The Legend of Sleepy Hollow AKA Brom Bones Apologists Anonymous | Halloween Strangedive | Ep #43

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So to keep her company, Rupesal
turns the turnips into her

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friends and acquaintances.
Oh, that's kind of nice

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actually.
As the turnips wilt after a

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little while, as turnips are
want to do, so do the persons

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that were created by Rupesal's
magic.

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Oh, that's not good.
Welcome stranger to a special

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Halloween episode of Madam
Strangeways with me.

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Madam Strangeways.
Now usually I share your true

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strange stories and give my own
strange commentary along the

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way, but on this very special,
very strange sawin spectral

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spect.
Oh, Spect.

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Spooktacular.
Strangtacular.

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Join me for a deep dive into the
first Great American ghost

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story, The Legend of Sleepy
Halloween.

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Follow by Washington Irving.
First, we'll discuss the strange

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history and folklore surrounding
the story.

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And of course, I will be
dragging you down.

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Some.
Strange rabbit holes along the

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way, obviously.
And then at the end I'll narrate

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an abridged version of The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow just for

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you.
But before we get started, a

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strange shout out to my Patreon
patrons TJ Hotter of the Tapes

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of Trepidation podcast, G Man
Music.

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Ted, Keith and Tori, thank you
so much to my Feral Fiendish 5

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for supporting the show.
If you would like to hear your

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name at the beginning of every
episode and get a free sticker

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while you're at it, join the
Patreon today at

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patreon.com/madam Strange Ways.
And now on to this bizarro

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Halloween strange dive on The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, here on

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Madam Strange Ways.
Happy strange tober everyone.

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I hope everyone's having a
fantastically strange, strange

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tober.
We are so close to Halloween or

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strange a ween.
You know, you could call it

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strange a ween like that might
be cool.

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You think that's can we can we
make that happen?

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Can we make fetch happen?
Let me know.

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Anyway, I hope you're having a
very strange, strange tober.

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And of course, as you know, in
the strange verse, which is

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where you are right now, strange
is good.

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So it's a good thing.
I hope that you're having a

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pleasantly strange strange
tober.

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We're just going to go ahead and
just jump face first.

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Oh, head first, headless.
Hmm.

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Hmm.
Something we're going to, you

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see where I'm going.
We're going to jump in head

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first, or headlessness first
into the Legend of Sleepy

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Hollow.
But really quickly, I want to

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thank Keith, my patron.
Keith, for the suggestion of

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today's topic because I wouldn't
have even thought about doing

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the story, an episode on the
Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

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So thank you, Keith.
But also, if you're listening

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and you have an idea for a
story, if you have an idea for

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just a future topic that I could
talk about, let me know. e-mail

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me madamstrangeways@gmail.com
because it could be the next

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episode.
Who knows?

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You'll never know until you try.
OK, so here we go.

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
published over 200 years ago, in

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1819 and 1820.
So if you do your own research,

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you're going to find both years,
but both are right.

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But the earliest time of
publication was 1819.

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was
considered the first Great

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American ghost story and
actually just kind of the first

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good, like, passable American
story period.

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Because remember, this isn't
that far removed from the

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American Revolution.
And I think in the UK they kind

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of consider it the American
rebellion.

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And they were still kind of
exalty about it at the time.

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So they didn't really think that
any Americans were very good at

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writing.
And then Washington Irving came

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around and they had to go.
You know what?

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This guy's on to something with
this Headless Horseman

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situation.
So Washington Irving, who lived

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from 1783 to 1859, published The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1819

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as a part of a collection of
stories titled The Sketchbook of

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Jeffrey Crayon.
Jeffrey spelled, of course,

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Geoffrey.
And what does that even mean?

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But don't I can't get ahead of
don't put a pen in that.

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We're going to come back.
Who's Jeffrey Crayon, you may

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ask, because I also wondered.
We're going to get to it.

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Keep keep your.
Hmm.

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What's a Halloween hat?
What kind of hat do you keep it

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on?
Keep your Halloween hat on.

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OK.
The Sketchbook of Jeffrey Crayon

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is what it was ublished in.
Also included in that book was

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the classic tale Rip Van Winkle.
Yeah, he did that one too.

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Isn't that interesting?
They're both in the same book.

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Both super iconic, Irving is
often considered the first Great

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American writer, so you're
probably at least passingly

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familiar with the story of The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, either

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from the Disney animated short
or from the Johnny Depp and

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Christina Ricci.
Why did I say it that way?

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Christina Ricci movie spoiler
alert The gist of the story in

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case you haven't.
In case you don't know the story

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of the Why do I keep saying the
story of the Legend of Sleepy

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Hollow?
That's what this episode needs

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to be called is the story of the
Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

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Anyway, the story spoiler alert
is that a weirdo named Ichabod

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Crane gets chased by this
headless man on a horse.

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That's, that's, that's the gist
of it.

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I don't know how else to to wrap
it up for you, but we're going

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to get into a little plot review
in just a second, just to remind

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everyone all the, all the, all
the beats that happened in the

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story.
But first, like I said, you've

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probably seen the Disney film or
maybe you've seen Sleepy Hollow,

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which was the Tim Burton film,
but there's also a bunch of

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other adaptations.
So here we go.

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In 1922.
The first adaptation was The

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Headless Horseman, a silent film
who starred Will Rogers as a

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lanky Ichabod cream.
It was kind of funny.

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It was supposed to be humorous
and probably slapstick.

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I didn't.
I didn't watch it.

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I was going to say slapstick.
Ian, is that a word?

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We're going to go with that, I
think.

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I think I like it.
Anyway, 1949 is when Disney made

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the adventures of Ichabod and
Mr. Toad.

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We'll find out in just a moment.
Why are why why why are those

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connected?
1999 Sleepy Hollow with Johnny

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Depp and Christina Ricci and
then in the early aughts ish, I

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don't remember.
I didn't write this year down a

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show where Ichabod Crane was
like a real person and he was

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frozen somehow for some reason
and then thawed out in modern

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times to help solve mysteries.
Because I assume the Headless

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Horseman is like back and
presumably Ikapa is the only one

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that can defeat him, even though
that's not how it worked in the

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story.
I don't know.

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It's a strange premise.
Strange premise for a show.

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If you've seen it and you think
I should watch it,

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madamstrangeways@gmail.com, let
me know.

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Watch, watch.
I watch it and then I get really

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into the show and I'm like the
number one fan.

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Unlikely but possible.
Stranger Things and all that,

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but the Disney cartoon was one
of Disney's four package films

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quote UN quote so during World
War 2, the studio Disney lost a

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lot of manpower and resources,
which left Disney with countless

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unfinished ideas too long for
shorts and too short for

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features.
So Disney being as good at

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making money as it is, decided,
oh, we'll just slap 2 together

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that don't make any sense and
there's no reason for them to be

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connected otherwise, and we'll
just put them together and then

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we'll have a feature length
film.

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Great.
So that's what they did with

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three other films.
So I think 4 total around that

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time.
I just thought that was so

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interesting how World War 2
impacted even animation studios

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at the time.
Pretty interesting.

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Anyway, what I remember
specifically from the Disney

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cartoon, which I have not
watched since I was a child, but

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I have this like vivid
recollection of, of being in

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like the school library, like
around Halloween, obviously.

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And then the librarian Wheeling
out the big cart with the TV and

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the VCR and the VHS and then
sitting all of us down.

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The lights go off.
And I think it was probably even

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like, you know, an overcast day
or something very spooky and

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then playing, you know, the
movie for us.

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And I genuinely don't think I've
seen it since then.

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But what I remembered from
watching it back then, if I had

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to tell you the plot, I guess I
would say, OK.

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I guess I would say Ichabod
Crane is the protagonist.

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He's a good guy, right.
And then the Gaston looking guy

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whose name is Brahm Bones, we'll
get into him later.

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The Gaston looking guy was kind
of like not a great guy, but

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like not a good guy.
And then obviously the Headless

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Horseman was the main bad guy,
right?

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That's pretty much all I
remember.

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And also how funny looking
Ichabod Crane was made in the

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cartoon.
That's all I really recall.

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But after all the reading that I
have done for this episode,

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Ichabod's kind of a Dick.
Like it's kind of a bad dude.

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I wrote bad dude in my script.
And then I just, you know what?

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I was like, that isn't strong
enough.

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He's a Dick.
I don't know what else to say.

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And it's on purpose.
Like it's listen, you'll get,

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we'll get there.
Anyway, we'll get into more

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detail about Ichabod Crane and
the Headless Horseman and the

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history and the setting and
Washington Irving himself.

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But first, let me just give you
a little refresher on the story

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of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Man.

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Also, if you can hear Thunder,
that's not me.

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That's not me.
Putting that in afterwards,

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that's natural.
That's natural.

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I summoned the storm for the
perfect amount of atmosphere for

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this episode, so you're welcome.
OK, on to the plot.

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So Ichabod Crane is a travelling
school teacher.

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Yes, he looks almost exactly how
they animate him in the Disney

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cartoon.
It's Canon.

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Like they took like no creative
freedom with his character.

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He looks exactly how he's
described.

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So Ichabod is trying to court
Katrina Van Tassel, which is

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this, of course, beautiful young
18 year old girl in the town.

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And he's trying to court her
specifically because, and only

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because he knows that she's
going to inherit a bunch of land

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and farms and orchards because
her family are like rich farmers

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and they've got a lot of land.
And Ichabod is trying to be a

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sugar baby.
Ichabod is trying to find a

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sugar Mama.
And so he sees Katrina Van

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Tassel and he's like, Yep,
that's it.

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So that's the only reason he's
trying to court her, which is

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rude.
This is why I'm saying he's kind

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of a Dick.
So Ichabod gets an invitation to

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one of the Van Tassel's party,
the Van Tassels, of course,

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being Katrina Van Tassel's
family.

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So he's like, oh, oh, geez, OK,
this is my chance.

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School's out, kids, fuck off.
I got to go.

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This is way more important than
your education.

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I actually don't care about you
at all.

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I got to go.
So he closes school down early

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and then he takes his weird.
How do they describe it?

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A broken down plow horse named
Gunpowder rides that horse.

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Poor Gunpowder rides Gunpowder
out to the farm for the Van

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Tassel party.
So at this party, everyone is

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telling ghost stories because
everyone in Sleepy Hollow loves

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ghost stories.
And Brom Bones, you know, guest

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on, tells a ghost story about
the most famous ghost in Sleepy

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Hollow, which is the Headless
Horseman.

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You may have heard of him.
So at some point in the night,

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off screen, Katrina Van Tassel
ends up rejecting Ichabod.

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And he doesn't take it very
well.

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And he sulks and he mopes his
way home writing gunpowder.

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And when I say home, I should
also say that he just lives with

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all the different farmers in the
town.

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Like he just lives at different
people's houses and moves around

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week to week.
So he's on his way to whatever

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farm that he was staying at at
the time.

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00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,600
Anyway, on his ride home, quote
UN quote, he starts getting

225
00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,880
perhaps understandably spooked
because another rider on a horse

226
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,680
has started to trail him on the
ride home.

227
00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:38,160
And this is like not that long
after he was hearing a very,

228
00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,400
very scary story about the
infamous Headless Horseman

229
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,720
chasing people at night on his
horse.

230
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,400
Obviously, I feel like that's
implied.

231
00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:49,680
Anyway, apparently it does turn
out to be the Headless Horseman,

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00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:54,000
who is now chasing Ichabod, and
he stands up on his saddle as

233
00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,240
his horse is running, which is
kind of cool.

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00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:01,160
And then he throws his
decapitated head at Ichabod and

235
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,800
knocks him off of gunpowder, and
Ichabod was never heard from

236
00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,120
again.
Dun Dun Dun.

237
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,360
But actually the book leaves it
kind of vague.

238
00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:11,400
So it's kind of letting you
decide.

239
00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:17,160
Was the Headless Horseman just
Brom Bones pranking him, being

240
00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,080
kind of an asshole, but like,
also he kind of deserved it, you

241
00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:21,800
know?
Like I'm kind of on Brom's side

242
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:22,960
here, honestly.
Here's the thing.

243
00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,440
It's like they're they're
pairing the, or they're pitting

244
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,680
the like the geek and the jock
against each other.

245
00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:31,360
I don't normally vote for the
jock.

246
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,120
Normally I'm rooting for the
geek, right?

247
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,960
But in this case, Ichabod's kind
of a jerk.

248
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,120
So I'm kind of with Brom on this
one.

249
00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:45,040
Anyway, the book lets you decide
was it Brom Bones pranking him,

250
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:50,800
or was it actually the Headless
Horseman himself in the flesh,

251
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,960
In the spectral flesh, but
actually in the book, the man

252
00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,640
telling us the story.
In the story, he heard that

253
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,200
Ichabod ended up becoming an
attorney and a politician and a

254
00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,120
Court Justice after fleeing
Sleepy Hollow and leaving all of

255
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,080
his belongings behind because he
was so scared of what happened

256
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,400
to him that night.
But others in the story say that

257
00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,200
he was never seen or heard from
again.

258
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,360
Of course, the Disney cartoon
says that the Headless Horseman

259
00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,320
was definitely a ghost.
Like, no question.

260
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,000
So then why is Brahm even in
this?

261
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,440
Anyway, we're going to move on.
That's the basic gist of the

262
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,600
story.
So now we're going to discuss

263
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,280
Ichabod.
Ichabod Crane himself.

264
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:35,640
So actually he was named after a
real person named Ichabod Crane

265
00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,120
that Washington Irving did
actually meet in real life.

266
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:44,280
So I saw in my research a few
places that were saying, OK,

267
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,200
this story, like the character's
name is Ichabod Crane.

268
00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,520
So like, what's the meaning
behind Ichabod and Crane?

269
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,880
And I started going down that
rabbit hole too, because

270
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:55,800
apparently Ichabod is a name
from the Bible.

271
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,480
And so like, I'm looking at like
the the Bible references, I'm

272
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,240
looking it up and I'm seeing
what was his character Ichabod

273
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:02,960
in the Bible.
Is there some kind of connection

274
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,680
here to the story?
And like, Crane is apparently an

275
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,600
antiquated way to refer to a
tall, lanky man.

276
00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,720
And Crane was tall and lanky.
So I was like, OK, I'm trying to

277
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,000
put this together for the show,
for my, for, for, for you.

278
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,440
I wanted to be able to give you
the most accurate information.

279
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:25,640
But no, no, Irving just heard
that this real man that he met,

280
00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,440
he heard the name Ichabod Crane,
and he immediately wrote it down

281
00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:32,440
for a future story.
He said, now that's a name.

282
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,680
I mean, it's crazy.
Irving had a very good, and by

283
00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,520
good I mean weird.
And by weird, I mean strange

284
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,360
taste in names.
As you will come to talk about,

285
00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,360
you probably have already picked
up on it.

286
00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,120
Brom Bones, Ichabod Crane,
Jeffrey Crayon, even his own

287
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,000
name, Washington Irving.
What is that?

288
00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,480
Anyway?
We're going to do it more.

289
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,360
Ichabod Crane's superstitious
belief, you know, because he's

290
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,240
easily spooked, right?
Like on the on the ride back

291
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,480
from the farmhouse, he's really
spooked.

292
00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,280
And the reason that he's so
easily spooked is that he always

293
00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:11,000
had his nose in a scary book
such as The History of New

294
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,640
England Witchcraft by Cotton
Mather.

295
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,400
But actually, there is no real
book by that name, although

296
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,880
Washington Irving could be
alluding to Mather's memorable

297
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,040
Providence's relating to
witchcraft's and possessions,

298
00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,480
which is probably true because
of course, back when this was

299
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,880
written in 1819, you couldn't
just Google it.

300
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,680
You couldn't just Google it.
So I feel like it's close

301
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,720
enough.
So Mather, who wrote that book,

302
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,040
was a Puritan minister and a
prolific author, though best

303
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,520
remembered for his role in the
Salem witch trials, which were

304
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,800
between 1692 and 1693, not very
long.

305
00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,960
For as much as we talk about the
Salem witch trials, they didn't

306
00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,400
go on for that long, not nearly
as long as the European witch

307
00:16:54,400 --> 00:17:01,160
trials, which went gone from
1400 to 1775, in which 100,000

308
00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:04,000
people were prosecuted for
witchcraft in Europe and British

309
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,040
America.
Meanwhile, the Salem witch

310
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,599
trials, 25 people, 25 people
died.

311
00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,440
Why do we talk about the Salem
witch trials so much?

312
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,400
It's kind of weird.
Anyway, Mather, who wrote that

313
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,920
book that Ichabod Crane is
always reading, was a firm

314
00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,240
believer in witchcraft and the
supernatural, and was an

315
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,440
influential champion of such
beliefs.

316
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:29,400
O it's weird that Ichabod was
reading that because in 1790,

317
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,280
when the story is set, which I
robably should have mentioned

318
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,320
earlier, by the way, the story
is set in 1790.

319
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,320
We'll get to that in the
settings section.

320
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:38,400
OK?
It's further down.

321
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,760
Anyway, in 1790, people weren't
thinking about witch trials

322
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:47,000
anymore, and they definitely
weren't as superstitious as he,

323
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,800
the character Ichabod Crane is
being.

