Monday, November 7, 2016

On one side of the church extends a wide woody dell , along which raves a large brook among broken rocks and trunks of fallen trees. Over a black part of the stream , not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it , and the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a book about it, even in the daytime, but occasioned a fearful darkness at night. This was one of the favorite haunts of the headless horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered . The tale was told of old Brouwer , a most heretical disbeliever in ghosts , how he met the horseman returning from his foray into sleepy hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him , how they galloped over bush and brake, over hill and swamp, until they reached the bridge , when the horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over the treetops with a clap of thunder.

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