One cold winter night, early in the New Year, a Dutchman left the tavern in Tarrytown and started walking home to the nearby hollow. His path took him past the old Sleepy Hollow cemetery, where a headless Hessian soldier was buried. At midnight, he neared the graveyard. The week's warm weather had melted most of the snow. It was a moonless night, and his lantern provided the only light.
The Dutchman was nervous, recalling the rumors of a galloping ghost he'd heard at the tavern. He stumbled along, humming for courage. Suddenly, he saw a light rise from the cemetery ground. He stopped, heart pounding. Before his startled eyes, a white mist burst forth from an unmarked grave and formed into a large horse carrying a headless rider.
As the horse charged at a full gallop, the Dutchman screamed and fled, running for a bridge—knowing spirits avoid running water. He stumbled, fell, and rolled into a patch of melting snow. The headless rider thundered past, allowing the man a second look: the ghost wore a Hessian commander's uniform.
After the ghost vanished, the Dutchman waited a full hour before crawling from the bushes and heading home. Fortifying himself with schnapps, he told his wife. By the next noon, the story spread through Tarrytown. The townsfolk were divided: some believed the ghost roamed at night searching for its head; others thought the Hessian soldier rose to lead a charge up nearby Chatterton Hill, unaware the British already held it.
Whatever the reason, the Headless Horseman has roamed the roads near Tarrytown on dark nights ever since.