324
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,040
And he's supposed to be a school
teacher, so why was he so

325
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,440
superstitious?
It's kind of weird and it feels

326
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,880
like it feels like Irving was
definitely doing it on purpose.

327
00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,160
I wish that I were a smarter
person that would be able to

328
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,960
tell you kind of what he was
going for there.

329
00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:08,200
But he's clearly trying to go
somewhere because otherwise, why

330
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,960
would you include that detail?
I think it's fascinating detail

331
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,880
and I think it makes him, if not
a likable character, a very

332
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:16,880
memorable 1.
So I'm going to read you the

333
00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,360
actual description that Irving
wrote of Ichabod crayon so you

334
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:24,960
can see just what I mean when I
say Disney took zero creative

335
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,080
liberty with his character.
Decide OK, here we go.

336
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,120
The cognomen of Crane was not
inapplicable to his person.

337
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,800
He was tall but exceedingly
link, with narrow shoulders,

338
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,240
long arms and legs, hands that
dangled a mile out of his

339
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:43,720
sleeves, feet that might have
served for shuffles, and his

340
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,400
whole frame most loosely hung
together.

341
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:52,200
His head was small and flat at
top, with huge ears, large green

342
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,560
glassy eyes and a long snipe
nose so that it looked like a

343
00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,960
weather cock nice perched upon
his spindle neck to tell which

344
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,840
way the wind blew.
To see him striding along the

345
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,520
profile of a hill on a windy day
with his clothes bagging and

346
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:11,440
fluttering around him, one might
have mistaken him for the genius

347
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,560
of famine descending upon the
earth or some scarecrow eloped

348
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:22,360
from a cornfield.
Like, that's so mean.

349
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:26,000
So just to be clear, the real
Ichabod Crane that this that

350
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,720
that Irving met was, did not
look like this.

351
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:30,600
He didn't look like this.
He took the name.

352
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,520
The real Ichabod Crane is like a
general or something and the the

353
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,520
Navy or the army, I don't
remember.

354
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,560
He's a real guy, but Ichabod
Crane's looks were not based on

355
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,320
him.
So how rude was that

356
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,960
description, though?
See, see what I mean?

357
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,560
You don't write a you're not
writing a protagonist like that.

358
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,640
Honestly, you're just not.
But I'm here for it.

359
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:53,200
All right?
We're just going to stop very

360
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,600
briefly on the character of Brom
Bones.

361
00:19:55,600 --> 00:20:00,320
And I mean very briefly but I
just had to highlight I love

362
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,440
this fact.
Brom Bones played pranks on

363
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:08,400
Ichabod with his bro friends and
trained a local dog to howl

364
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,320
whenever Ichabod sang.
Which apparently happened more

365
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,840
than one might imagine because I
guess Ichabod being the school

366
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:20,160
teacher he would also He would
also do a lot of stuff with

367
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,200
church and he would like lead
the psalms.

368
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:25,400
He would lead, you know, I don't
know.

369
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,320
I don't know, I don't know how
church works, but he did a lot

370
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:29,520
of stuff in his voice, saying a
lot.

371
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:33,440
And I guess Brahm trained a
local dog to hell.

372
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,800
Whenever Ichabod saying, I think
that is so funny, Brahm.

373
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,800
Hell yeah, Brahm.
And when I say brief, that's

374
00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:42,840
honestly that's all I wanted to
say because I really want to get

375
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,160
into the Headless Horsemen
because not only are we going to

376
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,680
talk about the character in the
book, we are also going to talk

377
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:52,800
about all the other headless
Horsemen that exists in other

378
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,480
cultures.
And I'm very excited to talk

379
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,680
about it.
So the Headless Horseman, I'll

380
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,320
go ahead and open with the
description from Washington

381
00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,880
Irving himself in The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow, which describes

382
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,720
the Headless Horseman.
The dominant spirit, however,

383
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,240
that haunts this enchanted
region, Sleepy Hollow, and seems

384
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,000
to be.
Commander in chief of all the

385
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,440
powers of the air is the
apparition of a figure on

386
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,680
horseback without a head.
It is said by some to be the

387
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,400
ghost of a Hessian trooper whose
head had been carried away by a

388
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,800
cannonball in some nameless
battle during the Revolutionary

389
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,960
War, and who is ever and Anon
seen by the country folk

390
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,400
hurrying along in the gloom of
night, as if on the wings of the

391
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,000
wind.
His haunts are not confined to

392
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,280
the valley, but extend at times
to the adjacent roads, and

393
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:44,080
especially to the vicinity of a
church at no great distance.

394
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,880
Indeed, certain of the most
authentic historians of those

395
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,920
parts who have been careful in
collecting and collating the

396
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,080
floating facts concerning the
specter, allege that the body of

397
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,400
the trooper having been buried
in the churchyard, the ghost

398
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,680
rides forth to the scene of the
battle in nightly quest of his

399
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,200
head.
And that the rushing speed with

400
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,040
which he sometimes passes along
the hollow like a midnight blast

401
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,360
is owing to his being belated
and in a hurry to get back to

402
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,240
the churchyard before dark.
What's a Hesse?

403
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,160
And you ask, Put a pen in that.
How many pins have we got?

404
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:20,600
Are you keeping track?
Let me know,

405
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,800
mattofstrangeways@gmail.com.
So the Headless Horseman was a

406
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,720
fearsome spectre in the Legend
of Sleepy Hollow.

407
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,320
And like I said, it's like the
most famous ghost in Sleepy

408
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,200
Hollow because they tell a lot
of ghost stories.

409
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,520
This is the most famous one.
So the Headless Horseman wore

410
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,840
all black and he had a Cape and
also his horse was black.

411
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:44,560
And by the way, Brom Bones horse
was also black and Brom Bones

412
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,720
horse was named Daredevil.
Interesting.

413
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,520
We'll find out more.
OK, maybe I could have talked

414
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,760
about Brom Bones more because
I'm already thinking about more

415
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:54,480
details that I could add.
It doesn't matter, we're moving

416
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:55,400
on.
We're talking about the Headless

417
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,080
Horseman.
So what you may famously

418
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,400
remember about the Headless
Horseman is a pumpkin or a Jack

419
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,320
O Lantern, especially as his
head right, which is very scary.

420
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,880
However, in Irving's time, a
pumpkin was not yet a Halloween

421
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,560
Jack O Lantern.
Pumpkins didn't begin getting

422
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,360
used for Jack O lanterns until
the 1840s, after the Irish

423
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:21,600
Potato Famine forced many Irish
to immigrate to America purely

424
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,400
so they wouldn't starve to
death.

425
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,760
And then they found the native
pumpkins to be much easier to

426
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,440
carve and use as lanterns than
the traditional turnip used in

427
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:32,800
Ireland.
Because imagine, have you tried

428
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:37,880
to, have you tried to carve a a
turnip and do a Jack O Lantern?

429
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,560
It's difficult.
It's difficult, although the

430
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,720
effect is much spookier.
I'll say that anyway.

431
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,520
So listen, no, the pumpkin that
the Headless Horseman used was

432
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,480
not in fact a Jack O Lantern.
It was just a normal pumpkin,

433
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,360
but presumably in the dark and
normal pumpkin with kind of

434
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:59,040
seamish along the size of like a
human head.

435
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,400
And also it would be something
easy for Brom Bones to carry on

436
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,440
the horse with him and then
throw.

437
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,400
I'm just saying maybe it is a
ghost, maybe it's Brom Bones,

438
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,280
who knows.
Anyway, hold on.

439
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,320
I got to go back to Jack O
Lanterns here for a second

440
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,000
because side note, for American
listeners who aren't really

441
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,400
taught much about the Great
Famine that happened in Ireland,

442
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,560
just please humor me.
And look, I'm taking you down to

443
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,520
this is a strange rabbit hole,
and we're going down it really

444
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:27,520
quickly.
I'm just going to give you a

445
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,320
strange nutshell in this strange
rabbit hole.

446
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,040
I don't know.
Do rabbits eat nuts?

447
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,040
Unclear.
Doesn't matter.

448
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:36,600
Moving on.
You ready?

449
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,440
We're going to talk about it.
OK, Tie me.

450
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:40,000
Actually, you know what?
Tie me.

451
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:41,400
Tie me on the strange rabbit
hole.

452
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,200
OK, You ready?
OK, go.

453
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,240
The Great Famine, also known as
the Great Hunger or the Irish

454
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,360
Potato Famine, was a period of
mass starvation and disease in

455
00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:56,560
Ireland lasting from 1845 to
1852, caused in part by an

456
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,000
infection of potato crops by
blight.

457
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:00,680
Oh, I didn't look up how to say
this.

458
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:07,640
Phyto pho.
No Phyto Thora infestins

459
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,600
throughout Europe during the
1840s.

460
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,720
So if you're wondering why a
blight on potatoes only, why a

461
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,720
potato blight specifically, and
no other kind of blight would

462
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,320
cause a famine, then Gold Star
for you.

463
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,680
Excellent question.
And the answer to that question

464
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,040
is that as a part of the United
Kingdom at the time, the Brits

465
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,320
exported the rest of Ireland's
food production for themselves.

466
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,600
Because A, that's kind of their
whole thing, and B, they really

467
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,640
didn't think very highly of the
Irish and they didn't especially

468
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,720
seem to care if they lived or
died, which is very clear now in

469
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,440
hindsight.
So it wasn't really the blight

470
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,960
on the potatoes themselves that
caused the population of Ireland

471
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,240
to drop 1.5 million people.
Just.

472
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,440
During the famine alone, in
which 1,000,000 people of those

473
00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:01,040
people died, but immigration
caused further demographic

474
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,920
collapse until it had lost half
of its entire population by the

475
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,080
1900s, so about the span of 45
years.

476
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,560
This nearly wiped out the Irish
language itself, and if you're

477
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,720
wondering, neither the language
nor the population of Ireland

478
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,120
have ever recovered to pre
famine rates to this day.

479
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,480
Or you can just listen to the
Sinead O'Connor song Famine

480
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,240
because that probably tells the
story a lot better than I did.

481
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,240
OK, how long was that?
Did you tie me?

482
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:28,720
Let me know.
I'm out of

483
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,560
strangeways@gmail.com.
OK.

484
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,280
Back to Sleepy Hollow, back to
the Headless Horseman.

485
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,720
All right, we're back.
We're we've come out of the

486
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:37,440
strange rabbit hole through the
other side.

487
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,960
So the Headless Horseman rises
from his grave every night

488
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,360
searching for his decapitated
head.

489
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,080
And the old Dutch graveyard is
where he said to roam, but he

490
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:48,960
can't cross the bridge into the
church.

491
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,880
Something about Holy Land of the
church?

492
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,640
Or do you like desecrated land?
Desecrated.

493
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,400
Consecrated.
That's the opposite.

494
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,560
Something about consecrated land
of the church, or like crossing

495
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,480
over a stream of water because
there's a bridge there, which is

496
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,840
something that spirits are said
to not be able to cross.

497
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:08,520
You know, I don't know.
It's something like that.

498
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,720
Anyway, FYI, we're coming back
to that pen from earlier about

499
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,480
the Headless Horseman being
referred to sometimes as the

500
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,720
Galloping Hessian.
We're going to get into it.

501
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:21,480
What's a Hessian?
What's a Hessian?

502
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,560
I didn't know going into this.
Now I know a lot about it, and

503
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,520
now you're about to know too.
Here's some.

504
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:32,320
Here's some condensed notes that
I've taken on what is a Hessian,

505
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,960
Why, what, what, who, what,
when, where, why?

506
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,440
What is a Hessian?
Why is a Hessian?

507
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,160
How is a Hessian?
Etcetera.

508
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,360
So Hessians were involved in the
American Revolution.

509
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:50,280
Hessians were German auxiliary
forces that were used during the

510
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,720
American Revolution or you know,
the rebellion or whatever.

511
00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:58,080
So the British actually ended up
using more than 30,000 German

512
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,800
troops during the Revolutionary
War, and the Hessian soldiers

513
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,240
made-up about 1/4 of all the
troops in the British Army,

514
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,960
which is a lot.
So also mind you, Germany was

515
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,200
not Germany, it was not unified.
So it wasn't the Germany that we

516
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:17,280
know now.
I think it was 1875 that Germany

517
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,720
became Germany, which seems like
not that long ago, but that's

518
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,360
how it worked.
So while the Americans often

519
00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:27,120
painted the Hessians as
bloodthirsty, no, we've got a

520
00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:28,120
pause.
Hold on.

521
00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,280
OK Google.
When did Germany become unified?

522
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:33,880
1871, according to.
OK.

523
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,960
OK, I was close.
Are you going to give me that

524
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:38,080
one?
Is it?

525
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:39,360
Come on.
Come on.

526
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:41,640
All right.
So where were we?

527
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:43,960
Well, the Americans often
painted the Hessians as

528
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:48,320
bloodthirsty mercenaries.
In reality, many of the Hessians

529
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,440
were actually forced into the
army against their will, so they

530
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,440
didn't even want to be there.
But Britain had really strong

531
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,680
ties to some of the German
states, in particular because

532
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:03,120
King George the Third's family
was from Hanover.

533
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:07,080
Gosh, this is a whole another
situation that I do not know

534
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:08,480
enough about.
You know what I know?

535
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,560
I know that I don't know a lot
about it.

536
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:12,600
So we're not going to go into
that.

537
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,480
It's going to be a whole another
episode.

538
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,120
What matters here is that the
American colonists saw the

539
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,760
Hessians as brutal, savage
invaders.

540
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,720
And Americans in general were
outraged at the idea of King

541
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,400
George the Third hiring foreign
troops to subdue them.

542
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,600
And they specifically called out
this practice in the Declaration

543
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,640
of Independence.
How mad they were about it.

544
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,920
So rumors quickly spread across
the continent of the Hessians

545
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,480
ferocity and savagery.
Some American riflemen were even

546
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,920
found on Long Island impaled to
trees by Hessian bayonets.

547
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,360
And reportedly, the Hessians did
not care whether or not you

548
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,520
surrendered, they're still going
to impale you.

549
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,800
At least that's how the rumors
went in the American camps for

550
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,320
the American colonials.
So Americans were pissed about

551
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,760
the Hessians, right?
Because from what I can

552
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,000
understand, they basically just
considered it cheating.

553
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,640
They considered that Great
Britain was just cheating in the

554
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:13,360
war by bringing in these German
Hessian soldiers, which I kind

555
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,080
of guess I don't know enough
about war to understand why they

556
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,920
were mad.
Because the one thing that I do

557
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,000
know about war is that all's
fair in it and also in love.

558
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,880
So I don't really get why they
were mad, but I can understand.

559
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,800
Maybe they were mad just because
they felt like they were losing

560
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,840
and that they were get, like I
said, they're getting impaled,

561
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:33,840
so it's not good.
That's another reason why,

562
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:36,280
that's another reason why
they're mad.

563
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:37,800
I mean, I'm going to give it to
them.

564
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:39,680
That makes that makes total
sense.

565
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,480
Anyway, in the aftermath of the
American Revolution, captured

566
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:47,640
Hessians were sent to prisoner
of war camps in Pennsylvania,

567
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,520
Maryland, and Virginia.
And actually the western parts

568
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,080
of those states had already
large German immigrant

569
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,800
populations.
And so many Hessians actually

570
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,560
found that they preferred life
in the Americas, even though

571
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,000
they were there fighting for the
British on the British side,

572
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,520
because away from the harsh
discipline of the German

573
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:13,040
military life and surrounded by
people who spoke their language

574
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,040
and also had a similar culture.
You know many of those Hessians

575
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,520
who didn't even want to be in
the army in the 1st place, they

576
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,080
deserted, they deserted the army
and they stayed in America

577
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,600
following the war.
And actually by the end of the

578
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,400
war, by the end of the
Revolutionary War, 10s of

579
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,520
thousands of Hessians ended up
staying in America.

580
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,760
So even though you may have been
living next door to an ex

581
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,760
Hessian soldier, and even though
you may have not even realized

582
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,600
that they were a soldier in the
1st place, you're still

583
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:47,680
understandably scared of the
concept of especially a headless

584
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,440
Hessian soldier.
I mean, like I said, Americans

585
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,920
are already freaked out enough
that they specifically mentioned

586
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,480
the use of Hessians and the
Declaration of Independence

587
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,680
because it was such a big deal.
So there you go.

588
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:03,720
That's why the Headless Horseman
in the story of the Legend of

589
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,400
Sleepy Hollow, That's why he was
a Hessian soldier.

590
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,480
However, where did the
inspiration for the actual

591
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,120
Headless Horseman come from, you
may ask?

592
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,120
Well, I'm happy to talk all
about it.

593
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,000
So just as a quick reminder, the
Headless Horseman, obviously, as

594
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,680
a Hessian soldier, was said to
have had his head decapitated by

595
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,160
a cannonball and then the head
was buried separately from his

596
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:27,600
body.
That's why he's always out

597
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,840
looking for his head.
That's why he's always out

598
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:31,920
running around.
But then why is he holding on to

599
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:33,400
it?
Why is it on his?

