“Besides, there is no encouragement for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their first nap and turn themselves in their graves, before their surviving friends have travelled away from the neighborhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities.”

― Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) by Washington Irving recounts the story of Ichabod Crane, who comes to Sleepy Hollow, New York, to become the schoolmaster of the village. The ghost of the Headless Horseman haunts Sleepy Hollow. It is believed that a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon-ball during the Revolutionary War, roams around at night in search of his lost head. And if anyone interrupts the Headless Horseman on his quest to find his head, they are killed. One night, while coming back from a party, Ichabod finds himself face-to-face with the Horseman and disappears forever.