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?