600
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,480
I have questions now.
I haven't put this together

601
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,280
until I'm just saying this out
loud right now.

602
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,480
Why does he have it if he's
looking for it or I guess it's a

603
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,760
pumpkin.
Does he have a hmm, hmm.

604
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:47,840
There's there's more to unpack
here, but we're just going to

605
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,880
move forward.
We're moving forward for the

606
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,320
possible inspirations for the
Headless Horseman myth.

607
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,120
So to start, we've got the
German, Czech and Polish

608
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,720
Rubizal.
Did not look that up beforehand,

609
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,280
so apologies, whatever the word
sorry is in German.

610
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:11,640
Then we've also got the infamous
German pirate Klaus Storta

611
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,840
Baker.
That sounds right, feels right.

612
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,240
Let me know matter of
strangeways@gmail.com.

613
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,120
But we've also got the Irish
Dullahan.

614
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,320
Then yet another German myth,
the Wild Huntsman.

615
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,160
And why do the Germans have so
many folklore stories about

616
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:31,320
Headless Horseman, I ask you.
Then there's the Scottish Yuan,

617
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,880
the headless, very creative.
The Welsh.

618
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,920
Ah, no, I can't do this one
with.

619
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,840
I got to look this one up.
Hold on.

620
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,320
OK, this one's tricky because I
couldn't find anyone actually

621
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,400
saying it out loud.
So I'm going to try my best of

622
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:50,560
the Welsh Venive Hebbing Pen.
How'd I do?

623
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:52,440
Let me know I'm out of
strangeways@gmail.com.

624
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,200
OK, so then, then I was like,
OK, but why am I not finding any

625
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,000
headless horsemen in like, I
don't know, Eurasia at a

626
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:02,680
minimum?
Because that's kind of where

627
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,400
horses came from.
OK, Horses actually came from

628
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,719
the North Americas originally.
And then they walked, they

629
00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:14,760
walked across the land bridge
back when it was a Pangaea

630
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:16,760
situation, and then they ended
up over there.

631
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,440
But you know what I'm saying?
Horses are kind of like a big

632
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,600
deal in Eurasia.
So why wouldn't there be more

633
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:28,120
horsemen in general mythology in
that area like in Russia or in

634
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:29,840
the Middle East?
Like what's going on?

635
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,320
So then I had to like manually
search for these areas to find

636
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,440
anything.
So at a minimum, I did find the

637
00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:41,159
Indian myth, Thakur Baba, a
warrior who was decapitated mid

638
00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:43,679
battle but stayed on his horse
and kept fighting.

639
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,800
He was a good guy though.
He's not a bad guy.

640
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,320
That's like, it's a good thing
that he stayed on his horse

641
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,440
because he was fighting for his
side still, which I guess are

642
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,040
the goodies and not the baddies.
Anyway, if you know of any

643
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,000
Headless Horseman myths in any
other cultures other than

644
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,960
European, then please let me
know madamstrangeways@gmail.com.

645
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,120
OK, so those are the ones that I
found, but we're going to do a

646
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,240
little, we're going to do a
little bit of a deep dive into

647
00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:10,120
each one of them.
They're super fascinating.

648
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,800
But the one that seems like the
most likely inspiration for

649
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,720
Irving's Headless Horseman
character is the German legend

650
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,720
of Rubizal.
I should probably let's check

651
00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:23,200
hold, please.
OK, so the Z is kind of more of

652
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,480
a T situation TS.
So rubitzal.

653
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,400
All right, there it is.
That's all you're going to get.

654
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:30,800
That's the best one you're going
to get out of me.

655
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,120
So anyway, the Rubitzal is
probably the most likely to be

656
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,800
the actual origin story for the
Headless Horseman and the Legend

657
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,240
of Sleepy Hollow.
But we're going to pause because

658
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:45,160
just as a reminder, Sleepy
Hollow or Tarrytown, that whole

659
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,160
area has a ton of Dutch
immigrants living there.

660
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:51,040
So it's like mostly Dutch,
right?

661
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,440
And so then also keep in mind
that Germany was not Germany

662
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,800
until 1871.
It was not unified until 1871.

663
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,000
So it's not the Germany that we
know now, which feels like it's,

664
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,320
I know I mentioned it earlier,
right?

665
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,480
And I, I guessed it wrong.
OK, but I was pretty close.

666
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,280
I was four years off.
It's you know what, it's fine

667
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,680
anyway, as another reminder,
especially for especially if

668
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:17,120
you, especially if you are like
me and then a few years ago you

669
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,520
were like, I actually, where are
the Dutch from?

670
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,880
Like where are they from?
I'm actually not sure.

671
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,120
And the answer is the
Netherlands.

672
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,400
The Dutch are from the
Netherlands and the Netherlands

673
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,720
share a border with Germany.
And so you're, are you kind of

674
00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:37,240
seeing how because it doesn't
really matter if you were from

675
00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:40,000
Germany or if you were from the
Netherlands, you probably heard

676
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,680
the same stories if it's a
German story, like folklore

677
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,520
didn't just reach the the border
of a country and go, oh, well,

678
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,840
can't go further than that.
So as you can probably imagine,

679
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,280
that's kind of how it's possible
that Washington Irving, who was

680
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,600
living amongst all of these
Dutch immigrants that were now

681
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,360
living in America, you can
understand how he might have

682
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:05,720
heard the Headless Horseman myth
of the Rubitzalt from Germany.

683
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,160
So I did find two different
sources that tried to claim that

684
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:14,760
specifically because Irving
travelled in Germany in 1821,

685
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,000
that he'd become familiar with
Dutch and German folklore, which

686
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,320
is why they say that is the
smoking gun as to why it's most

687
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,800
likely that the Rubitsall is the
inspiration for the Headless

688
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,200
Horseman.
But for those of you playing

689
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,280
along at home, the story was
written, the story was published

690
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:37,120
in 1819.
So if he's travelling Germany in

691
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,600
1821, how is that a smoking gun?
It's not.

692
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,880
It's just not.
I don't know what to tell you.

693
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,560
So if you hear anyone try to
tell you, right, what are the

694
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:49,760
chances that this happens in the
very unlikely scenario that

695
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:53,120
someone tries to tell you?
Well, actually, Washington

696
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:56,880
Irving visited Germany in 1821.
And that's probably when you'll

697
00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:01,080
be like, you're going to put
your index finger just directly

698
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:02,920
on their lips to stop them
talking.

699
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,480
You're going to go, Nope, no
more talkie for you.

700
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,480
Because how did you not realize
that the story was written in

701
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,760
1819, which is before he visited
Germany?

702
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,720
So I need you to just just no
more talkie.

703
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:18,880
No more talkie for you.
So the Legends of Rubitsall by

704
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,800
folklorist Johann Karl August
Moussaus.

705
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:29,600
Oh no, don't worry about it.
Who lived from 1735 to 1787?

706
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:34,400
Rubitzal is a mountain spirit
associated with the come on

707
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,840
Crocanos mountains.
That's not how it's said, but

708
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,200
it's spelled.
There's like not enough fowls.

709
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:45,840
KRKONOSE, those mountains of
modern Czech Republic and

710
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,000
Poland.
That's why there's not enough

711
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:49,400
fowls.
I'm seeing now.

712
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,080
I'm seeing now, but you can see
how far it's spread.

713
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,120
You know, Germany is a pretty
big country, but if you're

714
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,840
hearing the same legends that
travel all the way to the

715
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:01,280
Netherlands, all the way to
Poland and Czech Republic,

716
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,480
that's crazy.
Anyway, Rubit Saul was a popular

717
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,480
figure in German folklore,
featured in multiple tales of

718
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,240
the supernatural.
So in one interpretation from

719
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:14,840
the story How Rubit Saul Got His
Name, it recounts how Rubit Saul

720
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,400
abducted a Princess who liked
turnips.

721
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,360
How are we talking about turnips
again?

722
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,240
Isn't that interesting?
The Princess gets very lonely

723
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:24,560
there in the mountains.
So to keep her company,

724
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,120
Rubitsall turns the turnips into
her friends and acquaintances.

725
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:29,640
Oh, that's kind of nice
actually.

726
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,040
As the turnips wilt after a
little while, as turnips are

727
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,800
want to do, so do the persons
that were created by Rubitsall's

728
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:38,560
magic.
Oh, that's not good.

729
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:42,120
The Princess asks him to count
the turnips in the field.

730
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,480
While he counted, she escaped.
Following this explanation, some

731
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:51,480
early English writers translated
his name as number nip, as in

732
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:56,200
turnip, short for turnip.
That is turnip numberer.

733
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:00,360
So not nearly as scary as
Headless Horseman is the turnip

734
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:05,320
numberer.
So this is from Wikipedia.

735
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:09,520
Rubensall, you should know, has
the nature of a powerful genius,

736
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:14,280
capricious, impetuous, peculiar,
rascally, crude, immodest,

737
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:18,400
haughty, vain, fickle today,
your warmest friend tomorrow,

738
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:22,760
alien and cold, roguish and
respectable, stubborn and

739
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:28,920
flexible again.
I I think I'm going to need the

740
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,880
supernatural romance with this
guy as the main character.

741
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,920
I'm interested.
This sounds like a morally grey

742
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,880
character.
I'm here for it and listening.

743
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:43,160
But that is a direct description
of Rubensall from the legend, oh

744
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:48,440
legend in von Rubensall.
So in legends, Rubensall appears

745
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:53,600
as a capricious giant or a gnome
or a mountain spirit.

746
00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:57,680
OK, with good people, he's
friendly, teaching them medicine

747
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,160
and giving them presents.
But if someone derides him,

748
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,560
however, he exacts a severe
revenge.

749
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,720
He sometimes plays the role of
trickster in folk tales.

750
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,880
So the stories originate from
Pagan times and Rubensall is the

751
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:14,280
fantastic Lord of weather of the
mountains and is similar to the

752
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,280
Wild Hunt which we are going to
get into just a few minutes.

753
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,040
And it's actually weird because
I found the Wild Hunt through a

754
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:24,840
completely different way and
didn't actually, we know it was

755
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:27,400
related to Ruben Saul when I
first started writing about

756
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:28,960
this.
So isn't that interesting how

757
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:32,040
this is all connected anyway?
You know, honestly, the more

758
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:36,680
that I look into the actual
legends around Ruben Saul, the

759
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:39,640
more I'm like, I don't
understand how everyone is

760
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:41,800
saying that this is the most
likely explanation for the

761
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,800
Headless Horseman.
You know what, I could go back

762
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,360
and edit it and take it out or
I'm saying that, but that's

763
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,320
true.
All of my research is telling me

764
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,640
that this is the most likely
explanation for the Headless

765
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:58,000
Horseman, but I can't find
anything, anything in these

766
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,800
stories about him being headless
or a horseman.

767
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:05,160
They're saying he looks like
Gandalf the Grey or the White,

768
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,000
but it specifically says a grey
frock that he wears.

769
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,720
He has his head in all of these
depictions of paintings that I'm

770
00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,240
finding, and one of them he's
actually a demon, and he has a

771
00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:17,400
little weird demon tail and he
has weird demon antlers, but in

772
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,120
none of them is he a Headless
Horseman.

773
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:22,480
Isn't that, isn't that
interesting?

774
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:25,560
Isn't that interesting?
He controls the weather,

775
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:28,000
basically.
And get this and check fairy

776
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,600
tales.
Rubensall gave sourdough to

777
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,440
people.
He gave them sourdough and he

778
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,760
invented the traditional
regional soup, Kaisalo.

779
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,840
OK, so how?
How's that a bad guy?

780
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:42,600
How's that a bad guy?
What are we doing?

781
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,000
Why?
Why are we blaming the Headless

782
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:50,280
Horseman on a man who gave
people bread and soup?

783
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,240
Who doesn't love sourdough and
soup?

784
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,160
Come on, Why are we bad mouthing
this guy?

785
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,920
OK, I, you know what?
I'm changing.

786
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:03,240
I'm changing my assumption.
I no longer think based on the

787
00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:06,360
information available to me.
I no longer think that this is

788
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,280
the this is the most likely
explanation.

789
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,640
OK, you heard it here first,
folks.

790
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:13,440
This is how we do things in this
strange.

791
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,080
First, we change our minds.
We admit when we're wrong and

792
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,400
and we're we're vocal about it.
We let everybody know.

793
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:23,400
Hey, I might have messed up.
If you are more familiar with

794
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:27,680
Rubensall and you think you you
have a reason to believe that he

795
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,120
might have been the Headless
Horseman, please let me know

796
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,160
amount of strangewas@gmail.com.
But this is just another reason

797
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:36,200
why we need to talk about every
single one of the inspirations

798
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:40,000
that I think may have
potentially been around for the

799
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,880
Headless Horseman.
So we're going to talk about all

800
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:43,000
of them.
We're not going to just talk

801
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,360
about this one.
We're going to talk about all

802
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:45,520
the ones that I discussed
earlier.

803
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,360
So next on the list, we have a
German pirate, which I don't

804
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:53,000
know why I didn't think that
there were German pirates.

805
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:57,280
Germany has a coast.
Obviously there were pirates

806
00:43:57,560 --> 00:43:59,360
that were German.
It's just it's not something

807
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,680
that I think about.
So anyway, the German pirate,

808
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:07,320
the infamous pirate Klaus Storta
Baker, a legendary figure

809
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,400
similar to Robin Hood.
So again, good guy who thinks

810
00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,560
Robin Hood's a bad guy.
OK, if you think Robin Hood's a

811
00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:16,040
bad guy, I'm going to need you
to.

812
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,400
I'm going to need you to reread
Robin Hood.

813
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,080
I'm going to teach you.
You are.

814
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,520
You are the baddies.
Are we the baddies?

815
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,960
You may ask yourself.
Yes, you are if you think Robin

816
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,760
Hood's a bad guy.
So obviously I'm also a fan of

817
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,400
Klaus here, the pirate Klaus.
So he would steal from the rich

818
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:37,600
to help the poor and he would
amass and hide great treasure

819
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:41,400
and was said to, after his
execution by decapitation, have

820
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:46,320
patrolled in front of his shaken
crew, still carrying his head in

821
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,920
his hands.
What a bad ass.

822
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,240
I want to learn more about this
guy, but we've got a lot of them

823
00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:54,080
to cover.
So we're going to move on to the

824
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,600
next one.
The Scottish headless ghost.

825
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,560
Ewan the headless.
Of course his name is Ewan.

826
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:02,760
Prior to losing his head, he was
known as Ewan.

827
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:07,440
I forgot about this.
I wrote these notes a few days

828
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:08,200
ago.
Hold on.

829
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:13,320
Prior to losing his head, Ewan
the headless was known as Ewan

830
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:19,200
with the small head.
Not headless, just head.

831
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:25,640
Small head tiny like Becky with
the good hair, but Ewan with the

832
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,280
small head.
It's weird that both of his

833
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:33,240
nicknames both involved heads
even before he was decapitated.

834
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:38,120
Isn't that weird?
OK anyway he was a big man baby

835
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,600
from what I can.
From what I can tell in my

836
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,840
reading he was a big man baby
who talked shit to a creepy

837
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:49,080
fairy and then died in battle
because of said shit talking to

838
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:52,640
said creepy fairy.
And now whenever his descendants

839
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:58,080
die on his land, his family's
land, he reappears to guide

840
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:03,240
their souls to the the afterlife
or somewhere, it's not really

841
00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:05,160
clear where he guides them, but
he guides them.

842
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:08,200
And that's when he shows back up
is when someone dies.

843
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,880
So I guess there are worse
circumstances that he could show

844
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,400
up for.
Anyway, next, next on the list

845
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:19,480
is the Welsh venue Hebb in Pen,
which translates to the headless

846
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,000
woman.
So we have a headless woman.

847
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:28,200
I'm so excited.
Anyway, she rides the Kefel HEB

848
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:32,360
in pen, which if HEB in pen
sounds familiar, it's because I

849
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:35,480
just said it.
And that's because Heb in pen

850
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:39,600
means without a head.
So that's right, the headless

851
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:44,080
woman, the headless Welsh woman
rides a headless horse.

852
00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:47,480
What are the odds?
What are the odds?

853
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:50,280
I love it.
This is already my favorite one,

854
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:55,280
and it's not just because I have
a weird fascination with Welsh.

855
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:57,280
That's not why.
Come on.

856
00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:59,880
It's first of all, she's the
first headless woman in the

857
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:01,480
story that we've been talking
about.

858
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:04,440
And then also she rides a horse
without a head.

859
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,000
All right, so Brynn Hall in
Hlada Maudwe.

860
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,680
Hlada Maudwe, if you're Welsh,
e-mail me

861
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:16,480
madamstrangewaysaidgmail.com, so
that I can apologize to you

862
00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:21,160
personally.
Brynn Hall in Hlada Maudwe is

863
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:25,080
said to have been haunted by a
Headless Horseman, I think

864
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:27,800
woman.
We now know, which only came to

865
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,400
an end when one of the Hall's
servants discerned a message

866
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:34,560
from the horse woman identifying
the location of a buried body.

