Off With His Head!

With Halloween fast approaching, you might find this post of interest. I was researching the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a short story written by Washington Irving, first published in 1820. The story is set in 1790 in Tarry Town, a Dutch settlement in New York, with the rather nerdy, superstitious school teacher Icabod Crane competing against the town rowdy for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of a wealthy farmer. Crane is pursued by the HEADLESS HORSEMAN, whose head was shot off in some nameless American Revolutionary War battle by a stray cannonball. The Horseman rides forth in search of his head, terrorizing poor Icabod in the process.  Perhaps the Horseman is really his competitor in disguise. You will have to read the story, but it makes for good and scary Halloween fun.

My favorite version is with Johnny Depp, who plays the worried and harassed Crane to perfection.
By the way, though there are not too many accounts of Halloween in the northern colonies because of the Protestant tradition, however, the southern colonies did indulge in the fun, telling ghost stories, bobbing for apples, playing games and making mischief. Costumes came into play much later, but children's pranks have always been involved.