The immediate cause, however, of the prevalence of supernatural stories in these parts was doubtless owing to the vicinity of Sleepy Hollow. There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmos phere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land.Several of the Sleepy Hollow people were present at Van Tassels's, and as usual, were doling out their wild and wonderful legends. Many dismal tales were told about funeral trains, and mourning cries and wailings heard and seen about the great tree where the unfortunate Major Andre was taken, and which stood in the neighborhood. Some mention was made also of the woman in white that haunted the dark glen at Raven Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before a storm, having perished there in the snow.The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite specter of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman, who who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country, and, it was said,tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard.