Headless Horseman (Legend of Sleepy Hollow): Difference between revisions
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==Background information== |
==Background information== |
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The legend of the Headless Horseman begins in [[Sleepy Hollow, |
The legend of the Headless Horseman begins in [[Sleepy Hollow, Nejgldndutrngflpwda;gaw York]]. The Horseman was a [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian]] of unknown rank, one of many such hired to suppress the [[American Revolutionary War]]. During the war, the Horseman was one of 51 Hessians killed in a battle for [[Battle of White Plains|Chatterton Hill]], wherein his head was severed by an American cannonball. He was buried in a graveyard outside a [[Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow|church]]. Thereafter he appears as a ghost, who presents to nightly travelers an actual danger (rather than the largely harmless fright produced by the majority of analism), presumably of decapitation. |
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{{cquote|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 ... 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.|4=Washington Irving|5="The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"}} |
{{cquote|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 ... 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.|4=Washington Irving|5="The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"}} |
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Revision as of 14:18, 26 March 2011
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (August 2010) |
The Headless Horseman is a fictional character from the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by American author Washington Irving. The story, from Irving's collection of short stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, has worked itself into known American folklore/legend through literature and film.
Background information
The legend of the Headless Horseman begins in Sleepy Hollow, Nejgldndutrngflpwda;gaw York. The Horseman was a Hessian of unknown rank, one of many such hired to suppress the American Revolutionary War. During the war, the Horseman was one of 51 Hessians killed in a battle for Chatterton Hill, wherein his head was severed by an American cannonball. He was buried in a graveyard outside a church. Thereafter he appears as a ghost, who presents to nightly travelers an actual danger (rather than the largely harmless fright produced by the majority of analism), presumably of decapitation. klghsrklbh;srj7ophi;y
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 ... 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.
— Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
Literature
The headless horseman has appeared in many forms of literature throughout history and throughout the world. Many countries have their own unique version of the legend in which some form of the headless horseman appears. In the United States, various states have their own version of a headless horseman tale; Texas' version of the legend, written by Thomas Mayne Reid in 1865 or 1866, tells of ghosts of beheaded horse thieves, who roam the countryside.
The more noted and recognizable headless horseman of today imitates the one that appears in Washington Irving's short story, which was published in 1819. The story is set in America, within a 1790's Dutch settlement that residents nicknamed “Sleepy Hollow”. Its protagonist is a schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane, whose apparent demise results from a meeting with the horseman. The horseman himself is allegedly a Hessian soldier from the Revolutionary War who was decapitated by a cannonball and now roams Sleepy Hollow on the back of his horse, with his severed head resting upon the pommel of his saddle. He is therefore also called the 'Galloping Hessian'. The Horseman is said to be incapable of crossing the bridge at the town entrance (a possible reference to the belief that ghosts cannot cross water), although he is shown throwing his head across a river to strike down Ichabod Crane. Ichabod's fate is left ambiguous; some of the background characters allege that he has been "carried off" by the Horseman, while others suggest that he has been frightened out of the county by the ghost and by the prospect of facing his landlord, later to become a lawyer in Philadelphia. It is implied later that the Horseman was in fact Brom Bones, Ichabod's rival for the hand in marriage of the local beauty Katrina van Tassel, who imitated the legend of the Galloping Hessian on purpose to kill or frighten away his competitor. The fact that a shattered pumpkin is found beside Ichabod's abandoned hat supports this, in that the pumpkin may easily have been used to simulate the Horseman's severed head. Intriguingly, there is no mention of a severed head in the story heard by Ichabod, though it is prominent in his own encounter with the horseman.
Other adaptations include collections of short horror stories such as The Headless Horseman: And Other Ghoulish Tales, poems such as The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep, and even plays such as The Mystery of the Headless Horseman. In A Hollow Sleep by Chris Ebert, the Horseman is given an identity of "Heinrich Luneberg" and his origins explored. The story is told from his perspective. (appearing in the book Ophelia and Other Weird Tales)
See also
References
- Battle, Kemp P. Great American Folklore. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1986.
- Crooke, William, Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India (Dehli: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1896 [1893]), Vol. I, p. 258. (This book carries an extensive chapter on the Rakshasa, as well.)
- Hallenbeck, Cleve and J.H. William. Legends of the Spanish Southwest. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1938.
- Irving, Washington, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", in The Sketch Book (New York: Signet Classics, 1981 [1820]), pp. 330–331.
- Leach, M. The Rainbow Book of American Folk Tales and Legends. New York: The World Publishing Co., 1958
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(1820);(Marvel) Uncanny Tales #22, July 1954.
- Winkle, Michael D. Here Comes a Chopper to Chop Off Your Head
- Hayday, Andria; William Connors, Bruce Nesmith, James Lowder (1991). Darklords. TSR. ISBN 1-56076-137-7.