867
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,800
The body was said to be that of
an illegitimate child fathered

868
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:41,720
by the Lord of Bryn Hall.
Isn't that interesting?

869
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:46,480
Also, as Whales shares cultural
similarities with Cornwall, it

870
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:50,280
is possible that a version of
the Welsh horse woman or a

871
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:54,280
Cornish equivalent may have been
what was known to the parents of

872
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:58,920
Washington Irving who came from
Cornwall.

873
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:01,000
There's another way that
Washington Irving might have

874
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,320
heard this story.
This is actually turning out,

875
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:06,520
you know what you know what?
This is actually turning out to

876
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:11,640
be my pet theory.
I reject the German group, it's

877
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,600
all, but I do still want him as
a protagonist in a supernatural

878
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,480
romance.
However, I'm leaning this way.

879
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:21,200
I'm leaning in the direction of
of the Welsh headless horse

880
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:23,680
woman.
Just a thought anyway.

881
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,320
So Wikipedia has a section about
an English Headless Horseman

882
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,840
myth and it says English like
England whatever above it.

883
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:34,200
But then I go on to read it, and
then it discusses the Green

884
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:41,640
Knight, an Arthurian legend, and
King Arthur is Welsh and the

885
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:46,720
King Arthur legends are Welsh.
So what is this Welsh erasure in

886
00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:49,040
2025?
What is this?

887
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:52,240
Is this Victorian Times?
What is this like?

888
00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:55,960
So listen, if you like to submit
edits on Wikipedia, I'm going to

889
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,920
go ahead and I'm going to ask
you to suggest that they change

890
00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:04,480
that Headless Horseman article
title from English Headless

891
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:07,560
Horseman to specifically the
Welsh section.

892
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:10,160
And you know what?
If Wikipedia accepts that edit,

893
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:12,720
I will send you a Madam
Strangeway sticker in the mail.

894
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,120
e-mail me, e-mail me a
screenshot of your successful

895
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,920
Wikipedia edit to
madamstrangeway@gmail.com.

896
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:22,160
I will send you a sticker
because that is how confident I

897
00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:25,440
am that that is wrong.
And I specifically, before you

898
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:29,120
ask, I did Google.
I double checked that the Green

899
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:33,120
Knight story is not some of the
English fan fiction that's

900
00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,640
written about King Arthur.
No no no, it is some of the

901
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:39,800
original Welsh stories.
So anyway, here's the Green

902
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:42,240
Knight in Arthurian legend from
Wikipedia.

903
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:45,400
In Camelot on New Year's Eve,
King Arthur's court is

904
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,400
exchanging gifts and waiting for
the feastings just to start,

905
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:52,280
when all of a sudden a giant
figure, entirely green in

906
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:54,840
appearance and riding a green
horse again.

907
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,560
It's like the headless woman
riding a headless horse.

908
00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:00,200
Now it's a Green Man riding a
green horse.

909
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:02,440
Interesting.
Rides unexpectedly into the

910
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,520
hall.
He wears no armor, but wears an

911
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:09,160
axe in one hand and bears an axe
in one hand and a holly bow in

912
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,400
the other, So refusing to fight
anyone there on the grounds that

913
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:15,320
they are all too weak.
He insists that he has come for

914
00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,400
a friendly Christmas game, which
is when you find out what he

915
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:19,920
says.
It's not very friendly, and it

916
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:23,320
doesn't sound like a game.
Someone is to strike him once

917
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:26,480
with his axe on the condition
that the Green Knight may return

918
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:30,320
the blow in a year and a day.
The axe will then belong to

919
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,600
whoever accepts the deal.
So King Arthur is like, I don't

920
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:36,880
see anyone else volunteering.
I guess it's got to be me then,

921
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:40,280
'cause I can't let no one take
this challenge.

922
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,320
I'll have to take it.
But then Sir Gawain, the

923
00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:46,960
youngest of Arthur's Knights and
Arthur's nephew, asks for the

924
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:48,640
honor instead.
Of course, like the young

925
00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:50,040
upstart.
Besides, he wants to prove

926
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:52,680
himself right?
Like child, please sit down.

927
00:50:53,240 --> 00:50:59,000
So the giant, the green knight,
the Green Giant, is he jolly?

928
00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:02,360
Oh my God, is this where the
Jelly Green Giant comes from?

929
00:51:02,360 --> 00:51:05,320
OK, moving on.
The giant bends and bares his

930
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:08,640
neck before him, and Gawain
neatly beheads him in one

931
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:10,600
stroke.
Which is interesting because

932
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:13,120
what do you mean?
Why would you behead him?

933
00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:14,680
Why not just give him a little
nick?

934
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:16,520
You know, just a little.
Slice.

935
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,680
That's like, not a big deal, you
just put a, put a Band-Aid on

936
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:21,160
it.
If you're going to get the same

937
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:24,400
blow in a year and a day anyway,
it doesn't matter, we're moving

938
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:26,760
on.
So he beheads the Green Knight.

939
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,720
And then, however, the Green
Knight neither falls nor

940
00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:34,440
falters, but instead reaches
out, picks up his severed head

941
00:51:34,640 --> 00:51:38,040
and mounts his green horse.
So the Green Knight shows his

942
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:41,760
bleeding head to Queen Guinevere
while it reminds Gawain that the

943
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:44,960
two must meet again at the Green
Chapel in a year and a day,

944
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:48,040
before the Knight rides away.
And Wayne and Arthur admire the

945
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:51,400
axe, hang it up as a trophy, and
encourage Guinevere to treat the

946
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,880
whole matter lightly.
Like, don't worry honey, it's

947
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:57,680
fine, Poor Guinevere, Why did he
show Guinevere?

948
00:51:57,680 --> 00:51:59,320
You'll find out, because I've
already read this.

949
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:02,880
So as the date approaches, Sir
Gawain leaves to find the Green

950
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:04,400
Chapel and keep his part of the
bargain.

951
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,200
So he goes on some adventures
and some battles which kind of

952
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:11,040
just vaguely, like, lost over.
Anyway, he shows up at this

953
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:13,440
castle and there's the Lord of
the castle and the Lord's

954
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:16,560
beautiful wife, who are very
happy to have such a renowned

955
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:18,560
guest as one of Arthur's
Knights.

956
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:23,720
So also present is this old and
ugly lady that not my words

957
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:26,360
unnamed, but treated with great
honor by all.

958
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,320
So Gwen tells them of his New
Year's Eve appointment at the

959
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:31,640
Green Chapel with the Green
Giant, and that he's going to

960
00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:34,440
get his head chopped off.
The Lord laughs and explains

961
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:36,800
that like, Oh yeah, there's a
path over here, it'll take you

962
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,600
to the Chapel in less than two
miles, and why don't you just

963
00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:42,280
rest here and hang out until you
go to meet your doom?

964
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:44,880
Cool.
So Gawain hangs out at the

965
00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:48,560
castle, and then the Lord of the
castle decides to propose a

966
00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:50,720
bargain to him.
So the Lord is like, I'm going

967
00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:54,000
to go hunting every day, and I
will give you whatever I capture

968
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:59,000
on my hunt on the condition that
you, Sir Gawain, give me

969
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,800
whatever you gain during your
day here in my castle.

970
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:05,880
Interesting.
Gawain accepts, of course.

971
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:11,520
So after, however, the Lord
leaves his wife, the beautiful

972
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:16,160
wife visits Gawain's bedroom and
behaves seductively and

973
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:19,760
temptingly, but despite her best
efforts, Gawain allows her

974
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:23,320
nothing but a single kiss.
So when the Lord returns from

975
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:26,640
his hunting and gives Gawain the
deer that he has killed on his

976
00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:31,120
hunting trip, Gawain has to then
give him what he got at the

977
00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:33,360
castle while he was out hunting,
which is a kiss.

978
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:37,800
So Gowen gives him a kiss
without divulging its source.

979
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:40,120
I think I also need to read this
book.

980
00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:42,640
This is also a book I need to
read.

981
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:46,080
I understand this is classic
literature.

982
00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:47,680
That's mythology.
OK, it's a joke.

983
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:49,360
I'm making jokes.
All right?

984
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:53,240
Anyway, the next day, the
beautiful wife of the Lord

985
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,320
returns to Gawain, who again
courteously foils her advances.

986
00:53:56,320 --> 00:53:58,720
And later that day there was a
similar exchange of a haunted

987
00:53:58,720 --> 00:54:02,360
boar from the Lord, because
that's what he caught on his

988
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,920
hunting that day.
And so then Gawain then had to

989
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:08,520
give the Lord 2 kisses.
The Lord is not questioning.

990
00:54:08,520 --> 00:54:10,880
The Lord is not asking any
questions in this story, which I

991
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:14,000
find interesting.
So then again, of course,

992
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:17,120
because it's always in threes.
So the the lovely lady comes

993
00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:20,080
once more on the third evening,
but once again her advances are

994
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:23,000
denied.
And so she offers Gawain a gold

995
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:26,640
ring as a keeps cake, keep well,
keeps cake, keeps cake.

996
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,800
He gently but steadfastly
refuses, but she pleads that he

997
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:32,920
at least take her sash, which is
a girdle of green and gold silk.

998
00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:35,840
So the sash, the lady assures
him, is charmed and will keep

999
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:40,840
him safe from all physical harm.
Tempted because he's thinking

1000
00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:43,040
he's going to have to get his
head chopped off the next day,

1001
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:47,080
Gawain takes it and they
exchange 3 kisses instead of the

1002
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:48,480
usual one or two.
Again.

1003
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:51,520
It's always threes, right?
So the lady has Gawain swear

1004
00:54:51,520 --> 00:54:54,120
that he will keep the gift of
the sash secret from her

1005
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:56,960
husband.
So that evening her husband

1006
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:59,360
shows back up with a fox from
his hunt.

1007
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,280
He gives it to Gawain.
Gawain then gives him three

1008
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,880
kisses.
He's now given this man 5 kisses

1009
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:10,080
no questions, but notably Gawain
does not give him the sash.

1010
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:12,960
It doesn't mention the gold ring
though, so I don't know where

1011
00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:15,760
the gold ring went.
Anyway, the next day Sir Gawain

1012
00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:19,200
binds sash around his waist.
So outside of the Green Chapel,

1013
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:22,760
he finds the Green Knight
sharpening and axe waiting for

1014
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:26,600
him so that he can visit the
same blow that Gawain gave to

1015
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:28,080
him, which is of course
beheading him.

1016
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:31,920
So as promised, Gawain bends his
bared neck to receive his blow.

1017
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:35,600
At the first swing, Gawain
flinches slightly and the Green

1018
00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:39,320
Knight belittles him for it.
Like Oh my God, I just picture

1019
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:43,200
you like ha ha ha, that's so
mean.

1020
00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:46,040
Ashamed of himself.
Gawain does not flinched, does

1021
00:55:46,040 --> 00:55:47,880
not flinch from the second
swing.

1022
00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:50,480
But again, the Green Knight
withholds the full force of his

1023
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:52,160
blow.
So the knight explains.

1024
00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:54,440
The Green Knight explains that
he was testing Gawain's nerve.

1025
00:55:54,720 --> 00:55:58,000
Angrily, Gawain tells him to
deliver his blow.

1026
00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:02,000
And so the knight does, causing
only a slight wound on Gawain's

1027
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:03,800
neck.
Which is what I am saying Gawain

1028
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:05,000
should have done in the 1st
place.

1029
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:09,000
Isn't that interesting?
And so the the game is done

1030
00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:11,480
because it only causes a slight
wound on his neck.

1031
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:14,720
I don't know why Gawain seizes
his sword, helmet and shield,

1032
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:18,560
but the Green Knight laughing
reveals himself to be none other

1033
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:23,320
than the Lord of the castle, who
was transformed by magic.

1034
00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:26,800
He explains that the entire
adventure was just a trick of

1035
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:31,120
the unnamed ugly elderly lady
that Gawain saw at the castle,

1036
00:56:31,280 --> 00:56:35,840
who was actually the sorceress
Morgan la Faye, Arthur's step

1037
00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:39,040
sister, who intended to test
Arthur's Knights and frighten

1038
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,560
Gwyneth to death.
Which, you see now, is why the

1039
00:56:41,560 --> 00:56:46,360
Green Knight decided to show the
bloody head to Guinevere.

1040
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:49,040
The nick Gawain suffered at the
third stroke was because of his

1041
00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:50,520
attempt to conceal the gift of
the sash.

1042
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:52,680
Gawain is ashamed to have
behaved deceitfully, but the

1043
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:54,320
Green Knight laughs and
pronounces him the most

1044
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:57,520
blameless knight in all the
land.

1045
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,280
Isn't that lovely?
I'm going to be honest, I

1046
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:02,760
probably didn't need to read you
that entire story of the Green

1047
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:05,360
Knight, but I thought it was too
interesting not to tell you,

1048
00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:10,640
especially when Gawain is just
kissing this Lord every night.

1049
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:11,480
Like what?
I'm what?

1050
00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:13,840
Am I supposed to not tell you
that story after I read it?

1051
00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:17,040
Sorry, sorry, not sorry.
All right, moving on.

1052
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:21,280
Others have pointed to other
older, vaguely European

1053
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:25,160
traditions for the story of the
Headless Horseman, arguing that

1054
00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:29,360
Washington Irving was inspired
by legends of the Wild Huntsman,

1055
00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:32,560
who is purportedly A ghostly
writer who terrified nighttime

1056
00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,160
travellers with his pack of
hounds in medieval Germany.

1057
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:37,600
Again, we're in Germany.
Why are we always in Germany?

1058
00:57:37,760 --> 00:57:41,480
However, I was trying to find
anything about the Wild Huntsman

1059
00:57:41,520 --> 00:57:44,280
and I couldn't really find
anything, but it kept bringing

1060
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:46,800
me to the Wild Hunt, which we
mentioned earlier.

1061
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:48,800
Remember that pin that we put in
that earlier?

1062
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:50,960
Well, now you can take that pin
out because we're going to talk

1063
00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:53,280
about it.
So the Wild Hunt happened in

1064
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:57,080
Northeast Europe, which doesn't
seem to actually be involving

1065
00:57:57,080 --> 00:58:00,160
any Headless Horseman in
particular, but it did involve

1066
00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:03,840
Ruben Saul, who as we said, I
couldn't actually figure out why

1067
00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:05,840
he has anything to do with the
Headless Horseman myth.

1068
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:07,480
But you know what?
Here's The thing is the story is

1069
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:09,080
just really cool.
So we're going to talk about it.

1070
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:13,840
So the Wild Hunt flies through
the sky and is made-up of black

1071
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,120
hounds and wolves.
Sometimes even werewolves were

1072
00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:21,200
depicted as stealing beer and
sometimes food from houses.

1073
00:58:21,720 --> 00:58:27,760
Horses were portrayed AS236 and
eight legged, often with fiery

1074
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:30,720
eyes with flocks of crows and
Ravens overhead.

1075
00:58:30,880 --> 00:58:33,280
Sometimes led by the devil
himself.

1076
00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:38,240
How badass is that?
How badass is that?

1077
00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:41,200
So cool.
It actually used to be led by

1078
00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:45,120
Odin, or at least people
associated with Odin, and

1079
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:48,320
instead of demons and werewolves
it originally involved a chase

1080
00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:51,440
led by a mythological figure
escorted by a ghostly or

1081
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:55,560
supernatural group of non
demonic deities engaged in some

1082
00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:58,160
sort of spectral hunt.
But as you know.

1083
00:58:58,480 --> 00:59:02,800
This is This is.
How this is how Christianity and

1084
00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:07,560
Catholicism handled anything
remotely Pagan is they made it

1085
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:12,160
scary and they made it demonic.
So it wasn't always demonic or

1086
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:14,560
scary.
It used to just be Norse

1087
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,520
mythology.
It used to just be Norse Pagan

1088
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:20,640
beliefs.
Jacob Grimm of the brothers fame

1089
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:24,120
and also a folklorist, believed
that under the influence of

1090
00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:28,600
Christianization, which is a
word that I did not just make

1091
00:59:28,600 --> 00:59:29,800
up.
It sounds like I did.

1092
00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:32,240
I'm not being sarcastic, it
really is a word.

1093
00:59:32,600 --> 00:59:35,880
The Wild Hunt story was
converted from being that of a

1094
00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:40,560
solemn March of gods to being a
pack of horrid specters dashed

1095
00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:42,480
with dark and devilish
ingredient.

1096
00:59:42,520 --> 00:59:45,640
And some suggest that the Wild
Hunt actually influenced our

1097
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:49,600
modern day Santa Claus.
Listen, I prefer the Wild Hunt

1098
00:59:49,600 --> 00:59:51,160
to Santa Claus.
I'm going to be honest.

1099
00:59:51,720 --> 00:59:55,000
OK, we're going to pop on over
to Ireland and according to

1100
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:59,840
legend, the Dullahan is an Irish
legend of an evil fairy Headless

1101
00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,600
Horseman.
Now remember, fairies are

1102
01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:08,320
generally not good characters.
In a lot of Celtic, especially

1103
01:00:08,320 --> 01:00:11,720
folklore, fairies are kind of
bad guys and they're sneaky and

1104
01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:14,520
especially this one is evil, so
just keep that in mind.

