dullahan” tale and stories by the Brothers Grimm. Furthermore, the New York Historical Society claims Irving was inspired by the very real story of an actual Hessian soldier’s head being taken off by a cannonball, as our narrator describes in the Legend. The unclear origins only add to the mystery and fun of the story itself, adding to its enduring appeal as a favorite harvest time tale.
Summary of story
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story, set in the drowsy New York town of Sleepy Hollow in 1790. We follow the town’s lanky schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, a dabbler in the dark arts, as he attends a party at the beautiful home of the wealthy Van Tassel family, hoping to woo the daughter of his host. Ichabod spends the day filling his belly with rich food, and his mind with local ghost stories. At the end of the night, when his rival, the brawny “Brom Bones”, proves victorious in winning Katrina’s affections, Crane storms out, angrily urging his horse to continue through dark, foggy, and historical swamp land. As he passes through the Hollow, he encounters a strange and heart-stopping vision! The Horseman of the Hollow makes an appearance and Crane, last seen racing for his life, is never heard from again.
Did he leave town after being rejected by the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel? Was the Horseman a ghost or actual person? Did this being harm him?
Who is to say?
Like all great literature, the story works on its own, but is elevated by literary devices and historical references, which add to the mystery.
The story incorporates a few symbolic elements:
- Fog
Representative of the superstition that hangs over the town of Sleepy Hollow; the town’s folk regularly hear and tell each other ghost stories, and no one really knows what to believe. The story is left open-ended to pass this uneasiness on to the reader, with even the identity of its author is shrouded in mystery. - Unpredictable main character
Ichabod Crane is interested in the occult and supernatural stories, but then spooks himself by recalling them at rather unfortunate times, namely, while trekking through the woods. He is also the only teacher in the area, and when he leaves, Sleepy Hollow just shuts down the school. - War stories
Set just a few years after the Revolutionary War, the tree where Major Andre was captured is the setting of the encounter with the horseman. The location is marked by suspense, and deception, and helps create a foreboding atmosphere. The narrator also includes the story of the Hessian soldier, adding more realism to the story. - Harvest time setting
Autumn brings to mind the concept of reaping what you’ve sown. Crane has the habit of reading ghost and supernatural stories, then being spooked on his way home through the woods and along streams. He is also only at the party to eat and try to woo a rich young heiress. The harvest time setting could be an indication that he has “earned” this encounter with disaster.
Legacy
Like so many other great, enduring stories, Legend has multiple shades of meaning. Crane is a young, enterprising young man, teaching at the only school in the area, helping with farm chores, teaching church children to sing, rocking babies to sleep for their worn out mothers, and staying on with the families of his charges to save money. He pursues Katrina because she is wealthy, the daughter of Dutch immigrants. Crane here represents the new American capitalism, and the then-new concept of a free market, while Katrina represents the old system of inherited wealth. The lanky and art-loving Crane contrasts sharply with his rival Brom, who adheres to the more traditional broad-shouldered, masculine figure, complete with roughhousing and drinking. In our story of course, Crane loses out on both counts, and ultimately is lost. Could this represent the fears and uncertainty that surely abounded as the nation was just becoming herself?
The story appeals to both the sensible and supernatural tendencies in us. It is also quite a believable story, depending on how it plays out in your head. For example, if you decide that Crane was embarrassed at being shown up by Brom, and simply left town rather than facing his unrequited love, then the Horseman was simply Brom dressed up to scare him. Brom also has a reputation for causing mischief and running around after midnight, which makes sense. However, if you follow the less conventional path, we are left with a spirit in search of his head riding around the roads near an old church and cemetery, ultimately killing Crane.
Ultimately, the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a short, enjoyable and exciting read to come back to every autumn. The reason is first and foremost because the creepy, unanswered ending makes the legend fun to revisit.
Conclusion
I think it serves as the quintessential harvest-time ghost story. Ichabod Crane is gangly schoolteacher, who gives off a neurotic air. Of course he would be the one harassed and haunted by the horseman. The story works no matter how many times you re-read it; it’s always creepy and the description of the encounter with the Hessian is surprising year after year. The horseman is always someone you don’t want to run into on your way home!
I personally don’t enjoy most ghost stories. However, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is so well written, so descriptive, and so open-ended, it draws you in and invites you to draw your own conclusion. Perhaps this is why it has proven so popular; readers the world over can can decide for themselves what really happened to the lanky schoolmaster from Connecticut.
Read online here.
Link to PDF here.
