Washington Irving 
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 

The most beloved and oft-adapted work by Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows a love triangle in the New York countryside in 1790. Sleepy Hollow, a supposedly haunted glen on the outskirts of Tarry Town, is home to a particularly ghoulish fiend – the Headless Horseman – who is said to be the specter of a fallen soldier. Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster from Connecticut, competes with local hero Abraham ‘Brom Bones’ Van Brunt for the affections of the young, beautiful, and wealthy Katrina Van Tassel. Crane, considered an outsider by the community, takes part in an annual harvest party in a bid to win Katrina’s hand in marriage. His scheme fails, however, and Crane has a run-in with Sleepy Hollow’s most infamous resident.