{"id":2436,"date":"2025-07-16T20:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfeed99.com\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2025-07-16T20:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:34:13","slug":"inside-the-eerie-true-stories-that-inspired-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfeed99.com\/?p=2436","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Eerie True Stories That Inspired \u2018The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"dek\">Washington Irving&#8217;s famous tale\u00a0<em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>\u00a0and its iconic headless horseman were inspired by a mix of real history and spooky folklore.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dropcaps\">Every year when the green leaves turn bright orange and pumpkins appear on our doorsteps, Washington Irving\u2019s classic ghost story,\u00a0<em>The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>, is retold.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh_inline\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1452277890523-0\" data-google-query-id=\"CNvO47Scwo4DFR8v-wMdozAbuQ\">\n<p>The beloved American legend follows the tale of Ichabod Crane, a superstitious schoolteacher who finds himself in the haunted town of Sleepy Hollow, where he suffers an ill-fated encounter with the village\u2019s infamous headless horseman before he mysteriously disappears from the community for good.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\"><p>\u201cA drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere\u2026 Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the mind of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie.\u201d<\/p>\n<footer><cite>Washington Irving,\u00a0<em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em><\/cite><\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>While the legend is a staple in American folklore, its inspiration is global. Indeed, Washington Irving\u2019s haunting work is born out of a mixture of foreign lore, local history, and a bit of the uncanny.<\/p>\n<h2>The Headless Horsemen That Inspired\u00a0<em>Sleepy Hollow<\/em><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_243859\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243859 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-chased-by-headless-horseman.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-chased-by-headless-horseman.jpg 900w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-chased-by-headless-horseman-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-chased-by-headless-horseman-768x561.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Ichabod Crane Chased By Headless Horseman\" width=\"900\" height=\"658\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243859\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243859\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The headless horseman\u2019s origins can be found across various European lore, but Irving\u2019s creature is likely inspired by a historical account of the American Revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The myth of the headless horseman, like much folklore, is shared across cultures. There are iterations of a decapitated apparition on horseback in both Scandinavia and Northern Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In Celtic tradition, for instance, there\u2019s the legend of the\u00a0<em>dullahan<\/em>, a headless demon who careens about on a black horse. In the Arthurian tale\u00a0<em>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight<\/em>, too, a knight of Camelot beheads a green giant after being challenged, only to witness the creature ride off with its bleeding head in tow.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243864\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243864 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-wild-huntsman.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-wild-huntsman.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-wild-huntsman-222x300.jpg 222w\" alt=\"The Wild Huntsman\" width=\"600\" height=\"812\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243864\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243864\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">British Library\/Flickr<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">An illustration of \u2018The Wild Huntsman\u2019 poem by Gottfried August B\u00fcrger.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Most famous perhaps of this folklore are the tales of\u00a0<em>The Wild Huntsman<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>Der wilde J\u00e4ger<\/em>\u00a0by German poet Gottfried August B\u00fcrger and the German fairytales of writer Johann Karl Mus\u00e4us, which depict ghostly riders as bad omens.<\/p>\n<p>Well-read and well-bred Irving certainly would have been exposed to such tales, especially when he went on a European tour and subsequently wrote the collection of short stories\u00a0<em>The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.<\/em>, which included\u00a0<em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243862\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243862 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irving.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irving.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irving-211x300.jpg 211w\" alt=\"Washington Irving\" width=\"600\" height=\"855\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243862\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243862\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\"><em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>\u00a0is widely considered to be Washington Irving\u2019s best work, and it catapulted him to international acclaim.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The American author, however, may have found his inspiration closer to home.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline pbh-big-inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1752697879311-1\" data-google-query-id=\"CIPapsWcwo4DFcYuBgAdfsI0dQ\">\n<h2>How\u00a0<em>The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>\u00a0Borrowed From The Tale Of The Hessian Soldier<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\"><p>\u201cGigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless! But his horror was still more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!\u201d<\/p>\n<footer><cite><em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em><\/cite><\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A popular myth following the American Revolution was the story of the headless Hessian soldier. Hessians were German troops called upon to aid in Britain\u2019s fight against the American colonists, and one particular Hessian was reportedly decapitated by a cannonball during the Battle of White Plains in 1776.<\/p>\n<p>As the story goes, the corpse of the beheaded Hessian was buried soon after his death at the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, near the small village of Tarrytown, New York. It was believed that the Hessian would arise at night in search of his head, and anyone who was ill-fated enough to come across his apparition was condemned to death.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243860\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243860 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/hessian-soldiers-on-horseback.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/hessian-soldiers-on-horseback.jpg 900w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/hessian-soldiers-on-horseback-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/hessian-soldiers-on-horseback-768x580.