The original “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is extremely different from the movie Sleepy Hollow.

“Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a short story by Washington Irving.  It was first published in 1820 in a collection of 34 essays and short stories.  It is one of the first examples of an enduring popular American fiction.

Sleepy Hollow is a movie that was made in 1999. It was directed by Tim Burton.  It was loosely inspired by “Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” It was reasonably popular despite the major differences from “Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

The basic plot of the short story depicts a young schoolteacher who comes to the town of Sleepy Hollow.  He meets Katrina Van Tassel, the child of a very wealthy farmer in the town.  Ichabod Crane, the schoolteacher, goes to a harvest party as the Van Tassel’s.  He fails to win Katrina Van Tassel’s hand in marriage and rides home through the woods.  He comes upon a mysterious and eerie rider without a head.  Crane runs through the woods to the bridge that supposedly stops the supernatural; however the rider crosses the bridge and throws a pumpkin at Crane’s head.  The next morning, Crane’s horse, saddle, and hat along with a shattered pumpkin are found, but Crane himself is not.

The movie’s plot starts with a police constable, Ichabod Crane, who was sent from New York to investigate a series of murders attributed to a Headless Horseman in the town of Sleepy Hollow.  Crane, while investigating, develops an attraction to the daughter of the family whose house he is boarding in, Katrina Van Tassel. Several deaths later, Crane, with help, finds a Tree of the Dead, where the Horseman was buried.  Lady Van Tassel, Katrina’s stepmother, is supposedly murdered by the Horseman, but kidnaps Katrina and reveals a tangled plot involving revenge on the Van Garretts and land rights, and that Lady Van Tassel controls the Horseman.  She sends the Horseman after Katrina.  Crane eventually manages to throw the Horseman’s skull to him, breaking the curse.  Crane returns home to New York with Katrina, and the orphan who helped him in Sleepy Hollow.

Even though Sleepy Hollow was based on the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” very little is similar. Only names and a few small details are true to the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

Although they are completely different, the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Sleepy Hollow are both told very well through their respective mediums.