Meet the American who conjured up 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow': Washington Irving, first US celebrity author
The headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow haunts the American imagination each autumn. New York City native Washington Irving breathed life into the galloping ghost in 1819, when he penned "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," one of his tales of life among Dutch settlers along the Hudson River. It stands 203 years later as one of the most famous ghost stories in world history — remade in many versions and retold in scores of languages.