I still remember the path that took us away from the highway and closer to the Hudson River waterfront in upstate New York on October 5th, 2020. My family and I participated in the bicentennial celebrations of the publication of Washington Irving's book, "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent," in 1819-1920. This book includes famous stories like Rip van Winkle, and my favorite: The Headless Horseman, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. A tale that has captivated me since I was a child. Along with my siblings, I enjoyed it in movies and on television, from Disney's charming 1949 version, The Adventures of Ichabod, to the famous fifth episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo in 1976.

That day, the New York countryside was especially beautiful, with the trees changing their foliage from dark green to reddish orange, through shades of brown and rusty brown. In a way, it's the same color transition a pumpkin undergoes as it ripens. Sleepy Hollow should be visited in autumn.

The roads leading travelers to the famous village are surrounded by a peculiar forest whose foliage sometimes seems to thicken at its edges to such an extent that it creates the sensation that the trees and their branches want to cover and embrace, not to say extend, passersby. In some sections, tunnels of leafy foliage form, blocking the light from reaching the road, even on the sunniest days of the year. The region itself is gloomy.

During our visit to the village of the Headless Horseman, the leaves of many trees were drying as if they had to simulate the loss of their lives. An indispensable requirement to face the demands of winter. Little by little, the trees restrict the amount of sap each leaf receives, strangling and decapitating them from their branches. Many trees need to shed their leaves, so their branches don't break under the weight of the snow. Autumn sometimes gives the feeling that trees lose their color and wither intensely, and in the process, their beauty becomes more evident.

This beautiful phenomenon of apparent death is essential for many plants to survive the cold season and re-emerge with vital force in spring. The Headless Horseman is a legend that seeks to reinforce this story of continuity. The life of a community must often undergo a difficult transition to adapt to what lies ahead. To understand its possible origin, we can explore information about the region that produced it, its author, and the characters and their destinies included in the work.

Washington Irving (1873–1859) was named after George Washington, the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. He was the son of a prosperous merchant and his English wife. He studied law and earned a law degree, but also served as a diplomat, particularly in England, France, Germany, and Spain. In 1826, he arrived in Madrid as an attaché at the United States Embassy in Spain to translate into English the book on the papers of Christopher Columbus by the Spanish historian Martín Fernández de Navarrete, published during the reign of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. After traveling through Spain and particularly settling in Andalusia, he published Tales of the Alhambra in 1832. To culminate a unique diplomatic career, in 1842, he was appointed United States Ambassador to Spain by the tenth President of the United States from 1841 to 1845, John Tyler.

The legend of the Headless Horseman takes place in an old Dutch settler community north of Tarry Town and on the banks of the river, in the widening that the natives knew as Tappan Zee. In 1609, Englishman Hendrick Hudson contributed to the founding of New Netherland on the banks of the river that bears his name. It was the principal Dutch colony in North America until 1664, when the British took it by invading New Amsterdam (Manhattan), Harlem (Nieuw Haarlem), Brooklyn (Breukelen), and Flushing (Vlissingen), among others. Today, that Dutch colony would encompass the states of New York, Delaware, and New Jersey combined.

According to Irving's account, more than a century later, the descendants of those early Dutch settlers were still preserving their customs when the curious character Ichabod Crane arrived in the town of Sleepy Hollow. He was originally from Connecticut, part of New England, the originally most British region of North America, near where the English settlers had arrived aboard the Mayflower in 1620.

Ichabod Crane is the new teacher at the town school, and naturally, he comes to educate the population about the new country they live in. The United States declared its independence in 1776, but the English didn't recognize it until 1783, so the year in which the story takes place, 1790, wasn't chosen randomly. These were the years in which the subjects that all children in the 13 already independent colonies were required to learn were defined.

But Ichabod Crane doesn't just represent New Age knowledge. Despite his unstable physique, with a large nose and ears, he is a man of great qualities. He sings gospel psalms with great skill, is a great dancer, and is brimming with good manners and attention to the locals. He embodies the perfect English gentleman. However, he also has several flaws: he is greedy, selfish, superstitious, and calculating. Ambitious, and even avaricious, so to speak, he intends to woo the daughter of the richest and most austere farmer in town, Baltus Van Tassel.

Katrina Van Tassel is the sole heir to her father's fortune. She is a beautiful and provocative young woman who has half the town in love with her. Washington Irving describes her as: "She was withal a little of a coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was a mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set off her charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold, which her great-greatgrandmother had brought over from Saardam; the tempting stomacher of the olden time; and withal a provokingly short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round."

