ichabod crane's sleepy hollow

Just north of New York City, nestled in the bluffs above the Tappan Zee, you'll find the neighboring villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Thinking that it would be a shame to pass up an opportunity to visit a place so rich with American superstition and folklore, and in the spooky month of October no less, we went this weekend to experience our own version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. To further enhance our literary adventure, and to make sure that it was accurate, we listened to an audio recording of Washington Irving's famous short story on the drive up.

"The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and anon seen by the country folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the floating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body of the trooper having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head, and that the rushing speed with which he sometimes passes along the Hollow, like a midnight blast, is owing to his being belated, and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard before daybreak.

"Such is the general purport of this legendary superstition, which has furnished materials for many a wild story in that region of shadows; and the spectre is known at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow."

-- from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

We parked our car along Broadway in Tarrytown, not far from Patriot's Park, where our retracing of Ichabod's steps would officially begin at the Andre Captors' monument. Not only was this the spot where Major John Andre, Adjutant General in the British Army, was captured by three American militiamen for serving as a spy, thus bringing to light the treason of American traitor, General Benedict Arnold and preventing a very different end to the American Revolution, it was also where Ichabod Crane first saw the ghostly headless horseman as he walked home from the Van Tassel home.

"About two hundred yards from the tree a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley’s Swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream . . . It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate André was captured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. . . .In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, [Ichabod] beheld something huge, misshapen and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveler. . . He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black horse of powerful frame."

-- from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Our walk continued about a mile down the road to the Old Dutch Church and the adjacent Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where Ichabod's flight from the horsemen came to a mysterious end. The church was built in 1685, and the accompanying burying grounds are the final resting place for countless local Revolutionary War veterans. It is also where several notable figures are buried, including Washington Irving, Andrew Carnegie, William Rockefeller, Elizabeth Arden, and Samuel Gompers. As you can see below, it a lovely and incredibly peaceful place to explore, despite its history of hauntings.

"The sequestered situation of this church seems always to have made it a favorite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust-trees and lofty elms, from among which its decent, whitewashed walls shine modestly forth, like Christian purity beaming through the shades of retirement. A gentle slope descends from it to a silver sheet of water, bordered by high trees, between which, peeps may be caught at the blue hills of the Hudson. To look upon its grass-grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one would think that there at least the dead might rest in peace." 

-- from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 

The original Old Dutch Burying Ground

 Washington Irving's headstone

 Andrew Carnegie's gravesite

Sequestered to one side of the cemetery is the original Sleepy Hollow glen through which flows the Pocantico River. The current bridge that crosses it is not, despite its rustic design and and rickety planks, the one original to Irving's day. But it makes a great photo-op nonetheless!

"Not far from [Tarrytown], perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility.
 
"I recollect that, when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrel-shooting was in a grove of tall walnut-trees that shades one side of the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all nature is peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stillness around and was prolonged and reverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley.

"From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW…"

-- from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

"On one side of the church extends a wide woody dell, along which raves a large brook among broken rocks and trunks of fallen trees. Over a deep black part of the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it, and the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime; but occasioned a fearful darkness at night. Such was one of the favorite haunts of the Headless Horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered."

-- from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Our return home was not nearly as frightful as Ichabod Crane's, thanks to remarkably smooth traffic, and we didn't meet anyone missing their head, but it was even so quite exhausting. Our treks through the history and folklore of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow left all of us, but particularly these two, who passed out on Manhattan's West Side Highway, completely worn out. It was fun, though, to retrace the fictional Ichabod's potentially real steps as he was chased by the headless Galloping Hessian.