The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

When the Headless Horseman chases Ichabod Crane through the forest, Ichabod believes that once he crosses the bridge that leads to the church, he will be safe. He believes this because in Brom Bones’s story, the Horseman disappeared at the same spot (77). Bridges are symbolic passageways, and this bridge, situated between the foreboding forest and the safety of the church, symbolizes the passage between light and dark, the living and the dead.

The stream that separates the forest from the church’s sunny, peaceful knoll is filled with broken rocks and fallen trees. A gloom hangs over the bridge during the day, and a “fearful darkness” consumes it at night (62). While the church itself is peaceful, Irving states that it is “a favorite haunt of troubled spirits” (62).

The Horseman is buried there, and some townspeople claim to see his horse tethered among the gravestones.

Ichabod enjoys going to church. He sings with the choir and uses the occasion to entertain the town’s ladies. Churches are usually symbols of safety, but in the tradition of gothic literature where things take on their opposite qualities, the bridge only leads Ichabod to his fate.