The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving

Sep 2010 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Anthony Heald

About this audiobook

In the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane arrives to educate the children of the region. This lanky schoolmaster from Connecticut fancies the idea of marrying the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, the eighteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy farmer, but there is a problem with his plan. Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt, the town rowdy, has already set his heart on marrying her.

This romantic rivalry climaxes one autumn night with the appearance of the legendary Headless Horseman, allegedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who lost his head to a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. Every night he rides through the woods to the scene of the battle in search of his head.

Since this story’s first appearance in 1820, generations of readers, young and old, have thrilled to the Headless Horseman galloping through the haunted woods of Sleepy Hollow. The rollicking tale of Ichabod Crane and his ill-fated courtship of Katrina Van Tassel has become a classic ghost story.

Ratings and reviews

What a wonderful telling of a fantastic story! the voice and pacing of the narrator is pitch perfect and a joy to hear. I savored every syllable and, with Washington Irving, the syllables are many. Will be listening to this many more times, I'm sure, but esp round Halloween. 🎃 ⛼ 👻

The reader did an excellent job of capturing the mood and essence of the book!

superb

About the author

Washington Irving, the first American writer to make his living by his profession, was born April 3, 1783. At the age of six he was introduced to his namesake, George Washington. He studied law but then was sent to Europe because of his health and was to spend 17 years abroad. When he was thirty-five his family's business went bankrupt. It was then that he began to support himself by writing. He wrote letters, essays and short fiction. Washington Irving died in 1859.

Anthony Heald, an Audie Award–winning narrator, has earned Tony nominations and an Obie Award for his theater work; appeared in television’s Law & Order, The X-Files, Miami Vice, and Boston Public; and starred as Dr. Frederick Chilton in the 1991 Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs. He has also won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for his narrations.