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Hessian Soldiers On Horseback\" width=\"900\" height=\"680\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243860\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243860\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Hessian soldiers were German troops who were called upon to aid British forces during the war.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While skeptics of the supernatural could argue against the existence of this headless horseman, historical records show, according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyhistory.org\/blogs\/halloween-history-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New-York Historical Society<\/a>, that there actually was a real decapitated Hessian soldier. In his 1798 memoir, Major General William Heath wrote: \u201cA shot from the American cannon at this place [White Plains] took off the head of a Hessian artilleryman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another soldier, Anthony Maxwell, is said to have witnessed the unfortunate death firsthand and talked about it for years after, according to the book\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=A4zcDgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT139&amp;lpg=PT139&amp;dq=General+William+Heath+headless+hessian&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=CIu4FAK0_A&amp;sig=ACfU3U1bc7_VRtBxp4kniOId_NFlxM9jpQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj0mI7F_5TlAhWGY98KHVgLCTEQ6AEwEXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=General%20William%20Heath%20headless%20hessian&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Once Upon a Time in the American Revolution<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_245424\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-245424 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/old-dutch-church.jpeg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/old-dutch-church.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/old-dutch-church-225x300.jpeg 225w\" alt=\"Old Dutch Church\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-245424\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-245424\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Alejandro Alves<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The Old Dutch Church where the headless Hessian fighter is said to have been buried.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The haunting tale of the headless Hessian soldier was well-known in the northeast. Coincidentally, about 10 miles from White Plains, New York, where the gruesome death is said to have happened, a teenage boy named Washington Irving was living with a friend in the small village of Tarrytown.<\/p>\n<h2>The Real People And Places Behind The Sleepy Hollow Legend<\/h2>\n<p>The true story of Sleepy Hollow can be traced to Washington Irving\u2019s early years. At age 15, Irving left his native home of New York City and made his way north to Tarrytown, where his friend James Kirke Paulding lived.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243920\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243920 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-new-york.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-new-york.jpg 760w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-new-york-300x241.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Sleepy Hollow New York\" width=\"760\" height=\"611\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243920\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">New York Public Library<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The town of Sleepy Hollow, which was back in Irving\u2019s time known as North Tarrytown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But this wasn\u2019t a regular house visit. Around that time in 1798, New York City was gripped by yellow fever that had made its way from Philadelphia, where the mosquito-borne disease had killed thousands.<\/p>\n<p>Washington Irving\u2019s family was among those wealthy enough to leave the city and find refuge elsewhere. They escaped to the fresh countryside of the Hudson Valley, where it\u2019s clear from Irving\u2019s writing that he adored the idyllic, pastoral setting and the eerie feelings inspired by its quaint colonial Dutch architecture.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243923\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243923 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-bridge.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-bridge.jpg 900w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-bridge-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-bridge-768x512.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Headless Horseman Bridge\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243923\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243923\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Daniel Mennerich\/Flickr<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The old Philipsburg Manor and bridge, said to be the inspiration behind the infamous chase scene in the tale of the headless horseman.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Irving was particularly mesmerized by the Catskill Mountains, which he described as having a \u201cwitching effect\u201d on his imagination, according to his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=AtWv5UJ0j5IC&amp;pg=PT16&amp;lpg=PT16&amp;dq=%E2%80%9CVillagers+spoke+in+hushed+whispers+of+the+strange+cries+heard+in+the+woods+where+the+captured+British+spy+John+Andre+had+been+hanged.%E2%80%9D&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=JGBSXwP4Fi&amp;sig=ACfU3U2bkmdjKOe8U-rkBRY59k_LSKxmhw&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjyuZuUz5LlAhUDhOAKHWcfCoUQ6AEwAHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=%E2%80%9CVillagers%20spoke%20in%20hushed%20whispers%20of%20the%20strange%20cries%20heard%20in%20the%20woods%20where%20the%20captured%20British%20spy%20John%20Andre%20had%20been%20hanged.%E2%80%9D&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biography<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1752697879311-5\" data-google-query-id=\"CNGX-dmcwo4DFSR7hAYdhhgo6w\">\n<p>That infatuation greatly influenced Irving\u2019s creation of\u00a0<em>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>\u00a0in a number of ways. Besides having his fictional Sleepy Hollow village modeled off the real town of North Tarrytown in which he lived, the writer also enjoyed naming and loosely basing his characters on real people.<\/p>\n<p>The protagonist in Irving\u2019s\u00a0<em>Sleepy Hollow<\/em>, Ichabod Crane, who \u201cone might have mistaken\u2026 for\u2026 some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield,\u201d is said to have been inspired by Jesse Merwin, a mutual friend the author shared with Martin van Buren, who later became America\u2019s eighth president. Merwin was a teacher from upstate New York who had kept Irving company during his stay in Kinderhook in 1809.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243925 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/jesse-merwin.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/jesse-merwin.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/jesse-merwin-223x300.jpg 223w\" alt=\"Jesse Merwin\" width=\"600\" height=\"806\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243925\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243925\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Jesse Merwin, a schoolteacher and friend of Irving\u2019s, is believed to be among the real people that inspired Ichabod Crane\u2019s character.