Ichabod Crane
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Ichabod Crane is a fictional character, a schoolmaster featured in Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".
Ichabod and his rival Brom Bones court Katrina van Tassel. Dismissing the legend of the Headless Horseman, Crane later flees in terror from the Horseman (or perhaps Brom Bones masquerading as the Horseman). Crane is chased over the bridge near the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow and is never seen again. Irving implies that he vacated the town, but he also says that a legend arose that the Horseman carried Crane's body off, and what, exactly, Crane's fate is is left unknown.
Some characters from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" may be based on actual early 19th century residents of Tarrytown, New York, and, according to a letter written by Irving, the character of Ichabod Crane was based on a local Tarrytown schoolteacher named Jesse Merwin. Irving very likely borrowed the name from a colonel in the US Army during the War of 1812 whom he had once met, also named Ichabod Crane, who is buried in New Springville Cemetery, in Bulls Head, [1] Staten Island, New York[2].
[edit] Adaptations in other media
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949), directed by James Algar, Clyde Geronimi and Jack Kinney, produced by Walt Disney Productions. Probably the best known version as it ran for years as part of the television Halloween special "Disney's Halloween Treat" (1969 - 1995). This animated interpretation features Bing Crosby as both the narrator and singular voice actor of the entire 30min piece. It has recently been committed to DVD and is packaged with a companion 30min short "Mr. Toad" which was produced the same year and is based on Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows". Whether the hellish Horseman is an actual ghost or a human in disguise is left unclear, as is Ichabod's fate.
- Constable Ichabod Crane is a fictional character from the movie Sleepy Hollow, played by Johnny Depp. He is a New York scientist, sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a string of grisly murders. His horse is named Gunpowder. Ichabod's most notable traits in the movie include an ahead-of-his-time liking for post-mortem examinations and scientific methods. It is Ichabod who finally banishes the Hessian Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken) back to Hell, and sends Lady van Tassel (Miranda Richardson), the woman who has been controlling the undead rider, with him.
- Ichabod Crane is a minor character in the Fables comic book. At one time, he was the assistant to the mayor of Fabletown before his dismissal on charges of sexual harassment of Snow White, his subordinate. He moved away from Fabletown, becoming estranged and embittered.
- "Searching for Ichabod Crane" (2005) is a short film by Sam Borowski about a young reporter who searches for Ichabod Crane, and eventually comes in contact with the apparition of the war hero.
