Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Since its publication in 1820, "e;The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"e; by Washington Irving has sent chills down readers' spines. A teacher named Ichabod Crane relocated to Tarry Town in the Sleepy Hollow valley to pursue his career in instructing young people. He was a naive and exuberant man who frequently hurried through the woods on his way home while singing to prevent hysteria after becoming startled by locals' tales of ghosts. He doesn't realise they might be more than just stories until late one night. What is that ominous, gloomy apparition behind him on the horse? What does it hold in its hands, then? And why was teacher Crane never again spotted in Sleepy Hollow?