American Folklore and the Headless Horseman: A Mini-Essay

     Following the United States’ independence from Great Britain, the youthful country began, as historian Cynthia Kierner expresses, a long process of constructing a national identity which was culturally, politically, and socially divorced from its former motherland. Over the period of decades, British customs were abandoned for newer American variations: the drinking of tea, for example, was supplanted by coffee. A distinct version of English - with altered pronunciations and spellings - was developed with the publication of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language. And artists, as Kierner highlights, drew heavily on themes and incidents from the nation’s short past to foster nationalistic identity and pride. From Charles Wilson’s and Gilbert Stuart’s paintings glorifying the Revolutionary War to publications such as Columbian Magazine and American Museum, creative and intellectual forces sought to mold a distinctive American consciousness. Although some of these works, including David Ramsay’s tedious History of the American Revolution and William Dunlap’s gothic Wieland, have been overlooked with the passage of time, others have maintained an unyielding presence and woven the country’s cultural fabric, particularly Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
      The child of English immigrants, Irving began his literary career at the young age of nineteen. After a series of moderately successful works, he released his collection of short stories, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., in 1819. Blending elements of Dutch and German folklore into a budding American sensibility, many of the tales recount the simplicity of pre-revolutionary life and, akin to the paintings of Stuart and Wilson, erect the foundation for a growing national identity. Among the collection’s more influential stories is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Set in a Dutch settlement, the atmospheric tale recounts the fateful encountered of Ichabod Crane and the nefarious Headless Horseman. Although scholarly interpretations vary on who, specifically, Crane encounters (some argue it is the jealous Abraham Van Brunt, others claim it is the spectral horseman, and a few stress it is nothing more than the schoolmaster’s own overactive imagination), the impact this nocturnal crossing has had on American folklore is unquestionable. As Christopher Fee and Jeffrey Webb attest, the horseman and his haunted hallow quickly became icons in the American consciousness, solidifying their undying role in a growing national mythology and becoming among the first legends for a developing culture. From John Quidor's 1858 painting to Walt Disney's 1949 film, the headless phantom has ridden his way into every element of society, distinguished himself as one of the first urban legends and serving as fodder for dozens more. In fact, the story, as Brian Jones asserts, fashioned the standard for the quintessential American horror story, “invent[ing] the spooky autumn atmosphere against which we now expect good Halloween tales to be set."

Works Referenced

Fee, Christopher and Jeffrey Webb. American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2016.

Jones, Brian Jay. Washington Irving: The Definitive Biography of America’s First Bestselling Author. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008.

Kierner, Cynthia. Revolutionary America, 1750-1815: Sources and Interpretations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.