The Halloween Tree: headless horseman

The Halloween party was a splendid affair with glowing jack o'lanterns grimacing from every corner of the barn. Festive revelers with their true identities concealed behind feathered masks and elaborate costumes, danced the night away to the hauntingly hip tunes of the Bone Janglers, with their skeleton painted faces and Grave Digger top hats. The table resplendent with every Fall treat imaginable, filling the air with the seasonal scents of pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and apples. The scents mingled sweetly with the earthy smell of the hay bales and cornstalks that decorated the barn. Yes, this was the Soiree of the Season and the perfect way for you to ring in All Hallow's Eve!

But alas, all good things must come to an end....and as the clock struck 12, the witching hour was upon you and it was time to make the short journey home through the woods. It was light when you headed to the party earlier in the evening, but now darkness had fallen, and the path back home looked just a bit more ominous than it had on your arrival. But no fear, as you have traveled that stretch of road many a time with no perilous results, why should tonight be any different.

After all, tonight was the most anticipated night of the year. It was finally here...All Hallow's Eve! The night when the veil between the living and the spirit world grows thin. It's the time for young and old alike to don their disguises and take to the streets in search of sweet candy treats and devilish tricks! And tonight the air is crisp and cold with a shroud of fog that has settled in to mask the unknown evils lurking in the shadows, those things that go bump in the night! Yes, though the path is a bit more daunting than it had been earlier, the setting couldn't provide a more picture perfect ending to this enchanted night.

As you gaze up into the night sky, you notice that the Moon is full and mysterious....an amber yellow glow illuminating the spindly bare branches of the late Autumn trees. As you sink deeper into the wooded path, you begin to notice every little sound amplified around you. The rustling of the air as it shakes the last remaining leaves from their branches, sending them to their yearly death on the forest floor. There they will take their place in the cycle of life, their decaying forms making fertile the earth for next Spring's rebirth. Oh how splendid the Autumn season is, you think to yourself.

Then suddenly, you feel a shiver run up your spine, and you get the eerie sensation that something or someone is watching you from the shadows. Your eyes are trying to adjust from the brightness of the moon above, to the black darkness of the woods around you, when you startle at the jolting screech of an owl overhead. You look up and are met by the intense, icy stare of his big yellow eyes. Whew, thank goodness it was only an owl.

As you continue down the path, you can't help but remember the Tale of the Headless Horseman. It had been a favorite of yours as a child, and oh how it had scared you so, to walk this same path back then. Ha...the fertile imagination of childhood. You don't believe in ghost tales anymore, you're far too old for such folly. Ignoring your growing sense of unease, you see that you are almost at the forest's edge where the old covered bridge leads back to your sleepy little hamlet, tucked idyllically among the turning maples. Ha...how silly to let that old tale creep back into your mind tonight and ignite that little flame of fear again. You chuckle and think to yourself, that it's what makes Halloween so much fun anyway....to be a little scared. No one is ever too old for a good ole fashioned fright!

Just then, you hear the unmistakable sound of a galloping horse coming from the dark woods behind you. At first you think your mind and ears are playing tricks on you once again. But as you strain to listen closer, it is unmistakably real. You turn to look over your shoulder, but you see only darkness behind. You turn back around and listen once more...the sound is most certainly real, and it grows louder, as does the beating of your heart. You hasten your steps and can no longer deny the adrenaline coursing through your veins. You dare not turn around as you begin to run towards the clearing as fast as your legs will carry you, your breathing labored by the inhalation of the cold dense air pushing hard and heavy through your lungs. You race through the bridge until you safely clear the other end. Then you lengthen your stride even more, and you run like you haven't run in years...not stopping until you have reached the door of your house, wheezing and huffing, and euphorically out of breath. You've made it to safety to be sure, but now as you stop to look around, you realize there is no one in sight, you listen, but there are no sounds to be heard, save the occasional croaking of a woodland frog. Your heartbeat begins to calm, and you grin at your own buffoonery. Man what a night....this All Hallow's Eve couldn't get any better if you had scripted it yourself. And to think that you were actually scared like a child again....you can't help but to chuckle in spite of yourself, and you contentedly head off to bed yawning.

You awaken from your evening's slumber, and brave the frosty morning air as you take the dog out for his early morning walk, deciding to to take him back to the wooded path. The sun has not completely risen in the eastern sky, so the brilliant colors of the glorious fall foliage are still muted and dark with shadows. The frost is thick on the brown grass and plants, and each footstep is marked with a decisive crunch. You can smell that old familiar Autumn smell that you love so much...the wood smoke wafting through the foggy morning air as the chimney fires are stoked in the surrounding homes. As you begin to approach the trail, your dog begins to bark excitedly and runs ahead into the mist. You lose sight of him in the fog, but you hear him growling at something in the woods ahead.

As you draw closer to the covered bridge, you're astonished to discover a flaming, grimacing jack o'lantern smoldering in the ashes and embers of the flickering flames. You take a moment to absorb what you are witnessing when you notice the horse prints in the sand. You look around cautiously as that old familiar chill runs right back up your spine, and the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. Intrigued and slightly unnerved, you think to yourself that perhaps there really is some truth to those eerie tales that prevail in the area, those haunting legends that refuse to die. Maybe, just maybe, you really do believe in spooks, specters and haints after all! :o)

Tomorrow will be All Hallow's Eve once again my friends....Go forth and enjoy the Magic!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN and SAMHAIN

Moonlight Drive by tmac0723

So as you all know, we try our best to get to New England in the Autumn because Florida has no such thing as an Autumn season. Well, a few years ago, I got a wild hair to add Sleepy Hollow to my list of places to visit on our trip. Since we stay in Vermont usually, and hit Salem each visit as well...it required a bit of a drive and a change in hotels to make it happen. It's about 3 hours west from Vermont. And we were going to see the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, (which is incredible and totally worth doing if you get to Sleepy Hollow in October!). We also planned on checking out the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery so we could see the actual bridge where the Headless Horseman rode across in Washington Irving's classic haunted tale.

The cemetery was beautiful and I took lots of photos...but sadly, I lost them all, as they somehow got erased from my compact flash card. I can't tell you how sick I still am about that! The town, originally Tarrytown, is a very quaint town in the Fall. The colored leaves blowing by, the shops with their Halloween wares on display, and streets decorated for the season...all collaborate to add to the magic of the legend itself.

During the month of October there are a variety of activities to enjoy like the Jack O'Lantern Blaze in nearby Croton-on-Hudson, the Haunt Attraction, Horseman's Hollow, Irving's Legend, a master storytelling performance complete with organ music, the Haunted Hayride, Lyndhurst Mansion After Dark, site of the first two Dark Shadows movies, family fun at the Legend Weekends Event, the spectral tales of The Ghosts of TarryHollow and of course, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Tours where you can enter the crypt of Barnabas Collins and find the graves of Brom Bones and Katrina Van Tassel. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to live in this town...what a spooktacular October we would have!

As for the infamous bridge where the Headless Horseman chased ole' Ichabod Crane....well, you can find the bridge, and it is pretty....but it was a bit anticlimactic due to the fact that the bridge you see now, is not the 'real' bridge, and is not actually standing in the exact same place it was back in the day. But it was all still a heap of fun, very cool....and absolutely perfect for a Fall vacation!