SALEM VS. SLEEPY HOLLOW
By Sam Baltrusis
It’s a tale of two
extremely different, yet oddly similar, Halloween destinations: Salem
vs. Sleepy Hollow. Will the witches overthrow the Headless Horseman —or
will heads roll— in the ultimate Samhain showdown?
According
to J.W. Ocker, author of The New England Grimpendium & The New York
Grimpendium, both locations have their “woes” and cons during spooky
season.
“I love this topic because depending on how you twist
the narrative, you can say these two towns are nothing alike or you can
say they are so similar that it’s scary,” Ocker told me during an
in-person interview at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel.
“The number
one similarity is that they are both extremely popular Halloween
destinations,” he said. “You get those click-bait articles every year.
Both Salem and Sleepy Hollow are always at the top of every list.”
Because they are known for their October attractions, both locations
rely heavily on tourism to feed their local economy. “While Salem is
changing and becoming more of a suburb of Boston, the bottom line is if
they lose their tourism, they will lose their existence.”
The
author of A Season with the Witch added that both cities successfully
brand themselves. “No other town can be Salem even though there are tons
of other locations that had witch trials especially in the Northeast.
But no one can say they’re the Witch City,” Ocker said, “only Salem,
Massachusetts can do that.”
In comparison, Sleepy Hollow is
known for the Headless Horseman. “There are other towns in the country
that call themselves Sleepy Hollow, but this area is the only place that
can theme themselves around Irving because he actually lived here and
was inspired by the region when he wrote the story. It’s basically
Washington Irving land.”
According to Ocker, both Salem and
Sleepy Hollow are successful at embracing their respective themes.
“There’s something about these two Halloween destinations that’s
authentically spooky,” he said. “They’re also great fall destinations.
The Hudson Valley and New England are top-tier places known for their
foliage.“
Other similarities include their proximity to major
metropolitan areas. “Salem is close to Boston and Sleepy Hollow is a
short drive from New York City,” he said. “They have this small-town,
big-city atmosphere to them. They also have traffic. Who would live in
Salem or Sleepy Hollow unless they’re spooky, right?”
Another
similarity shared by the Witch City and the Hudson Valley seems to be
their eerily picturesque cemeteries. “There’s the Old Burying Point on
Charter Street that almost serves as the hub of Salem in many ways,” he
told me. “It’s even more true in Sleepy Hollow. The cemetery is
extremely important. The Old Dutch Church is on the hill and Washington
Irving is buried in the cemetery. The location fits right into Irving’s
story and you can almost map out Ichabod Crane’s journey.”
Speaking of the famous chase from Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow,” Ocker uses the tale as a metaphor to describe the differences
between the two tourism-driven destinations. “In my mind, Salem is
Ichabod Crane and Sleepy Hollow is the Headless Horseman,” he explained.
“Salem is so far ahead in regards to marketing themselves, but I feel
like the Headless Horseman is slowly creeping up from behind. In most
people’s minds, Sleepy Hollow is a less evolved version of Salem, but
one day it will catch up.”
Ocker pointed out that Salem had a
huge head start. “The very first Haunted Happenings was in 1982,” he
explained. “North Tarrytown didn’t even become Sleepy Hollow until 1996,
so they’re almost fifteen years behind Salem.”
There’s also
the obvious geographical hurdles holding back the village. “Sleepy
Hollow isn’t set up to be a Salem because it simply isn’t walkable,” he
told me. ”In Sleepy Hollow, you definitely need a car. In the past, they
tried turning the area near the chase statue into a plaza, but the
problem is that the street is the same Broadway that’s in Manhattan.
It’s a busy road and it’s potentially dangerous to put outside seating
or a cafe near the statue. The infrastructure isn’t there yet.”
For Ocker, Sleepy Hollow’s greatest weakness is also what makes it so
special. The OTIS: Odd Things I’ve Seen blogger said he prefers
celebrating spooky season with his all-time favorite monster, the
Headless Horseman. Why? After spending an October in Salem while writing
his book, A Season with the Witch, the New Hampshire-based writer
prefers the smaller crowds and the old-school charm of the Hudson
Valley.
“In Salem, there’s the witch-trials tragedy of 1692,”
he said. “The inciting incident in Sleepy Hollow is just American
letters. It’s art. So there’s no underlying guilt, which is nice. But
without that guilt you don’t have the friction, the narrative, and the
interesting public relations angles. The appeal of Salem is a tragedy
and in Sleepy Hollow it’s just a story.”
The lack of an
underlying cautionary tale, Ocker told me, also complicates things when
it comes to creating paranormal-themed tourism. “Now that Sleepy Hollow
is a spooky town, they’re trying their best to pull as much haunted
content as they can to make it more interesting,” he said. “It’s really
hard to find great ghost stories in Sleepy Hollow, but it was like that
in Salem too.”
Thanks to all of the lantern tours in the
Witch City, one can’t walk down Essex Street without hitting an
allegedly haunted location. In Sleepy Hollow, however, the haunts are
definitely spread out.
“There’s a passage in ‘Legend’ where
he talks about this Hudson Valley being so haunted,” Ocker said. “There
are tons of stories and the Headless Horseman is just one example out of
all of those tales. In the story, he sets the area up as an interesting
place with a lot of legend and lore.”