Saardam, Sardam, or Saerdam is the name of the yacht that traded between the islands of the Dutch colony; New Netherland, owned by the United (Dutch) East India Company, one of the pillars of modern capitalism, and which represented the true wealth of the Dutch at that time in their history. Furthermore, Saardam or Zaadam is a city in the Netherlands, and Katrina likely wears the jewels in honor of her family's region of origin. In a way, an English teacher intends to take over the Dutch jewels in the New World.

Katrina's circle of suitors recognizes Ichabod's intentions and will do whatever is necessary to interfere. The Dutch acted as they usually do in their projects, collectively, with sacrifice and creative cunning to achieve their goal. One night, while the generous Baltus Van Tassel hosted a party at his home, where Ichabod planned to propose to Katrina at the end, the locals began to recall scary stories from the area, as was tradition. The boldest of them to woo Katrina, Abraham Van Brunt, known as Brom Bones, took advantage of Crane's superstitious nature to scare him with one of the town's most terrifying stories: the legend of the Headless Horseman.

According to the story, the rider was a German mercenary from the Hessian cavalry who fought alongside the English in the American Revolutionary War and lost his head to an enemy cannon shot. He was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery without a head. And on the darkest nights, his spirit tries to find it on the battlefield, having to ride back to the cemetery at the speed of the wind before dawn. He would trot furiously after anyone who crossed him, but he never managed to cross the town bridge, so any unfortunate soul who met him at night would be safe, if they managed to cross said bridge, amid any hellish pursuit of the headless man.

The Sleepy Hollow Bridge exists and, according to legend, is located near the local cemetery. The bridge represents the border between ancient and modern, fantasy and reality, subjective and objective, past, present, and future. It is cursed and can only be crossed in company, as horror stories associate it with violent deaths or supernatural murders. The bridge is another character in the legend.

At the end of Baltus Van Tassel's banquet, the only time a year the old Dutchman ever showed such extravagance to the neighbors, Katrina snubbed Crane without showing mercy. Ichabod set off late at night, riding down the road. He happened upon the headless specter from the stories he had just heard and attempted to flee, reaching and crossing the cursed guard bridge. As he crossed, a pumpkin struck him on the head. The next day, Crane was gone, and at the place of the encounter, his dirty and broken saddle, a shattered pumpkin, and Ichabod's hat were found in the deepest, darkest part of the river.

At the time, it was believed that Ichabod Crane had been kidnapped from the village by the Headless Horseman. However, rumors spread that he had fled Sleepy Hallows, devastated by the rejection and humiliation Katrina had inflicted upon him and horrified by his encounter with the Headless Horseman that night. He is said to have studied law elsewhere, earned a law degree, and entered politics with some success. Katrina eventually married Brom Bones, leading locals to believe that the couple's inherited the fortune that had passed into the hands of people of Dutch descent.

Other film and television versions of the Headless Horseman have recently emerged, all named after the town: “Sleepy Hollow”. The most recognized has been Tim Burton's successful 1999 film, starring Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, and, more recently, the 2013 television series of the same name. In all of them, the character of Ichabod has evolved into a private investigator who uses scientific, historical, or paranormal knowledge to solve mysteries of supernatural murders or disappearances. It seems that the American public is more tolerant of a story where Ichabod is less ridiculed, more attractive and seductive, with a better heart and intentions, and who, thanks to his knowledge, achieves his goals.

All of these have become Halloween legends. However, the original characters of the Dutch church, bridge, and cemetery remain present in the village and in stories, representing Sleepy Hollow, whose motto is "The Birthplace of New York State." Dutch investment and mercantile influence in the United States continued and increased. Descended from Dutch settlers, they achieved great success as businessmen, merchants, and service providers. One such example was Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt I (1794–1877), the richest man of his time. A native of Manhattan, his family came from the (van der) Bilt village in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

The descendants of the Dutch settlers, with their wealth, hard work, and collaborative investment skills, as well as their timely commercial and mercantile activity, ultimately defined the universal capitalist mission of New York City, which, more broadly, would play a pivotal role in the nascent North American union. Manhattan has been the financial capital of the United States of America. But they also contributed, with their fantastic creativity and ghostly legends, such as Sleepy Hollow and its Headless Horseman, to shaping much of our current understanding of Halloween as a celebration and cultural phenomenon.