1105
01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:18,520
So the Dullahan is an Irish
legend of an evil fairy Headless

1106
01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:20,600
Horseman who seems to be the
harbinger of.

1107
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:23,440
Death.
His name means dark man in

1108
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:25,920
Gaelic.
The Dullahan originated around

1109
01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:29,640
the 6th century in Ireland.
He uses this is so cool.

1110
01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:33,960
He uses a human spine as a horse
whip, and the head he carries

1111
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:37,720
under his arm has the
consistency of molded cheese,

1112
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,640
which is so cool.
The Brothers Grimm actually

1113
01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:44,560
wrote 2 similar Headless
Horseman tales based

1114
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:49,280
specifically on this Irish
Headless Horseman, including a

1115
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:52,800
tale of an unlucky woman who
sees the monster and the tale of

1116
01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:56,680
a Headless Horseman whose
hunting horn warns hunters of

1117
01:00:56,680 --> 01:01:00,000
impending doom.
So this next bit is from Rutgers

1118
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:02,680
University Camden.
Again, this is something that

1119
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:04,960
like, did I need to include it?
Probably not, but it's really

1120
01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:06,280
interesting so I'm going to read
it.

1121
01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:12,840
So in ancient medieval Ireland,
the High King Tigernmus, we're

1122
01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:15,280
going to go with that.
The High King Tigernmus, who

1123
01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:21,760
lived from 1621 until 1544 BC,
would conduct various

1124
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:26,080
sacrificial rituals to the evil
deity named Crom Kua.

1125
01:01:26,480 --> 01:01:31,520
Which does that not sound kind
of like Brom Crom Brom Bones.

1126
01:01:31,840 --> 01:01:34,680
It's a it's an alliteration.
Same with Crom Kua.

1127
01:01:35,280 --> 01:01:37,840
OK.
The most common form of Pagan

1128
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:40,120
sacrifice was human
decapitation.

1129
01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:43,440
And this practice would go on
for centuries until the 5th

1130
01:01:43,440 --> 01:01:47,000
century AD, when Saint Patrick
ended the practice and brought

1131
01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:51,480
Christianity into Irish culture,
which is a whole nother.

1132
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:53,560
I'm not getting into this right
now.

1133
01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:55,920
I'm not getting into this.
OK, I'm going to get into it a

1134
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,000
little bit.
Saint Patrick was not Irish, he

1135
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:01,680
was English.
And when he drove the snakes out

1136
01:02:01,680 --> 01:02:06,720
of Ireland, the snakes were the
Irish, The the the snakes were

1137
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:09,280
the Irish.
So Saint Patrick not really a

1138
01:02:09,280 --> 01:02:12,160
good guy anyway.
Saint Patrick ended the practice

1139
01:02:12,160 --> 01:02:15,640
of decapitations, according to
Rutgers University.

1140
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:18,320
This is not me, this is Rutgers.
St.

1141
01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:21,600
Patrick ended the practice of
decapitation for sacrificial

1142
01:02:21,600 --> 01:02:25,240
purposes and brought
Christianity into Irish culture.

1143
01:02:25,480 --> 01:02:29,800
As legend goes, Krom Kroch took
on a human form and became the

1144
01:02:29,800 --> 01:02:34,200
Dullahan to search for souls he
could now take now that they

1145
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:38,200
were no longer being given to
him through sacrificial means.

1146
01:02:38,800 --> 01:02:42,360
The Dullahan's appearance is
said to be of a decapitated

1147
01:02:42,360 --> 01:02:45,560
horseman holding a moldy looking
head under his arm.

1148
01:02:45,560 --> 01:02:47,840
Like the cheese, right?
Moldy looking cheese.

1149
01:02:47,840 --> 01:02:52,400
Weird with his eyes darting in
many directions, which honestly

1150
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:54,800
I feel like that's the scariest
part so far that we've talked

1151
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:57,240
about is the eyes darting in
different directions.

1152
01:02:57,640 --> 01:03:00,440
In the decapitated head, the
Dulahan is possessed with

1153
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:03,360
supernatural sight, allowing him
to see all of the Irish

1154
01:03:03,360 --> 01:03:05,520
countryside to stalk his next
victim.

1155
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:08,560
Whenever the Dulahan stops
writing, he speaks the name of

1156
01:03:08,560 --> 01:03:11,240
his next victim and claims his
or her soul.

1157
01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:15,080
Each ride, the Dulahan's head
has only enough energy to speak

1158
01:03:15,080 --> 01:03:18,640
that of its next victim's name
to preserve its energy for its

1159
01:03:18,640 --> 01:03:20,800
hunt.
It is also said that whoever

1160
01:03:20,800 --> 01:03:24,080
looks upon his face while he is
riding for his victim either

1161
01:03:24,080 --> 01:03:28,720
becomes blind or is marked with
blood as the Dulahan's next

1162
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:31,320
victim.
There's only one way to ward off

1163
01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:34,960
this ancient Irish fairy, and
that is by throwing gold in his

1164
01:03:34,960 --> 01:03:40,560
direction, Which I'm going to
say if you want to ward me away,

1165
01:03:40,680 --> 01:03:43,560
that is also a really good way
to do that.

1166
01:03:43,920 --> 01:03:47,920
That's how you can ward me away.
OK, I know, I said I was leaning

1167
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:52,800
towards the Welsh story actually
being the most likely reason

1168
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,600
that Washington Irving made the
Headless Horseman.

1169
01:03:56,920 --> 01:03:59,760
This one feels really.
Compelling as well.

1170
01:03:59,960 --> 01:04:05,720
This one feels especially Krom
Kroch or man, I know I'm

1171
01:04:05,920 --> 01:04:07,840
butchering that.
Again, if you're you know what,

1172
01:04:07,840 --> 01:04:11,720
if you're Irish and you speak
Gaelic of any sort, you don't

1173
01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:13,920
have to be Irish.
If you speak any kind of Gaelic,

1174
01:04:13,960 --> 01:04:16,040
e-mail me
madamstrangeways@gmail.com.

1175
01:04:16,040 --> 01:04:19,560
I will personally apologize to
you as well or anyone that I

1176
01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:21,600
have offended with my terrible
pronunciation.

1177
01:04:21,600 --> 01:04:23,720
I'm trying, you guys, please.
I'm trying.

1178
01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:26,760
Anyway, I'm kind of leaning
towards this one.

1179
01:04:26,760 --> 01:04:31,920
I'm leaning towards the Dulahan,
honestly, like this is feeling,

1180
01:04:33,080 --> 01:04:34,400
I don't know.
But we're not even done.

1181
01:04:34,400 --> 01:04:36,600
We have one more, one more, OK,
one more.

1182
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:40,760
Because something that I was
reading specifically said that

1183
01:04:40,760 --> 01:04:47,000
it was probably Walter, Sir
Walter Scott's poem, The Chase,

1184
01:04:47,560 --> 01:04:51,120
that was a direct inspiration
for Washington Irving to create

1185
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:54,560
The Headless Horseman.
So Sir Walter Scott, who also

1186
01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:58,280
happens to be an actual Scott.
So he was Scottish, he was

1187
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:02,560
friends with Irving.
And from what I understand, Sir

1188
01:05:02,560 --> 01:05:06,800
Walter Scott translated an old
German poem again, Germany.

1189
01:05:06,800 --> 01:05:08,560
What going what?
What's going on?

1190
01:05:09,040 --> 01:05:11,880
And it's not just a short poem,
it's a very long poem that Sir

1191
01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:16,800
Scott translated about a devil
chasing this guy just forever

1192
01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:19,280
and ever just endlessly chasing
him.

1193
01:05:19,280 --> 01:05:22,600
I pulled up the poem and I
skimmed it and I did do like a

1194
01:05:22,600 --> 01:05:25,520
control F looking for the word
headless.

1195
01:05:26,000 --> 01:05:28,680
You know, I was trying to find
any sort of like, is there a

1196
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:32,040
Headless Horseman in the story?
Is that where we're is that,

1197
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:35,040
come on, is there anything?
So I did do a control F for

1198
01:05:35,040 --> 01:05:36,360
headless, which came up with
nothing.

1199
01:05:36,520 --> 01:05:41,680
So I tried just head and it did
pull up this first instance of

1200
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:45,280
the word head in the poem quote
UN quote.

1201
01:05:45,280 --> 01:05:48,600
Here's the quote.
And when the Brig of Turk was

1202
01:05:48,600 --> 01:05:57,440
one, the head most horseman rode
alone head most horseman most

1203
01:05:57,440 --> 01:06:00,840
being the opposite of less,
right?

1204
01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:05,200
The head most instead of
Headless Horseman.

1205
01:06:05,520 --> 01:06:08,960
That's the opposite of headless
head most.

1206
01:06:09,160 --> 01:06:12,840
It just means like the first
horseman of the group of

1207
01:06:12,840 --> 01:06:16,600
horsemen, right?
But honestly, maybe Washington

1208
01:06:16,600 --> 01:06:19,840
Irving saw the phrase head most
'cause, you know, he had a

1209
01:06:19,840 --> 01:06:21,800
really good eye for weird names,
right?

1210
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:24,320
And like things that he could
just tuck away to use in a story

1211
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:26,240
later.
Honestly, I think it's

1212
01:06:26,240 --> 01:06:29,080
completely possible that
Washington Irving saw the phrase

1213
01:06:29,240 --> 01:06:33,160
head most horseman and was like,
I like that.

1214
01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:36,560
I like it's got a ring to it.
But like, wait, what if we, what

1215
01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:39,960
if we flipped it and it was
Headless Horseman, Dun, Dun,

1216
01:06:39,960 --> 01:06:41,320
Dun.
I don't know.

1217
01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:43,400
I mean, it could be, you know,
it could also be a combination

1218
01:06:43,400 --> 01:06:45,480
of any of these.
It could be a combination with

1219
01:06:45,480 --> 01:06:47,920
rubitzal.
It could be a combination with

1220
01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:52,400
the Green Knight in Arthurian
legend or with the headless

1221
01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:54,520
woman.
It could be a combination of

1222
01:06:54,520 --> 01:06:56,840
everything.
Because isn't that what America,

1223
01:06:56,840 --> 01:06:59,400
especially early America was
just like a melting pot?

1224
01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:02,280
Totally possible.
So let me know.

1225
01:07:02,280 --> 01:07:04,720
Let me know we're we're moving
on to setting in history.

1226
01:07:04,720 --> 01:07:07,080
But before we do that, let me
know madness Strangeways at

1227
01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:10,440
gmailcom.
Which of these stories do you

1228
01:07:10,440 --> 01:07:13,640
think inspired Washington Irving
for The Headless Horseman?

1229
01:07:13,640 --> 01:07:16,000
Let me know.
So the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1230
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:20,120
takes place about 14 years after
the end of the American

1231
01:07:20,120 --> 01:07:22,720
Revolution, which is not that
far.

1232
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:25,480
That's not that long after.
So just, you know, like I said,

1233
01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:28,200
the the Hessians, those are
still on everyone's mind.

1234
01:07:28,400 --> 01:07:32,000
Also Americans are feeling very
patriotic, but they're also kind

1235
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:35,280
of having something of an
identity crisis of sorts because

1236
01:07:35,280 --> 01:07:37,760
so much of their culture, like I
said, is a melting pot.

1237
01:07:37,760 --> 01:07:41,160
And it's basically just hand me
downs from the cultures that

1238
01:07:41,160 --> 01:07:45,800
they came to America with.
So that's partly why Washington

1239
01:07:45,800 --> 01:07:49,840
Irving writing this first
American, first Great American

1240
01:07:49,840 --> 01:07:53,440
ghost story is such a big deal
because there wasn't really like

1241
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:58,520
American culture because it was
all borrowed or stolen, some

1242
01:07:58,520 --> 01:08:01,440
might say.
But as you can see, he did just

1243
01:08:01,440 --> 01:08:05,400
take it from he did just take it
from somewhere else in Europe.

1244
01:08:05,880 --> 01:08:08,040
So, you know, it's fine.
Don't worry about it.

1245
01:08:08,040 --> 01:08:11,440
That's just the American way.
It's the American way.

1246
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:16,080
But Sleepy Hollow, the town you
may read in some places if you

1247
01:08:16,080 --> 01:08:19,120
are so interested in doing such
things, Sleepy Hollow is

1248
01:08:19,120 --> 01:08:23,720
sometimes said to either be one
of two towns, like some people

1249
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:26,920
say it was Kinderhook and some
people say it was actually

1250
01:08:26,920 --> 01:08:29,880
Tarrytown.
And you know, we don't know who

1251
01:08:29,880 --> 01:08:31,760
knows?
Well, no, it's pretty well

1252
01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:34,720
documented.
So the original name for the

1253
01:08:34,720 --> 01:08:37,479
village of North Tarry Town was
Sleepy Hollow.

1254
01:08:37,640 --> 01:08:41,520
Officials changed the name from
Sleepy Hollow to North Tarrytown

1255
01:08:41,520 --> 01:08:46,479
in 1883, but in 1996 they
changed it back to the original

1256
01:08:46,479 --> 01:08:49,800
Sleepy Hollow.
Not to settle the dispute that

1257
01:08:49,800 --> 01:08:52,720
was happening with the nearby
Kinderhook, where U.S.

1258
01:08:52,720 --> 01:08:55,880
President Martin Van Buren
wrongly insisted that Sleepy

1259
01:08:55,880 --> 01:08:59,080
Hollow was based on Kinderhook
because he just wanted it to be.

1260
01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:02,720
But actually to they changed the
name back to Sleepy Hollow to

1261
01:09:02,720 --> 01:09:06,000
capitalize on its name to
attract tourists because the

1262
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:10,840
General Motors plant in
Tarrytown, AKA Sleepy Hollow

1263
01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:13,560
closed.
So if the town didn't do

1264
01:09:13,560 --> 01:09:17,640
something drastic, it was going
to become even more of a ghost

1265
01:09:17,640 --> 01:09:21,600
town than before.
Oh, real ghosts.

1266
01:09:21,680 --> 01:09:24,399
No, not real ghosts.
Oh, not real ghosts.

1267
01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:27,479
The Headless Horseman is the
ghost, but it would be a ghost

1268
01:09:27,479 --> 01:09:30,760
town because GM plant made
everyone have to leave.

1269
01:09:30,800 --> 01:09:34,800
Do you see what I mean?
OK but imagine buying a car that

1270
01:09:34,800 --> 01:09:39,000
was assembled in Sleepy Hollow.
Imagine they still have to be

1271
01:09:39,240 --> 01:09:43,840
kicking.
Like if this was 1996 ish that

1272
01:09:43,840 --> 01:09:47,560
the GM plant closed someone
still has to own a car.

1273
01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:50,479
Let me know Madam
strangewas@gmail.com Do you have

1274
01:09:50,479 --> 01:09:55,560
a car AGM car that could have
possibly been assembled in

1275
01:09:55,560 --> 01:10:00,600
Sleepy Hollow prior to 1996?
I'm I can't wait to find out.

1276
01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:06,640
Is it haunted me know so
Tarrytown slash Sleepy Hollow is

1277
01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:09,320
a real place in New York's lower
Hudson Valley, and the first

1278
01:10:09,320 --> 01:10:12,320
Europeans to settle in the
region were Dutch farmers, fur

1279
01:10:12,320 --> 01:10:15,480
trappers and fishermen around
the year 1645.

1280
01:10:15,840 --> 01:10:20,360
So when the legend of Sleepy
Hollow begins around 1790, the

1281
01:10:20,360 --> 01:10:23,840
town would have already had
about 150 years of history,

1282
01:10:23,920 --> 01:10:27,920
which in American terms is a
long time.

1283
01:10:28,120 --> 01:10:32,920
That is a very long time in in
European history, history that's

1284
01:10:32,920 --> 01:10:35,280
just like a blip.
It's just not that much time.

1285
01:10:36,040 --> 01:10:43,400
Also, fun fact, the high school
school sports, the high school

1286
01:10:43,400 --> 01:10:47,440
sports team, I assume football,
but did not check the high

1287
01:10:47,440 --> 01:10:50,320
school sports team is the
horseman.

1288
01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:53,800
Isn't that fun?
So I kind of accidentally

1289
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:56,720
included all the other history
points in some of the other

1290
01:10:56,720 --> 01:10:58,160
conversations that we've been
having.

1291
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:03,320
So that section is now done easy
next, moving on to Washington

1292
01:11:03,320 --> 01:11:07,880
Irving himself.
So Washington Irving, born 1783,

1293
01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:12,760
died 1859, published The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow in 1819 as part

1294
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:15,280
of a collection of stories
titled The Sketchbook of Jeffrey

1295
01:11:15,280 --> 01:11:16,680
Crayon.
We are here again.

1296
01:11:16,680 --> 01:11:19,440
Remember so long ago now I told
you to put a pin in it.

1297
01:11:19,680 --> 01:11:21,720
Now take that pin out.
We're addressing the pin.

