The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Its Origins

Washington Irving’s Halloween Ghost Story of the Headless Horseman

Oct 11, 2009 John K. Davis

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been a part of American folklore since its first publication in 1820. However, its roots are German, English and Scottish.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) was an author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat. Born in a prominent New York City merchant family, he became interested in writing at an early age and in 1809 wrote his first major book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, a satire on the city and contemporary politics.

A decade later, while residing in England, Irving sent to his brother in New York a series of essays and short stories, many of them humorous or satirical. Published over a period of two years as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman, the collection included Irving’s two most well known stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,“ the latter featuring the headless horseman.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane, a Connecticut schoolteacher, arrives in Sleepy Hollow in 1790 and is immediately attracted to the supernatural tales told by the area’s Dutch housewives, particularly the tale of a headless horseman. According to the story, he is a Hessian cavalryman who was decapitated during a battle in the American Revolution. Each night he rides out searching for his lost head.

Crane also spends his time pursuing a young woman, Katrina Van Tassel, the "plump," 18 year-old daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. This infuriates a rival for Katrina’s hand, “Brom Bones" Van Brunt, a handsome but rather rowdy and brutish man who subjects Crane to ridicule.

One Autumn night after attending a party at the Van Tassel home, Crane encounters the headless horseman near a bridge and the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. A pursuit through the countryside follows during which the spectral horseman hurls his “head” at Crane. The next day the schoolteacher is missing, leaving behind a riderless horse, a trampled saddle, Crane’s hat, and a smashed pumpkin.

Irving leaves it to the reader to decide if the horseman was an actual specter or Van Brunt in disguise.

Washington Irving and the Early Origins of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

When a yellow fever epidemic hit Manhattan in 1798, Irving’s family sent him to live in Tarrytown, 25 miles to the north of New York, for an extended period of time. It was while there that he became familiar with the nearby area of Sleepy Hollow and its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories. Irving loved the area so much that it became his permanent home in 1835, except for four years that he served as Minister to Spain.

His early stay in the Sleepy Hollow region produced the setting for Irving’s story, but it was German, English and Scottish writers who provided the gist of the story.

Later Influences on the Story

Shortly after taking residence in England in 1815, Irving met and became friends with the writer and folklorist Sir Walter Scott. It was Scott who encouraged his friend to read German folklore, particularly the writings of Johann Karl August Musäus (1735-1787), who had written a series of “headless horseman” tales. Musaus’s stories carried plot devices similar to those in Irving’s story such as an isolated bridge and a gourd.

Irving was probably also influenced by the German poet Gottfried Burger and his work “Der Wilde Jager.” This poem of ghostly hunters had been translated and adapted by Scott, himself, as “The Wild Huntsmen” and it is likely that the American writer was familiar with both versions.

A third influence was most likely a long narrative poem called “Tam O’Shanter" written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). In this humorous story O’Shanter stays too long in a pub on a strange and haunted night. On his ride home, he is chased by a group of witches and warlocks and is only saved after crossing a bridge since witches and warlocks cannot cross running water.

The Legacy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

This ghost story still retains its popularity nearly 200 years after its creation. The story has been the basis of stage plays, television presentations, movies, and even an opera.

The three most noted movies are: a 1922 silent feature, The Headless Horseman, starring humorist Will Rogers; as part of the Walt Disney 1949 animated feature, Ichabod and Mr. Toad; and, Tim Burton’s 1999 Sleepy Hollow (available on DVD), starring Johnny Depp. In the last version, Crane (Depp) is a New York policeman sent to investigate a series of decapitation murders. The movie has generally been liked by audiences, but not by all critics.

The copyright of the article The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Its Origins in American Fiction is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Its Origins in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.