Legend of The Headless Horseman

One cold winter night, early in the New Year, a certain Dutchman left the tavern in Tarrytown and started walking to his home in the hollow nearby. His path led next to the old Sleepy Hollow cemetery where a headless Hessian soldier was buried. At midnight, the Dutchman came within site of the graveyard. The weather had warmed up during the week, and the snow was almost gone from the road. It was a dark night with no moon, and the only light came from his lantern.

The Dutchman was nervous about passing the graveyard, remembering the rumors of a galloping ghost that he had heard at the tavern. He stumbled along, humming to himself to keep up his courage. Suddenly, his eye was caught by a light rising from the ground in the cemetery. He stopped, his heart pounding in fear. Before his startled eyes, a white mist burst forth from an unmarked grave and formed into a large horse carrying a headless rider.

The Dutchman let out a terrible scream as the horse leapt toward him at a full gallop. He took to his heels, running as fast as he could, making for the bridge since he knew that ghosts and evil spirits did not care to cross running water. He stumbled suddenly and fell, rolling off the road into a melting patch of snow. The headless rider thundered past him, and the man got a second look at the headless ghost. It was wearing a Hessian commander's uniform.

The Dutchman waited a good hour after the ghost disappeared before crawling out of the bushes and making his way home. After fortifying himself with schnapps, the Dutchman told his wife about the ghost. By noon of the next day, the story was all over Tarrytown. The good Dutch folk were divided in their opinions. Some thought that the ghost must be roaming the roads at night in search of its head. Others claimed that the Hessian soldier rose from the grave to lead the Hessian soldiers in a charge up nearby Chatterton Hill, not knowing that the hill had already been taken by the British.

Whatever the reason, the Headless Horseman continues to roam the roads near Tarrytown on dark nights from that day to this.

like your siggy draztic!

anyhow i saw an episode of Most Haunted and they went to investigate this story...some of them DID hear the hooves galloping but the psychic didnt pick up on any headless horseman. and the bridge they have there isnt the actual bridge..the real bridge is falling apart but is close by.

cool story draztic

great read Draztic...thanks for posting it ..AWSOM siggy!!!

Ty very much, if i find more of these story's i'll post them.

Draztic wrote:Ty very much, if i find more of these story's i'll post them.

Good...please do...we like it very much if you guys post stuff as well!!!

Going to check about The Hookman, you'll read it soon ;)

can't wait to see that one , but isn't that the same as the candyman ?

No idea i will check it out for you

it's that legend in wich you stand infront of the mirror and say his name 3 times and then he comes for you with his hook

lol no, the mirror thingy is Bloody Mary's

okay , my bad , but then i would say , look at the movie " Candyman "

The version of the headless horseman i learned was Ichabod Crane and the legend of Sleepy Hollow. It goes that a school teacher comes to Sleepy Hollow and falls for this girl. Well theres this other guy who already has his eye on the girl and he decides he's gonna scare Ichabod out of town so on halloween night Ichabod goes to the girls house cause her father throws a party every year. Well at the party the guy tells the tale of the headless horseman and how he rides the road looking for a head to replace his own. well ichabod was a skittish kinda guy so he was all freaked out on his walk back home. Well so the guy that told him the story decieds to freak him out and gets in a costume on a horse with his jacket buttoned up above his head and goes riding down the road after poor ichabod. well so ichabod it trucking along and hears the hoofbeats behind him turns and sees what he thinks is the headless horseman and he starts running as the horseman gets closer. He sees the bridge ahead and knows the whole thing about the horseman not being able to cross it so he runs as fast as he can and starts to hear the sound of more hooves. So he looks back and sees a dark rider closing in fast on the other one and he's got a glowing jack o lantern for his head. well ichobad reaches the bridge dashes accross it and looks back just in time to see the first rider get knocked off his horse and the darker horseman take off the jack o lantern head and hold it up high laughing. well ichobad passes out from fright and was found on the side of the road just accross the bridge in a snow drift. The one horse had come back but had gone completely wild. The guy was never found, just a broken jack o lantern in the road and 2 sets of hoofprints.

been a long time since i heard the story, but that's it as best as i can remember lol

Nice story it is, The funny thing is everyone knows these story's in another version.

Draztic wrote:Nice story it is, The funny thing is everyone knows these story's in another version.

That`s why they are called urban legends...