The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Anthony Heald

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.

“[This story’s] unprecedented success allowed Irving to devote himself to a career as a professional author.”—Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

“Narrator Anthony Heald transforms this classic story by Washington Irving into an enduring work of art, worth hearing many times. He deploys Irving’s use of literary devices—alliteration and onomatopoeia—to skillful effect in the building of the characters and suspense. Heald employs American Theater Standard speech to render an aged patina the 1822 story deserves. As he employs the author’s words to paint the images of the few dramatis personae, one can appreciate the days gone by when authors spent great energy in making their principals come into the imagination’s focus. Using the familiar device of two suitors courting the same girl, Irving chooses every word to build the tension that leads to the terrifying chase by the renowned headless horseman.”—AudioFile

Washington Irving (1783–1859) was an American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. He is best known for writing the stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Early on, he was a contributor to the Morning Chronicle, published Salmagundi, and served as editor of Analetic magazine in Philadelphia and New York. In 1809, he published the comical A History of New York under the name "Dietrich Knickerbocker." Eleven years later, he published a collection of stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., which allowed him to become a full-time writer. Other books written by Irving are Bracebridge Hall, Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada, A Tour of the Prairies, and The Life of George Washington, a five-volume title.