Soon it will be Halloween, and I was thinking back to the different stories, and films that I have read and watched celebrating this holiday. My favorite is still, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and the ride of “The Headless Horseman.”
I first read it when I was a youngster, and wanted to visit where Washington Irving set the story. So, my father, and I took the train thirty miles up the Hudson River Valley, to the village of Sleepy Hollow. We visited the Philipsburg Manor House, and the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, where the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is set. Of course, we visited the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Washington Irving is buried, among the Astor’s, Rockefellers,’ and Carnegies.’
Many years later, when I was in my horseback riding phase, I had a chance to create my version of the Headless Horseman. I was riding at a stable that was located in Clove Lake Park, on Staten Island, one of New York’s five boroughs.
A group of us decided that we were going to do a mid-night ride through the park in costume. Parts of the bridle-path, were situated across the street from private houses, so it would be fun to scream and howl, as we rode past. I wanted to be the “Headless Horseman.” For my I costume I carved an evil looking pumpkin. Then I placed several large candles inside. I fashioned a coat, so the top, when buttoned, would cover my head, and of course I could see out through the top of the first buttons.
It was a great ride. I think there were twenty of us. Some were dressed as ghosts, skeletons, and all sorts of evil looking apparitions. I don’t really know if we scared anyone, but we had the time of our lives.