1298
01:11:21,880 --> 01:11:26,000
So like I said, he is often
considered the first Great

1299
01:11:26,000 --> 01:11:29,280
American writer, which mind you,
at the time of publishing in

1300
01:11:29,280 --> 01:11:32,760
1819, Edgar Allan Poe was only
10 years old.

1301
01:11:32,960 --> 01:11:37,280
Walt Whitman was 0 years old.
And prior to this, most of the

1302
01:11:37,280 --> 01:11:40,480
writing that came out of America
since the 1700s was just

1303
01:11:40,480 --> 01:11:44,920
founding fathers yapping a bunch
of hyper religio stuff.

1304
01:11:45,160 --> 01:11:50,480
And oh, the history.
The history of the expedition.

1305
01:11:50,960 --> 01:11:54,160
Hold on the history of the
expedition under the command of

1306
01:11:54,160 --> 01:11:57,320
the captains Lewis and Clark in
1814.

1307
01:11:57,760 --> 01:12:01,760
But that wasn't fiction, so they
didn't really consider it to be

1308
01:12:01,760 --> 01:12:05,440
the first Great American novel.
Irving was one of the first

1309
01:12:05,440 --> 01:12:08,840
American writers to earn acclaim
in Europe, and he encouraged

1310
01:12:08,840 --> 01:12:12,840
other American authors such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne Hawthorne,

1311
01:12:13,080 --> 01:12:17,040
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
That's a long name for a

1312
01:12:17,040 --> 01:12:20,960
Longfellow, Herman Melville and
like I said, Edgar Allan Poe.

1313
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:24,120
So he was also a admired by some
British writers, which is a big

1314
01:12:24,120 --> 01:12:27,040
deal because the Brits just
didn't think very highly of us

1315
01:12:27,040 --> 01:12:29,840
at all.
So some British writers that

1316
01:12:29,840 --> 01:12:33,120
admire him included Lord Byron,
Thomas Campbell, Charles

1317
01:12:33,120 --> 01:12:36,640
Dickens, Mary Shelley, Francis
Jeffrey and Walter Scott.

1318
01:12:36,960 --> 01:12:40,360
He also advocated for writing as
a legitimate profession.

1319
01:12:40,480 --> 01:12:44,080
So kudos to him.
And he argued for stronger laws

1320
01:12:44,080 --> 01:12:47,400
to protect American writers from
copyright infringement.

1321
01:12:47,640 --> 01:12:51,120
So I'm, I'm, I'm a fan.
I'm a fan.

1322
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:55,920
When he died in 1859, he was
actually buried in the Sleepy

1323
01:12:55,920 --> 01:13:00,200
Hollow Cemetery because he ended
up moving back there later in

1324
01:13:00,200 --> 01:13:02,680
his life.
Now, you may have wondered

1325
01:13:02,680 --> 01:13:06,240
earlier who the heck Jeffrey
Crayon is in the book titled The

1326
01:13:06,240 --> 01:13:09,760
Sketchbook of Jeffrey Crayon,
because I told you just probably

1327
01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:11,640
one minute ago that we were
going to address the pen.

1328
01:13:11,640 --> 01:13:13,520
And then I kind of kept talking.
So here we are.

1329
01:13:13,520 --> 01:13:17,000
We're back to the pen.
Well, Washington Irving, a man

1330
01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:18,680
with an already kind of weird
name.

1331
01:13:19,040 --> 01:13:23,440
Washington Irving, his first
name being named after George

1332
01:13:23,440 --> 01:13:27,000
Washington, but he wasn't named
George Irving.

1333
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:29,240
He was named Washington Irving,
which is interesting.

1334
01:13:29,240 --> 01:13:34,520
But this man loved pen names.
He loved pen names.

1335
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:37,560
He used so many numbed plumes
it's kind of crazy.

1336
01:13:38,240 --> 01:13:40,000
He even loved especially weird
ones.

1337
01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:41,480
Those are his favorite ones to
come up with.

1338
01:13:41,480 --> 01:13:43,840
These are just the few that I
found, but I bet that there's

1339
01:13:43,840 --> 01:13:45,600
more.
These are some of the names He

1340
01:13:45,760 --> 01:13:48,680
also, he loves an alliteration,
loves them.

1341
01:13:49,160 --> 01:13:53,840
William Wizard.
William Wizard Lancelot

1342
01:13:54,800 --> 01:13:57,600
Langstaff Actually, it's like
Lance a lot.

1343
01:13:57,720 --> 01:14:02,600
Lau Lancelot Langstaff But you
know what that means to me that

1344
01:14:02,600 --> 01:14:06,200
is giving more credence to the
Arthur tale, to the King Arthur

1345
01:14:06,200 --> 01:14:10,560
tale.
I feel like I feel like Wales is

1346
01:14:10,560 --> 01:14:15,600
now it's now winning in my head
of OK, there's just something

1347
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:18,040
there.
OK, The next Jeffrey Crayon

1348
01:14:18,160 --> 01:14:20,320
Esquire.
Not just Jeffrey Crayon.

1349
01:14:20,720 --> 01:14:24,360
And if you're curious, no,
crayons have not been invented.

1350
01:14:24,720 --> 01:14:25,920
Yeah.
Did I say that earlier?

1351
01:14:25,920 --> 01:14:28,280
If not, I meant to.
Crayons had not yet been

1352
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:31,360
invented, just FYI.
So Jeffrey Crayon.

1353
01:14:31,360 --> 01:14:35,040
And remember, Geoffrey is how he
spells it.

1354
01:14:35,240 --> 01:14:39,200
Jeffrey Crayon, Esquire.
Esquire means he's an attorney

1355
01:14:39,400 --> 01:14:41,720
or a lawyer.
It's one of those.

1356
01:14:42,320 --> 01:14:45,200
Then also Deidrick
Knickerbocker, which we're going

1357
01:14:45,200 --> 01:14:46,600
to talk more about in just a
moment.

1358
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:52,560
Then Jonathan, old style gent.
I assume that's a title just

1359
01:14:52,560 --> 01:14:54,520
like Esquire, meaning he's a
gentleman.

1360
01:14:54,640 --> 01:14:57,640
Does that mean he's a landed?
Maybe he's part of the Gentry.

1361
01:14:58,040 --> 01:15:00,080
I didn't go down that rabbit
hole.

1362
01:15:00,080 --> 01:15:02,080
Do you want me to?
No, you don't because we're

1363
01:15:02,080 --> 01:15:04,680
already over an hour, so we're
just going to continue.

1364
01:15:05,200 --> 01:15:08,800
Then finally, the last name that
I found and this one he used in

1365
01:15:08,800 --> 01:15:12,360
Spain, I think when he was
writing about the Alhambra.

1366
01:15:13,240 --> 01:15:18,200
Alehambra, Frey, Antonio
Agapeda.

1367
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:23,320
OK, this is Madame Strangeways
from the future in which I am

1368
01:15:23,320 --> 01:15:26,000
editing this episode and
realized I did not actually tell

1369
01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:31,200
you who Jeffrey Crayon is.
So here we go back from the

1370
01:15:31,200 --> 01:15:33,920
future, which is similar to the
movie.

1371
01:15:33,920 --> 01:15:38,800
Anyway, Jeffrey Crayon is just
this fictional, fictional world

1372
01:15:38,800 --> 01:15:41,840
traveller character that that he
came up with.

1373
01:15:42,080 --> 01:15:46,240
Jeffrey Crayon, he sailed, you
know, fictionally.

1374
01:15:46,560 --> 01:15:51,320
He fictionally sailed from
America to England and explored

1375
01:15:51,320 --> 01:15:55,480
the English countryside and
visited new places and met with

1376
01:15:55,480 --> 01:15:59,000
families and sat down and
learned their local customs and

1377
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:01,800
etcetera, etcetera.
So there it is.

1378
01:16:01,800 --> 01:16:06,640
There it is.
The the very anticlimactic

1379
01:16:06,640 --> 01:16:09,480
answer to the question, who's
Jeffrey Crayon?

1380
01:16:10,120 --> 01:16:12,040
That's it.
All right, back, back to the

1381
01:16:12,040 --> 01:16:16,680
past.
So Irving completed A History of

1382
01:16:16,680 --> 01:16:19,440
New York from the Beginning of
the World to the End of the

1383
01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:23,800
Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich
Knickerbocker in 1809.

1384
01:16:24,160 --> 01:16:28,280
The by Diedrich Knickerbocker is
the part where he's using a pen

1385
01:16:28,280 --> 01:16:32,000
name, except he's also assuming
a completely different fictional

1386
01:16:32,000 --> 01:16:35,520
fabricated character in writing
this history.

1387
01:16:35,760 --> 01:16:39,800
So he's writing this history of
New York as if he is a man named

1388
01:16:39,840 --> 01:16:43,000
Diedrich Knickerbocker, and he
doesn't sign his name on it at

1389
01:16:43,040 --> 01:16:44,520
all.
So that was his first major

1390
01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:49,040
book, and it happened to be a
satire on self important local

1391
01:16:49,040 --> 01:16:51,080
history and contemporary
politics.

1392
01:16:51,280 --> 01:16:54,040
So I've heard him kind of just,
I've heard him described a

1393
01:16:54,040 --> 01:17:00,040
little bit as like Mad magazine,
but in the early 1800s.

1394
01:17:00,400 --> 01:17:04,040
So before its publication,
Irving started a hoax about this

1395
01:17:04,040 --> 01:17:07,040
book about Diedrich
Knickerbocker, which is This is

1396
01:17:07,040 --> 01:17:10,240
why this is such a big name.
So Irving started a hoax by

1397
01:17:10,240 --> 01:17:14,120
placing a series of missing
person advertisements in the OR,

1398
01:17:14,120 --> 01:17:18,440
if you're from the UK,
advertisements in the New York

1399
01:17:18,440 --> 01:17:22,280
Evening Post seeking information
on Diedrich Knickerbocker, on

1400
01:17:22,280 --> 01:17:25,680
the whereabouts of Diedrich
Knickerbocker, who was

1401
01:17:25,680 --> 01:17:29,920
purportedly A crusty Dutch
historian who had allegedly gone

1402
01:17:29,920 --> 01:17:32,240
missing from his hotel in New
York City.

1403
01:17:32,640 --> 01:17:36,040
And as a part of the ruse, he
placed a notice from the hotel's

1404
01:17:36,040 --> 01:17:39,800
proprietor informing readers
that if Mr. Knickerbocker failed

1405
01:17:39,800 --> 01:17:43,000
to return to the hotel to pay
his bill, he would publish A

1406
01:17:43,000 --> 01:17:46,440
manuscript that Knickerbocker
had left behind.

1407
01:17:46,840 --> 01:17:48,680
This is is a master class in
marketing.

1408
01:17:48,920 --> 01:17:53,000
This is like the Blair Witch
Project marketing all over again

1409
01:17:53,240 --> 01:17:56,920
where they put up wanted posters
and missing poster, missing

1410
01:17:56,920 --> 01:18:00,720
posters for the three characters
and the Blair Witch Project and

1411
01:18:00,720 --> 01:18:04,120
then had all these like fake
documentaries about the Blair

1412
01:18:04,120 --> 01:18:06,080
Witch and about the missing
kids.

1413
01:18:06,320 --> 01:18:10,000
Like this is such good marketing
and he was just a one man show.

1414
01:18:10,520 --> 01:18:13,560
So unsuspecting readers followed
the story of Knickerbocker and

1415
01:18:13,560 --> 01:18:16,680
his manuscript with interest.
And some New York City officials

1416
01:18:16,680 --> 01:18:20,040
were concerned enough about the
missing historian to offer a

1417
01:18:20,040 --> 01:18:24,400
reward for his safe return.
I cannot stress enough, Diedrich

1418
01:18:24,400 --> 01:18:27,320
Knickerbocker was not real and
no one was missing.

1419
01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:31,760
But New York City officials were
so convinced that they were

1420
01:18:31,760 --> 01:18:35,040
offering a reward.
Irving then published A History

1421
01:18:35,040 --> 01:18:38,240
of New York on December 6th, 18
O 9 under the Knickerbocker

1422
01:18:38,240 --> 01:18:42,000
pseudonym, which immediate which
was met with immediate critical

1423
01:18:42,000 --> 01:18:45,800
and popular success.
So basically, oh, here's OK,

1424
01:18:45,800 --> 01:18:48,800
this is from Irving.
Irving says it took with the

1425
01:18:48,800 --> 01:18:52,480
public and gave me celebrity as
an original work with something

1426
01:18:52,480 --> 01:18:55,280
remarkable and uncommon in
America.

1427
01:18:55,640 --> 01:18:57,960
So the name Deidrick
Knickerbocker became a nickname

1428
01:18:57,960 --> 01:19:01,160
from Manhattan residents in
general and was adopted by the

1429
01:19:01,160 --> 01:19:04,040
New York Knickerbockers
basketball team.

1430
01:19:04,440 --> 01:19:07,920
And if that wasn't enough,
Washington Irving also gave New

1431
01:19:07,920 --> 01:19:12,080
York City the nickname named
Gotham, which is an Anglo-Saxon

1432
01:19:12,080 --> 01:19:16,240
word meaning Goatstown.
So Batman fans, you have

1433
01:19:16,240 --> 01:19:19,640
Washington Irving to thank for
Gotham ever existing.

1434
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:23,720
So bringing this back to Sleepy
Hollow, the man telling the

1435
01:19:23,720 --> 01:19:29,040
story in the story of the Legend
of Sleepy Hollow in the book the

1436
01:19:29,040 --> 01:19:33,000
Sketchbook of Jeffrey Crayon,
who do you think was the person

1437
01:19:33,000 --> 01:19:34,880
that was actually telling the
story?

1438
01:19:35,160 --> 01:19:41,080
It wasn't Jeffrey Crayon, it was
Diedrich Knickerbocker was the

1439
01:19:41,080 --> 01:19:44,840
one telling us the story of the
Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

1440
01:19:45,640 --> 01:19:50,400
So as so so as you can see,
there is sort of this weird

1441
01:19:50,400 --> 01:19:55,640
Washington Irving literary
universe basically, for lack of

1442
01:19:55,640 --> 01:19:58,040
a better term.
And what I found especially

1443
01:19:58,040 --> 01:20:01,880
interesting about this is that
typically my deep dive episodes

1444
01:20:01,880 --> 01:20:04,000
are about Ed and Lorraine
Warren.

1445
01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:08,560
The.
Alleged demonologists slash

1446
01:20:08,560 --> 01:20:12,400
paranormal investigators who, if
you've listened to any of my

1447
01:20:12,400 --> 01:20:15,760
previous episodes about the
Warrens, I do not believe a

1448
01:20:15,760 --> 01:20:18,240
single word that comes out of
either of their mouths.

1449
01:20:18,760 --> 01:20:22,360
So I find it interesting that
what you find in a lot of the

1450
01:20:22,360 --> 01:20:27,120
Warrens stories is that Ed
Warren and Lorraine Warren, but

1451
01:20:27,120 --> 01:20:31,400
more to a greater extent, Ed
Warren is just creating his own

1452
01:20:31,480 --> 01:20:36,080
Warren paranormal universe.
He's writing his own lore, he's

1453
01:20:36,080 --> 01:20:39,800
making everything up, and he's
selling these stories that are

1454
01:20:39,800 --> 01:20:42,480
definitely not real, but people
are fully buying into it.

1455
01:20:43,200 --> 01:20:48,800
And then somehow the one other
unrelated story that I'm doing

1456
01:20:48,840 --> 01:20:52,000
that has nothing to do with the
Warrens that was suggested to me

1457
01:20:52,200 --> 01:20:58,120
by Keith, my patron, happens to
also involve a man who makes up

1458
01:20:58,120 --> 01:21:01,680
stories and tricks people into
believing them.

1459
01:21:02,600 --> 01:21:05,400
The difference, of course, being
that Washington Irving didn't do

1460
01:21:05,400 --> 01:21:08,520
any harm.
His was out of pure whimsy.

1461
01:21:09,320 --> 01:21:11,600
That's the difference.
Washington Irving was doing this

1462
01:21:11,600 --> 01:21:14,120
out of whimsy.
The Warrens were doing it out of

1463
01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:16,240
greed, and they were fear
mongers.

1464
01:21:16,240 --> 01:21:20,600
And I do not like a fear monger.
That's what I like, Washington

1465
01:21:20,600 --> 01:21:22,680
Irving.
I'm a fan of Washington Irving

1466
01:21:22,680 --> 01:21:25,040
after doing all this research.
So there it is.

1467
01:21:25,040 --> 01:21:30,280
That is the history, the
folklore, the background of the

1468
01:21:30,280 --> 01:21:33,480
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the
story of the Legend of Sleepy

1469
01:21:33,480 --> 01:21:34,880
Hollow.
There, that is.

1470
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:38,360
I also want to make a note
before we get to the story that

1471
01:21:38,840 --> 01:21:43,280
there are at least three parts
in my notes where I typed Sleepy

1472
01:21:43,280 --> 01:21:49,360
Holly instead of Sleepy Hollow
and why Sleepy Holly.

1473
01:21:49,360 --> 01:21:52,480
Everyone knows the Legend of
Sleepy Holly.

1474
01:21:53,360 --> 01:21:54,840
I was tired.
I don't know what to tell you.

