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Welcome listeners to another episode of Fast
Food Horror. Today we bring you behind

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the legend in a creepy fireside chat. We hope you will find it illuminating

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and horrifying. Greetings, we're a
traveler. I see you've found your way

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back to my fire. Warm yourself, rest the spell whilst I tell you

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a tale that may illuminate the danger
that looks in the woods near here.

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It may just save you from losing
your head. The time is nigh,

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and you'd best feed my words,
for what you thought you knew isn't all

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to the story you think I'm about
to tell. Have you heard of the

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Sketch Book. It's been near two
centuries ago that it was published in England.

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It represented the first widely read work
of American literature, a collection of

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thirty four essays detailing the author's life
in America, his dangerous journey across the

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ocean, ship wrecks and storms,
life in the New Country and the hospitality

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therein the Meaning of Christmas, and
an op ed on the mistreatment of Native

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Americans, and an account of a
lover's triangle in the small town he was

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staying in, as well as the
mysterious disappearance of one of the players in

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Westchester County, New York in the
essay entitled The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

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I'm sure you know the story by
Washington Irving, But did you know all

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of the characters are based on real
people? And if that is true,

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well, let's not jump ahead.
Let us review. On one side of

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this lover's tug of war was the
black Smith, the town hero, a

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hard working, well muscled, handsome
fellow and a bit of a bully named

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Brahm Bones. But our author based
him on a very real person, Abram

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van Alstein. He really did exist, and he did so during the time

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Washington Irving resided in that area.
You can even find his tombstone there.

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Nikobad himself. The other suitor,
the Schoolmaster, a charming and well educated

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man who traveled some but lacked shall
we say, self confidence, was based

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on Jess Merwin, again a real
person, a schoolmaster who resided there in

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the area during Washington Irving's time.
North of Terrytown in Westchester County, and

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at the center of this lover's tug
of war was a wealthy heiress, Katrina

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van Tassel, again based on a
real person, a miss Eleanor van Tassel.

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Washington Irving just substituted another's first name
for hers. Her aunt and her

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father, Baltus van Tassel, owned
vast orchards and farm lands in the area.

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He had built a fortune over his
years, and that whom ever married

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his daughter would inherit. Now,
the wealth wasn't the only reason to pursue

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a union and court Eleanor. She
was described as being quite beautiful, energetic,

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vibrant, with an alluring personality.
You know the story, so I

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will not bore you with the retelling
of the two both vying for her attention.

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You can find multiple different sources that
verify all three persons existed and resided

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and were contemporaries of Washington Irving in
the area north of Carrytown. But there

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are no third party accounts of what
may have transpired that Halloween night, and

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it could all have been a product
of mister Irving's imagination. But but isn't

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it curious He published a book of
essays. All are his accounts of life

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in America and his travels or his
thoughts, and we are to believe that

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he included two that are of pure
fiction. Two stories of thirty four that

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are product of his imagination, amongst
thirty two other nonfiction essays. Interesting to

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say the least. But is it
not more plausible possible that the entire story

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is real? And if that is
true, the second protagonist is real as

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well? Oh, he is real. Indeed, during the American Revolution,

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the British employed some thirty thousand Hessian
mercenaries professional soldiers soldiers for hire. They

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were very good at what they did. They were proficient and efficient in their

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business of killing. And during a
battle in White Plains, New York,

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near October's End, a certain young
general of the American Colonists, a General

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Washington, executed a hasty retreat from
the battlefield. It was during this retreat

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he ordered his cannons to fire on
the rapidly approaching army to buy them some

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time, and unfortunately, for one
Hessian soldier, a cannonball connected with his

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head, effectively decapitating him. His
body was buried at the Old Dutch Church

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by none other than the vent Hassel
family, who some time earlier was said

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to have been shown kindness by a
Hessian soldier when they burnt down the family

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home. They felt a great debt
to him. But ha ha ha ha.

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Because they obviously could not identify it
was that specific Hessian soldier, they

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chose to give him a proper burial
Sands's head in case it was. Witnesses

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say, or is it just legend
that the headless Hessian could be seen rising

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from his grave in search of his
head or at least a suitable replacement,

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every year upon the anniversary of his
death. I tell you all this because

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the anniversary of his beheading is quickly
coming, and he will soon be out

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looking for his head or a suitable
replacement. So if you hear hook beats

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in the wood, advancing like it
was being ridden by the devil himself,

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run get across the bridge that spans
the brook Spirits cannot cross water, else

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you end up like our dear Nicoba. Better safe than headless. Happy Halloween rot did