The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow captures the imaginations of readers today by leaving missing pieces of information for their minds to work with and add.
•  When Icabod is faced by the Headless Horseman,Washington Irving describes the phantom as "huge, misshapen, black, and towering" (Irving). He chases Icabod with his horse and carries a head in his saddle. After Icabod's frightening encounter with the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, the remaining evidence of Icobod's encounter with the headless horseman include Icobod's trampled saddle, borrowed horse, and a shattered pumpkin. This leads the reader to wonder if Icobod imagined the horseman to be headless and carrying a head, or if the incident was a trick played on Icobod by another character. Brom Bones later laughing at the story of Icobod's encounter when the pumpkin is mentioned seems to confirm suspicion that he is guilty of pretending to be the headless horseman because he is the joking type and has the motive of scaring away Icabod so he can marry Katrina.
• The evidences left to the reader by Irving allow the reader to imply and make their own assumptions and inspires the imaginations of the reader as they contemplate what really happened in the story.