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Others claimed, as reported by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/timesmachine.nytimes.com\/timesmachine\/1894\/10\/14\/106876314.html?pageNumber=17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>The New York Times<\/em><\/a>, that the bookish schoolteacher was inspired by Samuel Youngs, a lieutenant from Tarrytown who was friends with the Van Tassel family, who also inspired Irving and appear by name in the folktale. It\u2019s likely that Ichabod Crane\u2019s character was a composite of both of these men.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1752697879311-6\" data-google-query-id=\"CJuRwuycwo4DFdRHHQkdyBUPdw\">\n<p>Katrina Van Tassel, meanwhile, Ichabod Crane\u2019s unrequited love interest, was also presumably based on someone Irving knew personally. Described rather excessively by Irving as \u201cplump as a partridge\u201d and \u201cripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her father\u2019s peaches,\u201d Van Tassel is believed to be loosely inspired by Eleanor Van Tassel Brush and perhaps by other women he\u2019d known.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243933 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irvings-home.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irvings-home.jpg 800w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irvings-home-300x289.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/washington-irvings-home-768x739.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Washington Irvings Home\" width=\"800\" height=\"770\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243933\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243933\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Library of Congress<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Washington Irving\u2019s home in Sunnyside, New York.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIn Washington Irving\u2019s story, the Van Tassels have money, but it\u2019s a story, based on several real people and a name taken from a gravestone,\u201d Tara Van Tassell, a living descendant of the real-life Tarrytown family, told\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westchestermagazine.com\/Westchester-Magazine\/January-2015\/The-First-Families-Of-Westchester\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Westchester<\/em>\u00a0magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a plague that riddles the little town in Irving\u2019s book which is vaguely like the epidemic his family was forced to flee. All in all, fiction, history, and the mystical meld together in Washington Irving\u2019s famous ghostly tale.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline pbh-big-inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1752697879311-7\" data-google-query-id=\"COX_1_Ccwo4DFQlGHQkdXkoRdw\">\n<h2>Writing America\u2019s Most Popular Ghost Story<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_243918\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243918 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-and-ghostly-figure.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-and-ghostly-figure.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ichabod-crane-and-ghostly-figure-204x300.jpg 204w\" alt=\"Ichabod Crane And Ghostly Figure\" width=\"600\" height=\"883\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243918\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243918\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">British Library\/Flickr<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Ichabod Crane and a ghostly soldier figure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 1817, Washington Irving\u2019s family business went bankrupt following the British-American War of 1812. While Irving had a respectable reputation as a writer, there were no real job prospects left for him in America, so he left New York for Birmingham, England, where his sister Sarah and her husband Henry van Wart were already residing.<\/p>\n<p>It was here that Irving, plagued by writer\u2019s block since the unexpected success of his first book,\u00a0<em>A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty<\/em>, years before, was struck with renewed inspiration to write.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline pbh-big-inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1752697879311-8\" data-google-query-id=\"CMP88vOcwo4DFdxY9ggdsukO1Q\">\n<p>A conversation with his brother-in-law had awakened in him old memories of his time in the Hudson Valley and with it Irving\u2019s fascination with the community\u2019s Dutch past and local lore.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243934\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243934 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-tale.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-tale.jpg 800w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-tale-249x300.jpg 249w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/sleepy-hollow-tale-768x924.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Sleepy Hollow Tale\" width=\"800\" height=\"963\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243934\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243934\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\"><em>The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>\u00a0was published in the sixth installment of Irving\u2019s critically-acclaimed collection of shorts,\u00a0<em>The Sketch Book<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Washington Irving spent all night writing his manuscript. His sister and brother-in-law, barely awakened and dressed for breakfast, were the first to hear the opening chapters of his collection of short stories that would later become known as\u00a0<em>The Sketch Book<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The collection of essays was issued serially throughout 1819 and 1820 under Irving\u2019s preferred pseudonym, Geoffrey Crayon. Its later publication included the short story\u00a0<em>The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Sketch Book<\/em>\u00a0received rave reviews following its first publication, which included five essays.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_243937\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-243937 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-legend.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-legend.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/headless-horseman-legend-220x300.jpg 220w\" alt=\"Headless Horseman Legend\" width=\"600\" height=\"818\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-243937\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-243937\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The cover page to Mayne Reid\u2019s version of the headless horseman legend, published in 1865.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the first reviews for the book came from Irving\u2019s former publishing colleague, Henry Brevoort, with whom Irving had shared a very intimate and complicated relationship over the years. But Brevoort\u2019s anonymous review of the book, published in the local newspaper, respectfully outed Irving as the creative force behind the pen name Geoffrey Crayon:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe freely-flowing vein of hearty and happy humor, and the fine-eyed spirit of observation, sustained by an enlightened understanding and regulated by a perception of fitness \u2014 a tact \u2014 wonderfully quick and sure, for which Mr. Irving has been heretofore so much distinguished, are all exhibited anew in the\u00a0<em>Sketch Book<\/em>, with freshened beauty and added charms.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington Irving&#8217;s famous tale\u00a0The Legend of Sleepy Hollow\u00a0and its iconic headless horseman were inspired by a mix of real history and spooky folklore. 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