Ocker’s recommendations
for tourists visiting Sleepy Hollow? “Follow the chase route,” he said.
“Start at the John André monument and walk to the cemetery. Of course,
it’s not a very pleasant walk because there are cars whizzing by you.
But in October, there’s a lot more to do in Sleepy Hollow. It’s not
every day like it is in Salem, but they have something going on every
weekend.”
Another telltale sign that Salem is currently in
the lead as a Halloween destination? Ocker pointed out that the Witch
City’s annual Haunted Happenings parade happens at the beginning of
October while Sleepy Hollow holds its celebration during the last
weekend of the month. “It’s very telling who is better at promoting the
holiday,” he said.
Ocker insisted, however, that New Yorkers
are slowly learning to capitalize on the power of the Headless Horseman.
“In Sleepy Hollow, you’re starting to see recycling bins that are
branded. Their fire engines and police cars now have themed logos,” he
said. “Even the fire plugs are black and orange. If you look around
Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman is everywhere.”
bySam Baltrusis
September 23, 2024
Genre: Ghosts & Hauntings
Publisher: History Press
ISBN: 978-146715802
Number of pages: 144
Word Count: 32,500
Chilling tales of the Hudson Valley
Nestled on the banks of the Hudson River, Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown are steeped in history and ghost lore. Famous for Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the storied Westchester region also has a dark history of witches, spies, and pirates.
Rumors of Headless Horseman sightings surge during spooky season while visitors flock to the Valley’s haunted hot spots like the Old Dutch Church and the famed writer’s Sunnyside home.
Join author and journalist Sam Baltrusis on a bone-chilling journey through the streets of Sleepy Hollow as he breathes new life into the legendary village’s long-departed souls.
Excerpt:
Sleepy Hollow, New York is brimming with ghostly legends that have somehow taken on a life of their own.
Nestled
on the banks of the Hudson River, the fabled region —which includes the
adjoining Tarrytown— has become the go-to place during spooky season
thanks to the popularity of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow."
Late-night lantern tours in search of a decapitated soldier's galloping ghost? Yes, please.
If
one spends enough time walking through the labyrinthine paths of the
village's historic cemeteries, however, there's something sinister
oozing beneath Sleepy Hollow's rustic, story-book facade.
It's
as if the entire hamlet is under some sort of enchantment. Or, as Irving
penned in 1820, it oddly feels like the locals are somehow bewitched
and "are subject to trances and visions."
The revered writer
referred to the area as the "spell-bound region," and rightfully so.
According to several first-hand accounts, creepy music and disembodied
voices emerge out of thin air
Based on Irving's mythical take on
his later-in-life hometown, it should be no surprise that the Headless
Horseman isn't the Valley’s only fearsome phantom seeking postmortem
revenge.
The entire region seems to be teeming with paranormal
activity. Several publications sensationally claim that both Sleepy
Hollow and Tarrytown together make the "most haunted places in the
world."
But, is it?
After digging beneath the surface,
it's difficult to pinpoint what's actually paranormal activity versus a
made-up ghost story that has been collectively conjured over a 200-year
period.
Alex Matsuo, a Maryland-based author and paranormal
investigator who has written about the area’s alleged paranormal
activity in her Spooky Stuff blog, believes that the line between fact
and fiction is somehow blurred in Sleepy Hollow.
“After
Washington Irving's infamous tale plunged the area into fame, I would
hypothesize that perhaps some of the paranormal activity could be
attributed to thought-forms,” Matsuo told me. “There's also the case of
self-fulfilling prophecies that people can accomplish without realizing
it.”
Matsuo cited the replica of the bridge in Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery as a potential hotspot for ghostly encounters that are
freakishly fueled by the expectations of thrill-seeking visitors.
“Just by knowing the tale and the true story behind it, they would
already get a case of the creeps,” she explained. “Then, with tensions
rising, they hear a branch break or footsteps, and they get really
spooked. They go home and tell their friends and family about the creepy
experience, unknowing that there was an animal nearby causing the
ruckus.”
Also, there are what paranormal researchers call
thought-forms or an outward manifestation of the heightened emotions of
those who visit Sleepy Hollow during spooky season. Matsuo believes that
based on this concept, extreme fear can somehow take a physical form
within the spirit world.
“When you have a massive amount of
people invested in a story, even a fictional story based on real people,
that energy has to go somewhere,” she said. “In the case of Sleepy
Hollow, it may have manifested into paranormal occurrences. I would
guess that most of that energy is more organized, but I wouldn't be
surprised if some of that energy was displaced, which could explain some
of the random paranormal events that have happened over the years.”
About the Author:
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Sam Baltrusis, author of Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City and featured in The Curse of Lizzie Borden shock doc, has penned eighteen paranormal-themed books including Haunted Boston Harbor and Ghosts of the American Revolution. He has been featured on several national TV shows including the Travel Channel's A Haunting, Most Terrifying Places, Haunted Towns, and Fright Club (1 & 2). He also made a cameo in the documentary The House in Between 2 and on several additional television programs including The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd, History’s Most Haunted, Paranormal Nightshift, and Forbidden History. Baltrusis is a sought-after lecturer who speaks at libraries and paranormal-related events across the country. Visit SamBaltrusis.com for more information.
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