1475
01:21:54,880 --> 01:22:00,800
I don't know what to tell you.
OK, so now I will be regaling

1476
01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:05,120
you with a narration of an
abridged version because it's a

1477
01:22:05,120 --> 01:22:09,240
very long story.
It is an abridged version of the

1478
01:22:09,240 --> 01:22:12,360
Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Keep in mind, sometimes it just

1479
01:22:12,360 --> 01:22:14,760
jumps.
Sometimes something is happening

1480
01:22:14,760 --> 01:22:18,600
and it's just going to jump to
the next spot in the story.

1481
01:22:19,000 --> 01:22:22,320
And you know the story, though,
you remember right, Ichabod

1482
01:22:22,320 --> 01:22:27,320
Crane, he's a school teacher.
He is invited to Katrina Van

1483
01:22:27,320 --> 01:22:30,400
Tassels party at her family's
house.

1484
01:22:30,600 --> 01:22:35,440
He wants to marry her because he
wants her vast tracts of land.

1485
01:22:35,600 --> 01:22:38,080
Then he gets spooked by hearing
a story about the Headless

1486
01:22:38,080 --> 01:22:43,040
Horseman told by Brom Bones who
is also competing with him for

1487
01:22:43,040 --> 01:22:47,520
Katrina Van Tassel's hand.
Then on his way back, after he

1488
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:51,120
is turned down by Katrina Van
Tassel when he's riding his

1489
01:22:51,120 --> 01:22:54,920
horse back home, a strange,
scary rider starts tailing him.

1490
01:22:55,120 --> 01:22:57,800
And then it turns out to be the
Headless Horseman.

1491
01:22:58,160 --> 01:23:02,440
Or does it?
We'll find out in this abridged

1492
01:23:02,440 --> 01:23:07,840
version of The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow written by Washington

1493
01:23:07,840 --> 01:23:10,120
Irving.
But before I get started, I also

1494
01:23:10,120 --> 01:23:12,360
just want to make sure everybody
has a really happy Halloween.

1495
01:23:12,360 --> 01:23:14,520
Happy Halloween, everyone.
Thank you so much for listening

1496
01:23:14,520 --> 01:23:17,120
to the show.
And I hope everyone had a great

1497
01:23:17,120 --> 01:23:19,080
strange Topper.
Oh.

1498
01:23:19,640 --> 01:23:21,960
Did you hear that Thunder?
Very realistic.

1499
01:23:22,280 --> 01:23:24,640
It sounds like it's about to
rain Hellcats and hell hounds

1500
01:23:24,640 --> 01:23:28,200
out there, so you know what that
means.

1501
01:23:28,360 --> 01:23:34,000
On to our not true at all
Strange Halloween story here on

1502
01:23:34,000 --> 01:23:39,120
Madam Strange Ways.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1503
01:23:39,440 --> 01:23:44,760
abridged by Washington Irving in
this byplays of nature, they're

1504
01:23:44,760 --> 01:23:48,080
abode in a remote period of
American history, that is to

1505
01:23:48,080 --> 01:23:52,440
say, some 30 years since.
A worthy white narrator's note

1506
01:23:52,440 --> 01:23:56,960
here that's Wight, meaning a
person of a specified kind,

1507
01:23:57,240 --> 01:23:59,960
especially 1 regarded as
unfortunate.

1508
01:24:00,960 --> 01:24:05,480
A worthy white of the name of
Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or

1509
01:24:05,480 --> 01:24:09,200
as he expressed it, tarried in
Sleepy Hollow for the purpose of

1510
01:24:09,200 --> 01:24:11,440
instructing the children of the
vicinity.

1511
01:24:12,400 --> 01:24:15,600
He was a native of Connecticut,
a state which supplies the union

1512
01:24:15,600 --> 01:24:19,480
with pioneers for the mind as
well As for the forest, and

1513
01:24:19,480 --> 01:24:23,320
sends forth yearly it's legions
of frontier woodsman and country

1514
01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:26,960
school masters.
The cognomen of Crane was not

1515
01:24:26,960 --> 01:24:30,800
inapplicable to his person.
He was tall, but exceedingly

1516
01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:35,200
link, with narrow shoulders,
long arms and legs, hands that

1517
01:24:35,200 --> 01:24:38,280
dangle the mile out of his
sleeves, feet that might have

1518
01:24:38,280 --> 01:24:42,200
served for shovels, and his
whole frame most loosely hung

1519
01:24:42,200 --> 01:24:45,760
together.
His head was small and flat at

1520
01:24:45,760 --> 01:24:50,800
top, with huge ears, large green
glassy eyes, and a long snipe

1521
01:24:50,800 --> 01:24:54,200
nose so that it looked like a
weathercock perched upon his

1522
01:24:54,200 --> 01:24:56,960
spindle neck.
To tell which way the wind blew.

1523
01:24:57,280 --> 01:25:00,240
To see him striding along the
profile of a hill on a windy

1524
01:25:00,240 --> 01:25:04,560
day, with his clothes bagging
and fluttering about one might

1525
01:25:04,560 --> 01:25:07,920
have mistaken him for the genius
of famine descending upon the

1526
01:25:07,920 --> 01:25:12,400
earth, or some scarecrow eloped
from a cornfield.

1527
01:25:12,680 --> 01:25:15,800
When school hours were over he
was even the companion and

1528
01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:19,960
playmate of the larger boys, and
on holiday afternoons would

1529
01:25:19,960 --> 01:25:23,760
convoy some of the smaller ones
home who happened to have pretty

1530
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:28,440
sisters or good housewives for
mothers noted for the comforts

1531
01:25:28,440 --> 01:25:31,280
of the cupboard.
Indeed, it behooved him to keep

1532
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:34,520
on good terms with his pupils.
The revenue rising from his

1533
01:25:34,520 --> 01:25:37,400
school was small, and would have
been scarcely sufficient to

1534
01:25:37,400 --> 01:25:41,400
furnish him with daily bread,
for he was a huge feeder, and

1535
01:25:41,400 --> 01:25:45,120
the lane had the dilating powers
of an Anaconda.

1536
01:25:45,760 --> 01:25:48,880
But to help out his maintenance,
he was, according to country

1537
01:25:48,880 --> 01:25:52,640
custom in those parts, boarded
and lodged at the houses of the

1538
01:25:52,640 --> 01:25:56,040
farmers whose children he
instructed with fees.

1539
01:25:56,040 --> 01:26:00,000
He lived successively a week at
a time, thus going the rounds of

1540
01:26:00,000 --> 01:26:03,400
the neighborhood, with all his
worldly effects, tied up in a

1541
01:26:03,400 --> 01:26:06,560
cotton handkerchief from his
half itinerant life.

1542
01:26:06,560 --> 01:26:10,360
Also, he was kind of a traveling
Gazette, carrying the whole

1543
01:26:10,360 --> 01:26:12,760
budget of local gossip from
house to house.

1544
01:26:13,120 --> 01:26:15,000
So that his.
Appearance was always greeted

1545
01:26:15,000 --> 01:26:18,080
with satisfaction.
He was, moreover, esteemed by

1546
01:26:18,080 --> 01:26:21,280
the women as a man of great
erudition, for he had read

1547
01:26:21,280 --> 01:26:24,800
several books quite through, and
was a perfect master of Cotton

1548
01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:28,520
Mather's History of New England
Witchcraft, in which, by the

1549
01:26:28,520 --> 01:26:31,520
way, he most firmly and potently
believed.

1550
01:26:32,040 --> 01:26:36,240
He was, in fact, an odd mixture
of small shrewdness and simple

1551
01:26:36,240 --> 01:26:39,240
credulity.
His appetite for the marvellous

1552
01:26:39,240 --> 01:26:43,200
and his powers of digesting it
were equally extraordinary, and

1553
01:26:43,200 --> 01:26:46,560
both had been increased by his
residence and this spellbound

1554
01:26:46,560 --> 01:26:49,400
region.
No tail was too gross or

1555
01:26:49,400 --> 01:26:51,640
monstrous for his capacious
swallow.

1556
01:26:52,400 --> 01:26:55,600
It was often his delight, after
his school was dismissed in the

1557
01:26:55,600 --> 01:26:59,280
afternoon, to stretch himself on
the rich bed of Clover bordering

1558
01:26:59,280 --> 01:27:03,000
the little brook that whimpered
by his schoolhouse, and there

1559
01:27:03,160 --> 01:27:07,320
con over old Mather's direful
tales until the gathering of

1560
01:27:07,320 --> 01:27:11,080
dusk of the evening made the
printed page a mere mist before

1561
01:27:11,080 --> 01:27:14,400
his eyes.
Then, as he winded his way by

1562
01:27:14,400 --> 01:27:17,760
swamp and stream and awful
woodland to the farmhouse where

1563
01:27:17,760 --> 01:27:21,400
he happened to be quartered,
every sound of nature at that

1564
01:27:21,400 --> 01:27:24,880
witching hour fluttered his
excited imagination.

1565
01:27:25,320 --> 01:27:28,640
The moan of the whipper will
from the hillside, the boding

1566
01:27:28,640 --> 01:27:32,840
cry of the tree toed that
harbinger of storm, the dreary

1567
01:27:32,840 --> 01:27:36,360
hooting of the screech owl, or
the sudden rustling in the

1568
01:27:36,360 --> 01:27:38,840
thicket of birds frightened from
their roost.

1569
01:27:39,560 --> 01:27:42,480
The fireflies, too, which
sparkled most vividly in the

1570
01:27:42,480 --> 01:27:46,720
darkest places, now and then
startled him as one of uncommon

1571
01:27:46,720 --> 01:27:48,920
brightness, would stream across
his path.

1572
01:27:49,000 --> 01:27:52,760
And if by chance a huge block
head of a beetle came winging

1573
01:27:52,760 --> 01:27:55,880
his blundering flight against
him, the poor Violet was ready

1574
01:27:55,880 --> 01:27:59,280
to give up the ghost with the
idea that he was struck with a

1575
01:27:59,280 --> 01:28:02,600
witch's token.
His only resource on such

1576
01:28:02,600 --> 01:28:06,200
occasions, either to drown
thought or to drive away evil

1577
01:28:06,200 --> 01:28:09,000
spirits, was to sing Psalm
tunes.

1578
01:28:09,440 --> 01:28:12,320
And the good people of Sleepy
Hollow, as they sat by their

1579
01:28:12,320 --> 01:28:15,800
doors of an evening, were often
filled with awe at hearing his

1580
01:28:15,800 --> 01:28:19,680
nasal melody and Lincoln
sweetness, long drawn out,

1581
01:28:19,840 --> 01:28:23,160
floating from the distant hill
or along the dusky Rd.

1582
01:28:23,960 --> 01:28:27,640
All these, however, were mere
terrors of the night, phantoms

1583
01:28:27,640 --> 01:28:29,800
of the mind that walk in
darkness.

1584
01:28:30,280 --> 01:28:33,440
And though he had seen many
spectres in his time, and been

1585
01:28:33,440 --> 01:28:37,440
more than once beset by Satan in
diverse shapes in his lonely pre

1586
01:28:37,440 --> 01:28:41,880
ambulations, yet daylight put an
end to all these evils.

1587
01:28:42,480 --> 01:28:44,800
And he would have.
Passed a pleasant life of it,

1588
01:28:44,880 --> 01:28:48,200
and despite of the devil and all
of his works, if his path had

1589
01:28:48,200 --> 01:28:52,520
not been crossed by a being that
causes more perplexity to mortal

1590
01:28:52,520 --> 01:28:57,080
man than ghosts, goblins, and
the whole race of which is put

1591
01:28:57,080 --> 01:29:00,600
together.
And that was a woman.

1592
01:29:01,680 --> 01:29:05,040
Among the musical disciples who
assembled to receive his

1593
01:29:05,040 --> 01:29:09,040
instructions in psalmody was
Katrina van Tassel, the daughter

1594
01:29:09,040 --> 01:29:11,880
and only child of a substantial
Dutch farmer.

1595
01:29:12,320 --> 01:29:16,760
She was a blooming lass of fresh
18, plump as a Partridge, ripe

1596
01:29:16,760 --> 01:29:20,680
and melting, and rosy cheeked as
one of her father's Peaches, and

1597
01:29:20,680 --> 01:29:25,200
universally famed not merely for
her beauty, but her vast

1598
01:29:25,200 --> 01:29:28,960
expectations.
She was withal a little of a

1599
01:29:28,960 --> 01:29:33,400
coquette as one might beaten.
She was withal a little of a

1600
01:29:33,400 --> 01:29:37,120
coquette, as might be perceived
even in her dress, which was a

1601
01:29:37,120 --> 01:29:40,760
mixture of ancient and modern
fashions, as most suited to set

1602
01:29:40,760 --> 01:29:44,040
off her charms.
She wore the ornaments of pure

1603
01:29:44,040 --> 01:29:46,880
yellow gold, which her great
great grandmother had brought

1604
01:29:46,880 --> 01:29:51,840
over from SAR Dom, the tempting
stomacher of the olden time, and

1605
01:29:51,840 --> 01:29:55,200
withal A provokingly short
petticoat to display the

1606
01:29:55,200 --> 01:29:58,440
prettiest foot and ankle in the
country round.

1607
01:29:59,240 --> 01:30:02,800
As the enraptured Ichabod
fancied all of this, and as he

1608
01:30:02,800 --> 01:30:06,680
rolled his great green eyes over
the fat Meadowlands, the rich

1609
01:30:06,680 --> 01:30:11,000
fields of wheat, of rye, of
buckwheat and Indian corn, and

1610
01:30:11,000 --> 01:30:15,400
the orchards burdened with ready
fruit which surrounded the warm

1611
01:30:15,400 --> 01:30:20,160
tenement of Van Tassel, his
heart yearned after the damsel

1612
01:30:20,160 --> 01:30:23,520
who was to inherit these
domains, and his imagination

1613
01:30:23,520 --> 01:30:27,160
expanded with the idea how they
might be readily turned into

1614
01:30:27,160 --> 01:30:30,080
cash, and the money invested in
immense.

1615
01:30:30,080 --> 01:30:33,680
Tracts of wild.
Land and shingle palaces in the

1616
01:30:33,680 --> 01:30:37,720
wilderness.
His busy fancy already realized

1617
01:30:37,720 --> 01:30:41,400
his hopes, and presented to him
the blooming Katrina, with a

1618
01:30:41,400 --> 01:30:45,160
whole family of children mounted
on the top of a wagon loaded

1619
01:30:45,160 --> 01:30:48,680
with household trumpery, with
pots and kettles dangling

1620
01:30:48,680 --> 01:30:51,760
beneath.
And he beheld himself bestriding

1621
01:30:51,760 --> 01:30:56,480
A pacing mare with a colt at her
heels, setting out for Kentucky,

1622
01:30:56,680 --> 01:30:59,200
Tennessee, or the Lord knows
where.

1623
01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:02,680
Ichabod was a suitable figure
for such a steed.

1624
01:31:03,440 --> 01:31:06,720
He rode with short stirrups,
which brought his knees nearly

1625
01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:10,440
up to the pommel of his saddle.
His sharp elbows stuck out like

1626
01:31:10,440 --> 01:31:12,840
grasshoppers.
He carried his whip

1627
01:31:12,920 --> 01:31:17,160
perpendicularly in his hand like
a scepter, and as his horse

1628
01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:20,800
jogged on, the motion of his
arms was not unlike the flapping

1629
01:31:20,800 --> 01:31:24,280
of a pair of wings.
A small wool hat rested on the

1630
01:31:24,280 --> 01:31:27,960
top of his nose, for so his skin
T strip of forehead might be

1631
01:31:27,960 --> 01:31:31,760
called, and the skirts of his
black coat fluttered out almost

1632
01:31:31,760 --> 01:31:34,840
to the horse's tail.
Such was the appearance of

1633
01:31:34,840 --> 01:31:39,040
Ichabod and his steed as they
shambled out of the gate of Hans

1634
01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:42,720
van Ripper, and it was
altogether such an apparition as

1635
01:31:42,720 --> 01:31:44,880
is seldom to be met in broad
daylight.

1636
01:31:45,520 --> 01:31:48,800
It was, as I have said, a fine
autumnal day.

1637
01:31:49,120 --> 01:31:52,640
The sky was clear and serene,
and nature wore that rich and

1638
01:31:52,640 --> 01:31:56,160
golden livery which was always
associated with the idea of

1639
01:31:56,160 --> 01:31:59,120
abundance.
The forests had put on their

1640
01:31:59,120 --> 01:32:02,960
sober brown and yellow, while
some trees of the tenderer kind

1641
01:32:02,960 --> 01:32:06,280
had been nipped by the frosts
into brilliant dyes of orange,

1642
01:32:06,280 --> 01:32:09,800
purple, and scarlet.
Streaming flies.

1643
01:32:09,800 --> 01:32:12,680
Nope.
Streaming files of wild ducks

1644
01:32:12,680 --> 01:32:15,120
began to make their appearance
high in the air.

