The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

It's Halloween time again. Time for ghosts and goblins by the score. I was noticing that last year that I spent a lot of time in the witch department. I then decided that it could be fun to concentrate on another horrific character each Halloween. This year I decided on ghosts. And to jump start it we are going to talk about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was first written in 1820 by Washington Irving. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, the local school teacher who tries to win the affection of the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel. The local boy Brom is also in love with the beautiful Katrina and tries to scare Crane off by telling him about the Headless Horseman who is supposed to haunt the area around Sleepy Hollow. Later Crane encounters the Horseman and must flee for his life. The interesting thing about the original story is that you are never quite sure if there is a Horseman or if Brom was just trying to scare off his competition. Several directors have taken this story and run with it in their own way.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

This story is narrated by the legendary Bing Crosby and is perhaps the closest to the original story. The Mr. Toad part is narrated by Basil Rathbone.

 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980)

In  this version Ichabod is played by Jeff Goldblum. One noticeable thing is that Katrina is in love with Ichabod (who wouldn't be in love with Goldblum in his prime?). And the answer to my question about is there a horseman or is it just Brom? Both! Brom does try to scare away Ichabod by pretending to be the Horseman, but Ichabod also sees the real Horseman as well.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. Need I really say any more? In this one there really is a Horseman. In fact Brom is in the story for a grand total of a half an hour before the Horseman kills him. There is also a lot of witchcraft in this story. The Horseman is conjured by witchcraft and Katrina is a "white" witch who tries to save those she loves from the evil witchcraft around her. Another thing that was changed is that Ichabod is a forensic investigator in this one and not a school teacher.

Sleepy Hollow (2013-present)

In this version Ichabod Crane is resurrected in the present day and has to solve the question of why and basically stop Armageddon. The Headless Horseman is one of the Horsemen  of the Apocalypse and Katrina is trapped by some sort of demon. I really only watched the first episode of this show because although I liked the characters I object when writers start to rewrite the Bible to suit their own purposes. It also had a lot of witchcraft in it as well.

Redwall

The world of Redwall is an interesting one. It lasted for more than 20 years until the author Brian Jacques passed away. He wrote several books, some even prequels to his original story, and if he forgot what he told you 20 years ago, well this is a story passed down through the ages and as we all know, stories change over time.

                The series does follow a very familiar theme. There are usually a group of adventurers off doing something and fighting bad guys while a group of evil doers attack the main setting of our plot, usually Redwall abbey. Redwall Abbey is a beautiful fortress with lots of fruit trees and fish to eat which the evil folk always want for themselves. Mice, moles, squirrels, and others frequent Redwall and make it out to be a wonderful place. It is guarded by the spirit of Martin the Warrior, sort of the patron saint. Most of the primary warriors carry his sword, and he can be seen coming to the aid of his followers. One of the most beautiful descriptions of the book is the wonderful feasts that the Redwallers partake in. If I stop and think about what these creatures are eating, it sounds awful, but Jacques always made it seem so wonderful.

The television series covered three of the several books: Redwall, Mattimeo, and Martin the Warrior. They follow the books very closely with no real deviation of plot or characters. It was actually this series that got me interested in the books in the first place. PBS stopped broadcasting during a critical part of Martin the Warrior, and I had to find out what happened! Before this time I thought the concept of Mice Warriors to be kind of silly. I have now read every single one of the books and enjoyed them.