by Jimmy Patrick

Created on: July 09, 2008   Last Updated: August 14, 2008

The text of the story is said to have been found among the papers of the Late Diedrich Knickerbocker. The setting is that of the eastern shore of the Hudson, a peaceful, little glen known as Sleepy Hollow.

Said to once have been bewitched by a German doctor, Sleepy Hollow is full of ghost stories and tales of mystic visions. The most prominent story of all is that of a headless horseman. Some believe it to be a ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head got knocked off by a cannon ball in the revolutionary war. He is seen in many places around Sleepy Hollow, but especially near an old church. He has been seen racing on horseback, along the roads near the church, trying to return to the church before sunrise.

In this little town of Sleepy Hollow once resided a school teacher named Ichabod Crane. Just as his name sounds, he was tall and lanky with long, skinny arms and legs and a head that teetered on a thin neck. He was a strict teacher who didn't take any misbehaving from his students.

Ichabod's pay was not great as a school teacher, so he would stay at other's houses, usually the parents of his students. He would alternate from week to week, staying at different houses all the time, carrying all his belongings with him. He made a habit of helping out around the house with outside chores and helping to take care of the kids, in order to seem less of a burden to his hosts.

Ichabod also liked to sit around the fire in the evenings and listen to the women of the community tell their various ghost stories, the most prominent of which was that of the headless horseman. With all these scary ideas of ghosts and such in his head, Ichabod would often be scared walking home in the evenings by the sound of the wind or even his own footsteps. A simple shadow of a tree could frighten him for thought that it was a ghost.

Ichabod developed an extreme crush on a young woman named Katrina Van Tassel. He was taken by her as much for her good looks as by her rich father. Her father, Baltus Van Tassel was one of the wealthiest farmers in the land with one of the largest, most profitable farms. Ichabod had visions of himself marrying Katrina and someday inheriting all the wealthy land. His road to Katrina's heart was not an easy one, however, as she had many suitors.

The most formidable competition for Ichabod and any other interested male in the land was a man known far and wide as Brom Bones. Brom was a masterful horseman, a likeable sort with a mischievous side to him. Known to

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