University of Virginia Library

SUPERSTITION.

But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions
that succeeded. The neighbourhood is rich in
legendary treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions
thrive best in these sheltered long settled retreats;
but are trampled under foot by the shifting throng that
forms the population of most of our country places. Besides
there is no encouragement for ghosts in most of our
villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their
first nap, and turn themselves in their graves, before their
surviving friends have travelled away from the neighbourhood;
so that when they turn out at night to walk their
rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This
is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except
in our long established Dutch communities.

The immediate cause, however, of the prevalence of
supernatural stories in these parts, was doubtless owing
to the vicinity of Sleepy Hollow. There was a contagion
in the very air that blew from that haunted region;
it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies
infecting all the land. Several of the Sleepy Hollow people
were present at Van Tassal's, and, as usual, were doling
out their wild and wonderful legends. Many dismal

tales were told about funeral trains, and mourning cries
and wailings heard and seen about the great tree where the
unfortunate Major Andre was taken, and which stood in
the neighbourhood. Some mention was made also of the
woman in white, that haunted the dark glen at Raven
Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before
a storm, having perished there in the snow. The
chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favourite
spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman,
who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the
country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly
among the graves in the churchyard.

The sequestered situation of this church seems always
to have made it a favoured haunt of troubled spirits. It
stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust trees and lofty
elms, from among which, its decent whitewashed walls
shine modestly forth, like Christian purity, beaming
through the shades of retirement. A gentle slope descends
from it to a silver sheet of water, bordered by
high trees, between which, peeps may be caught at the
blue hills of the Hudson. To look upon its grass grown
yard, there the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one
would think that there at least the dead might rest in
peace. On one side of the church extends a wide woody
dell, along which raves a large brook among broken rocks
and trunks of fallen trees. Over a deep black part of
the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown
a wooden bridge; the road that led to it, and the bridge
itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which
cast a gloom about it, even in the day-time; but occasioned
a fearful darkness at night. Such was one of the
favourite haunts of the headless horseman, and the place
where he was most frequently encountered. The tale
was told of old Brouwer, a most heretical disbeliever in
ghosts, how he met the horseman returning from his foray
into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind
him; how they galloped over bush and brake, over hill
and swamp, until they reached the bridge; when the
horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old
Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over the tree
tops with a clap of thunder.