Interesting things I found along the way-you never know.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Headless Horseman


The Headless Horseman Pursuing Icabod Crane by John Quidor (1858)

Being a native of New York, the story of the Headless Horseman is a regular tale told during Halloween. There are many adaptions of the Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but did you know the original tale was a Celtic folklore. He was a headless Iris Fairy that rode a black horse. Whenever he stopped, someone died.
          Brothers Grimm had two versions, both featuring a headless horseman wearing a long gray coat, riding a large gray horse warning riders not ride or meet certain death.
          The American version is Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman. He was a Hessian, one of 51 who were hired to suppress the American Revolution. He was killed, decapitated by an American cannonball during the battle of Chatterton Hill, Long Island, New York and was buried in a church yard.

One must wonder if he was buried with his own head or someone else’s?