Alec Roach

Essay 1

American Literature

Hessians!

Hessians were the brutalist of soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Mercenaries from Germany, they only killed for money, offering no allegiance to the crown of England. These men “approximately 30,000” fought against the American troops and have appeared in major movies and video games as some of the most formidable opponents on the battle field (mountvernon).

The Headless Horsemen is believed to be one of these very men. He was described as a great warrior that took the strongest warrior of the Americans to defeat. There is a TV show in which the Headless Horsemen is the first of the three riders of the apocalypse.

Sleepy Hollow is only a name, when in fact it could be any town in New York during the Revolution. The Dutch were known to have settled there after first coming to America. As it says in the story, the Dutch were “a superstitious people”. Ichabod himself was believed to be one of these superstitious people. Although not Dutch, he read a novel of ghost stories to entertain himself, one that fueled his fear, and fascination, of the supernatural.

These small communities in New York were common at the time. Tarry Town finds this story important because it puts them on the map. It is their claim to fame. All small towns, even now, have something that puts them apart. There is the town in Idaho with the largest potato, for example. This story, just like all old Revolutionary historical towns, adds a supernatural aspect to life there, as well as attraction. Jamestown has hundreds of ghost tours across the city, dating back to the days of the American Revolution. Tarry Town would have one as well depicting the story of the Headless Horseman.

With all this in mind, one can infer that this story is the quintessential essence of the town.  Who wouldn’t be interested in the story of a normal school teacher chased by a Headless Horseman? Schlosser plays on the key ideal that all humans are fascinated by the things that frighten us, the uncanny. That is why horror movies are so popular. No matter how scary, we as humans still watch movies such as the conjuring and the haunting in Connecticut.  I have personally seen, and lost sleep over, both of these movies because of how frightening they were. But no matter how scared I was (and believe me, I was hiding behind my girlfriend the majority of the movie) I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I was drawn into the story, the mystery, and the uncanniness of it all. Ichabod is the same way.

In the story, it says that Ichabod would travel the forest at dusk and become close to the nature and sounds of everything around him. He would, to an extent, become close to the supernatural, hearing things that no “ordinary” human would be able to discern. Ichabod is fancied as the town’s supernatural expert, among other things. Being a school teacher back then, you were held in high regard intellectually. You were considered the leading authority on all matters requiring higher intellect than a farmer or baker.

This probably led to Ichabod’s high thoughts of himself, and possibly fueled his efforts towards Van Tassel. Greed was also a definite factor in his suiting efforts. Teachers, as it is explained in the story, were not paid much, because the people of the towns could not afford to pay much. It says Ichabod was paid with room and board as well as meals, a common agreement between teachers and the town’s people.

The Headless Horseman’s visage, or lack thereof, as a hessian is well adept. They were deadly, and their prowess in combat known throughout the colonies. The fact that there is a story about an American hero that defeated the man that became the Headless Horseman isn’t uncommon. It’s honestly believable. A town like this one would definitely leap on this story and attach it to their name to gain fame across the colonies. The fact that Brom Bones took on the persona of this specter also makes sense. The end of the story is fitting, the other suitor, obviously losing favor with the girl, and attacking the weaknesses of the other (Ichabod) only makes sense.

This story attacks the uncanniness of the human psyche, and plays to our natural fascination to the supernatural. The fact that it is a Headless Horseman that takes the form of the supernatural is only fitting for the setting and placement of the town. No other specter would make this story unlike the Headless Horseman.

Works Cited

http://www.mountvernon.org/research-collections/digital-encyclopedia/article/hessians/