1645
01:32:15,640 --> 01:32:18,320
The bark of the squirrel might
be heard from the Groves of the

1646
01:32:18,320 --> 01:32:21,840
beach and Hickory nuts, and the
pensive whistle of the quail at

1647
01:32:21,840 --> 01:32:24,240
intervals from the neighboring
stubblefield.

1648
01:32:25,280 --> 01:32:29,480
From Bones, however, was the
hero of the scene, having come

1649
01:32:29,480 --> 01:32:33,480
to the gathering on his favorite
steed, daredevil, a creature

1650
01:32:33,480 --> 01:32:37,760
like himself, full of metal and
mischief, and which no one but

1651
01:32:37,760 --> 01:32:40,960
himself could manage.
He was, in fact, noted for

1652
01:32:40,960 --> 01:32:45,160
preferring vicious animals given
to all kinds of tricks which

1653
01:32:45,160 --> 01:32:48,760
kept the rider in constant risk
of his neck, for he held a

1654
01:32:48,800 --> 01:32:53,440
tractable, well broken horse as
unworthy of a lad of spirit.

1655
01:32:54,320 --> 01:32:57,480
The immediate cause, however, of
the prevalence of supernatural

1656
01:32:57,480 --> 01:33:01,320
stories in these parts was
doubtless owing to the vicinity

1657
01:33:01,320 --> 01:33:04,080
of Sleepy Hollow.
There was a contagion in the

1658
01:33:04,080 --> 01:33:06,760
very air that blew from the
haunted region.

1659
01:33:07,160 --> 01:33:11,400
It breathed forth an atmosphere
of dreams and fancies, infecting

1660
01:33:11,400 --> 01:33:14,480
all the land.
Several of the Sleepy Hollow

1661
01:33:14,480 --> 01:33:18,200
people were present at Van
Tassels, and as usual we're

1662
01:33:18,200 --> 01:33:21,200
doling out their wild and
wonderful legends.

1663
01:33:21,560 --> 01:33:24,720
Many dismal tales were told
about funeral trains and

1664
01:33:24,720 --> 01:33:29,080
mourning cries and wailing heard
and seen about the great tree

1665
01:33:29,080 --> 01:33:32,840
where the unfortunate Major
Andre was taken, and which stood

1666
01:33:32,840 --> 01:33:36,560
in the neighborhood.
Some mention was also made of

1667
01:33:36,560 --> 01:33:41,000
the woman in white that haunted
the dark Glen at Raven Rock, and

1668
01:33:41,000 --> 01:33:45,040
was often heard to shriek on
winter nights, before a storm

1669
01:33:45,400 --> 01:33:47,440
having perished there and the
snow.

1670
01:33:48,440 --> 01:33:50,920
The chief part of the stories,
however, turned upon the

1671
01:33:50,920 --> 01:33:54,480
favorite specter of Sleepy
Hollow, the Headless Horseman,

1672
01:33:54,800 --> 01:33:58,560
who had been heard several times
of late patrolling the country,

1673
01:33:58,600 --> 01:34:02,240
and, it was said, tethered his
horse nightly among the graves

1674
01:34:02,240 --> 01:34:05,800
in the churchyard.
All the stories of ghosts and

1675
01:34:05,800 --> 01:34:09,280
goblins that Ichabod had heard
in the afternoon now came

1676
01:34:09,280 --> 01:34:11,680
crowding back upon his
recollection.

1677
01:34:12,800 --> 01:34:14,560
The night grew darker and
darker.

1678
01:34:14,760 --> 01:34:18,600
The stars seem to sink deeper in
the sky, and driving clouds

1679
01:34:18,600 --> 01:34:20,800
occasionally hid them from his
sight.

1680
01:34:21,480 --> 01:34:24,360
He had never felt so lonely and
dismal.

1681
01:34:25,320 --> 01:34:28,560
He was, moreover, approaching
the very place where many of the

1682
01:34:28,560 --> 01:34:30,640
scenes of the ghost stories had
been laid.

1683
01:34:31,600 --> 01:34:35,400
In the center of the road stood
an enormous Tulip tree, which

1684
01:34:35,400 --> 01:34:39,000
towered like a giant above all
other trees of the neighborhood

1685
01:34:39,240 --> 01:34:43,480
and formed a kind of landmark.
It's limbs were gnarled and

1686
01:34:43,480 --> 01:34:47,320
fantastic, large enough to form
trunks for ordinary trees,

1687
01:34:47,520 --> 01:34:51,120
twisting down almost to the
earth and rising again into the

1688
01:34:51,120 --> 01:34:54,640
air.
Ichabod, who had no relish for

1689
01:34:54,640 --> 01:34:57,920
this strange midnight companion,
and bethought himself of the

1690
01:34:57,920 --> 01:35:01,200
adventures of Brom Bones with
the galloping Hessian, now

1691
01:35:01,200 --> 01:35:04,160
quickened his steed in hopes of
leaving him behind.

1692
01:35:04,920 --> 01:35:08,520
The stranger, however, quickened
his horse to an equal pace.

1693
01:35:09,080 --> 01:35:12,840
Ichabod pulled up and fell into
a walk, thinking to lag behind.

1694
01:35:13,360 --> 01:35:17,560
The other did the same.
His heart began to sink within

1695
01:35:17,560 --> 01:35:19,760
him.
He endeavoured to resume his

1696
01:35:19,760 --> 01:35:22,880
Psalm tune, but his parched
tongue clove to the roof of his

1697
01:35:22,880 --> 01:35:25,280
mouth, and he could not utter A
stave.

1698
01:35:26,360 --> 01:35:29,240
There was something in the Moody
and dogged silence of this

1699
01:35:29,240 --> 01:35:33,240
pertinacious companion that was
mysterious and appalling.

1700
01:35:34,120 --> 01:35:39,200
It was soon fearfully accounted
for on mounting a rising ground,

1701
01:35:39,200 --> 01:35:42,000
which brought the figure of his
fellow traveller in relief

1702
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:46,280
against the sky, gigantic in
height and muffled in a cloak,

1703
01:35:46,600 --> 01:35:51,800
Ichabod was horror struck on
perceiving that he was headless.

1704
01:35:52,560 --> 01:35:54,720
But his horror.
Was even more increased on

1705
01:35:54,720 --> 01:35:57,720
observing that the head which
should have rested on his

1706
01:35:57,720 --> 01:36:02,040
shoulders, was carried before
him on the pommel of the saddle.

1707
01:36:02,080 --> 01:36:03,200
Kicks and blows.
Upon.

1708
01:36:03,200 --> 01:36:06,840
Gunpowder hoping by a sudden
movement to give his companion

1709
01:36:06,840 --> 01:36:10,240
the slip, but the spectre
started a full jump with him.

1710
01:36:10,760 --> 01:36:14,520
Away they dashed through, thick
and thin, stones flying and

1711
01:36:14,520 --> 01:36:18,360
sparks flashing at every bound.
Ichabod's flimsy garments

1712
01:36:18,360 --> 01:36:21,400
fluttered in the air as he
stretched his long, lanky body

1713
01:36:21,400 --> 01:36:25,040
away over his horse's head in
the eagerness of his flight.

1714
01:36:25,520 --> 01:36:27,880
An opening in the trees now.
Cheered him with the.

1715
01:36:27,880 --> 01:36:31,480
Hopes that the church bridge was
at hand, The wavering reflection

1716
01:36:31,480 --> 01:36:34,920
of a silver star in the bosom of
the brook, told him that he was

1717
01:36:34,920 --> 01:36:37,720
not mistaken.
He saw the walls of the church

1718
01:36:37,720 --> 01:36:39,960
dimly glaring under the trees
beyond.

1719
01:36:40,240 --> 01:36:42,920
He recollected the place where
Brom, Bones's ghostly

1720
01:36:42,920 --> 01:36:47,120
competitor, had disappeared.
If I can but reach that bridge,

1721
01:36:47,120 --> 01:36:51,640
thought Ichabod, I am safe.
Just then he heard the black

1722
01:36:51,640 --> 01:36:54,120
steed panting and blowing close
behind him.

1723
01:36:54,520 --> 01:36:56,480
He even.
Fancied that he felt his hot

1724
01:36:56,480 --> 01:37:01,320
breath after convulsive kick in
the ribs, and old gunpowder

1725
01:37:01,320 --> 01:37:04,760
sprang upon the bridge, he
thundered over the resounding

1726
01:37:04,760 --> 01:37:07,280
planks.
He gained the opposite side, and

1727
01:37:07,280 --> 01:37:11,360
now Ichabod cast a look behind,
to see if his pursuer should

1728
01:37:11,360 --> 01:37:15,640
vanish according to rule in a
flash of fire and brimstone.

1729
01:37:16,720 --> 01:37:20,440
Just then he saw the goblin
rising in his stirrups, and in

1730
01:37:20,440 --> 01:37:23,600
the very act of hurling his head
at him.

1731
01:37:24,000 --> 01:37:27,120
Ichabod endeavoured to dodge the
horrible missile, but too late,

1732
01:37:27,720 --> 01:37:30,840
and encountered his cranium with
a tremendous crash.

1733
01:37:31,120 --> 01:37:34,880
He was tumbled headlong into the
dust and gunpowder at the black

1734
01:37:34,880 --> 01:37:38,760
steed, and the goblin rider
passed by like a whirlwind.

1735
01:37:40,600 --> 01:37:44,080
The next morning the old horse
was found without his saddle,

1736
01:37:44,200 --> 01:37:47,880
and with the bridle under his
feet, soberly cropping the grass

1737
01:37:47,880 --> 01:37:51,480
at his master's gate.
Ichabod did not make his

1738
01:37:51,480 --> 01:37:54,920
appearance at breakfast.
Dinner hour came, but no

1739
01:37:54,920 --> 01:37:57,840
Ichabod.
The boys assembled at the

1740
01:37:57,840 --> 01:38:00,960
schoolhouse and strolled idly
about the banks of the brook.

1741
01:38:01,280 --> 01:38:06,160
But no, schoolmaster Hans van
Ripper now began to feel some

1742
01:38:06,160 --> 01:38:08,640
uneasiness about the fate.
Of poor Ichabod.

1743
01:38:08,640 --> 01:38:12,600
And his saddle.
An inquiry was set on foot, and

1744
01:38:12,600 --> 01:38:16,120
after diligent investigation
they came upon his traces.

1745
01:38:16,920 --> 01:38:21,000
In one part of the road leading
to the church was found saddle

1746
01:38:21,000 --> 01:38:24,360
trampled in the dirt.
The tracks of horses, hoofs

1747
01:38:24,360 --> 01:38:28,480
deeply dented in the road, and
evidently at furious speed, were

1748
01:38:28,480 --> 01:38:31,960
traced to the bridge, beyond
which, on the Bank of the broad

1749
01:38:31,960 --> 01:38:35,520
part of the brook where the
water ran deep in black, was

1750
01:38:35,520 --> 01:38:40,880
found the hat of the unfortunate
Ichabod, and close beside it a

1751
01:38:40,880 --> 01:38:45,760
shattered pumpkin.
The mysterious event caused much

1752
01:38:45,760 --> 01:38:48,280
speculation at the church.
On the following Sunday.

1753
01:38:48,800 --> 01:38:52,200
Knots of gazers and gossips were
collected in the churchyard, at

1754
01:38:52,200 --> 01:38:55,120
the bridge, and at the spot
where the hat and pumpkin had

1755
01:38:55,120 --> 01:38:57,840
been found.
The stories of bones and the

1756
01:38:57,840 --> 01:39:00,720
whole budget of others were
called to mind, and when they

1757
01:39:00,720 --> 01:39:03,560
had diligently considered them
all, and compared them with the

1758
01:39:03,560 --> 01:39:07,320
symptoms of the present case,
they shook their heads, and came

1759
01:39:07,320 --> 01:39:10,920
to the conclusion that Ichabod
had been carried off by the

1760
01:39:10,920 --> 01:39:14,600
galloping Hessian.
As he was a bachelor and in

1761
01:39:14,600 --> 01:39:17,160
nobody's debt, nobody troubled
his head any.

1762
01:39:17,160 --> 01:39:20,320
More about him.
The school was removed to a

1763
01:39:20,320 --> 01:39:24,160
different quarter of the hollow,
and another pedagogue reigned in

1764
01:39:24,160 --> 01:39:27,560
his stead.
It is true, an old farmer who

1765
01:39:27,560 --> 01:39:31,160
had been down to New York on
visits several years after, and

1766
01:39:31,160 --> 01:39:34,280
from whom this account of the
ghostly adventure was received,

1767
01:39:34,640 --> 01:39:37,920
brought home the intelligence
that Ichabod Crane was still

1768
01:39:37,920 --> 01:39:39,920
alive.
That he had left the

1769
01:39:39,920 --> 01:39:43,480
neighborhood, partly out of fear
of the goblin in Hans Van

1770
01:39:43,480 --> 01:39:46,640
Ripper, and partly in
mortification at having been

1771
01:39:46,640 --> 01:39:48,600
suddenly dismissed by the
heiress.

1772
01:39:48,680 --> 01:39:51,040
That he had changed his quarters
to a distant part of the

1773
01:39:51,040 --> 01:39:55,360
country, had kept school and
studied law at the same time,

1774
01:39:55,640 --> 01:39:58,520
had been admitted to the bar,
turned politician,

1775
01:39:58,760 --> 01:40:02,720
electioneered, written for the
newspapers, and finally had been

1776
01:40:02,720 --> 01:40:04,920
made a justice for the 10 LB
court.

1777
01:40:05,800 --> 01:40:09,280
Brom Bones, too, who shortly
after his rival's disappearance

1778
01:40:09,280 --> 01:40:13,120
conducted the blooming Katrina
in triumph to the altar, was

1779
01:40:13,120 --> 01:40:16,160
observed to look exceedingly
knowing whenever the story of

1780
01:40:16,160 --> 01:40:18,520
Ichabod was related, and always
burst.

1781
01:40:18,520 --> 01:40:20,520
Into a hearty.
Laugh at the mention of the

1782
01:40:20,520 --> 01:40:24,560
pumpkin, which led some to
suspect that he knew more about

1783
01:40:24,560 --> 01:40:26,440
the matter than he chose to
tell.

1784
01:40:27,480 --> 01:40:31,080
The old country wives, however,
who are the best judges of these

1785
01:40:31,080 --> 01:40:35,120
matters, maintained to this day
that Ichabod was spirited away

1786
01:40:35,120 --> 01:40:39,480
by supernatural means, and it is
a favorite story often told

1787
01:40:39,480 --> 01:40:42,520
about the neighborhood round the
winter evening fire.

1788
01:40:42,800 --> 01:40:46,800
The bridge became more than ever
an object of superstitious awe,

1789
01:40:47,280 --> 01:40:50,440
and that may be the reason why
the road has been altered of

1790
01:40:50,440 --> 01:40:54,040
late years, so as to approach
the church by the border of the

1791
01:40:54,040 --> 01:40:57,240
mill pond.
The schoolhouse, being deserted,

1792
01:40:57,240 --> 01:41:00,720
soon felt a decay, and was
reported to be haunted by the

1793
01:41:00,720 --> 01:41:03,120
ghost of the unfortunate
pedagogue.

1794
01:41:03,360 --> 01:41:06,800
And the plowboy, loitering
homeward of a still summer

1795
01:41:06,800 --> 01:41:10,920
evening, has often fancied his
voice at a distance, chanting A

1796
01:41:10,920 --> 01:41:15,960
melancholy Psalm tune among the
tranquil solitudes of Sleepy

1797
01:41:15,960 --> 01:41:23,920
Hollow.
Thank you for joining me for

1798
01:41:23,920 --> 01:41:27,240
more true strange stories of the
unexplained.

1799
01:41:27,840 --> 01:41:31,600
Remember that you can feel
afraid and not be in danger.

1800
01:41:32,080 --> 01:41:35,040
You're.
Safe here with me probably.

1801
01:41:35,440 --> 01:41:39,360
Please follow the podcast, leave
a rating on Spotify or Apple, or

1802
01:41:39,360 --> 01:41:43,320
tell your friends and.
Foes about the show it would

1803
01:41:43,320 --> 01:41:47,280
mean the world to me the
underworld, obviously, I mean,

1804
01:41:47,720 --> 01:41:49,680
come on, was that not was that
not clear?

1805
01:41:50,080 --> 01:41:52,160
Madam Strangeways is produced
and.

1806
01:41:52,160 --> 01:41:55,360
Narrated by me, Madam
Strangeways.

1807
01:41:55,920 --> 01:42:02,600
Thememusicisbymarina.ryan@marinamakes.co
Cover art is by Andrea Chisel

1808
01:42:02,600 --> 01:42:05,600
Roldan at Cult of Teddy on
Instagram.

1809
01:42:05,840 --> 01:42:09,280
You can submit your own true
strange story at

1810
01:42:09,280 --> 01:42:12,360
madamstrangeways.com or e-mail
it to

1811
01:42:12,360 --> 01:42:17,800
madamstrangeways@gmail.com.
See you soon, she said

1812
01:42:18,000 --> 01:42:36,970
ominously.
On Madam.

1813
01:42:36,970 --> 01:42:50,050
Strange ways.
Here, here, here on, Madam.