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Never Stop Writing

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How Did Washington Irving Get Inspiration for the Short Story Behind the Headless Horseman?

Emy Quinn
3 min readSep 24, 2024

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Credit to The Headless Horseman by Daniel Eskridge (pixels.com)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short horror story that gained a lot of fanbase over the years. It was first written in 1820, by Washington Irving, and this story led to many different versions of the tale.

Horror fans were introduced to Tim Burton’s iconic Sleepy Hollow film, a TV show that lasted four seasons, and even a surprising dark animation by Disney of the story as well!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is about a small town called Sleepy Hollow, that claims the headless horseman is lurking somewhere out there in their town. Ichabod Crane is the main character that the story follows.

Ichabod Crane is a schoolteacher who falls in love with a woman named Katrina Van Tassel, who completes with a man named Brom Bones, to have her hand in marriage.

Crane then becomes hunted by the headless horseman after leaving a party. Crane unfortunately ends up getting killed by the horseman while he attempts to escape.

Brom Bones is the one who marries Katrina, and Crane’s death becomes almost like a warning to those who run into the headless horseman.

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Never Stop Writing
Never Stop Writing

Published in Never Stop Writing

A publication for a variety of topics. Feel free to join!

Emy Quinn
Emy Quinn

Written by Emy Quinn

Horror Enthusiast. I love to learn about the history of horror, I write about all kinds of horror topics, and I love to write short horror stories!

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