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SALEM
VS. SLEEPY HOLLOW
By Sam Baltrusis
It’s a tale of two extremely different,
yet oddly similar, Halloween destinations: Salem vs. Sleepy Hollow. Will the
witches overthrow the Headless Horseman —or will heads roll— in the ultimate
Samhain showdown?
According to J.W. Ocker, author of The
New England Grimpendium & The New
York Grimpendium, both locations have their “woes” and cons during spooky
season.
“I love this topic because depending on how you twist the narrative, you
can say these two towns are nothing alike or you can say they are so similar
that it’s scary,” Ocker told me during an in-person interview at the Sleepy
Hollow Hotel.
“The number one similarity is that they are both extremely popular
Halloween destinations,” he said. “You get those click-bait articles every
year. Both Salem and Sleepy Hollow are always at the top of every list.”
Because they are known for their October attractions, both locations
rely heavily on tourism to feed their local economy. “While Salem is changing
and becoming more of a suburb of Boston, the bottom line is if they lose their
tourism, they will lose their existence.”
The author of A Season with the Witch added that both cities successfully brand
themselves. “No other town can be Salem even though there are tons of other
locations that had witch trials especially in the Northeast. But no one can say
they’re the Witch City,” Ocker said, “only Salem, Massachusetts can do that.”
In comparison, Sleepy Hollow is known for the Headless Horseman. “There
are other towns in the country that call themselves Sleepy Hollow, but this
area is the only place that can theme themselves around Irving because he
actually lived here and was inspired by the region when he wrote the story.
It’s basically Washington Irving land.”
According to Ocker, both Salem and Sleepy Hollow are successful at
embracing their respective themes. “There’s something about these two Halloween
destinations that’s authentically spooky,” he said. “They’re also great fall
destinations. The Hudson Valley and New England are top-tier places known for
their foliage.“
Other similarities include their proximity to major metropolitan areas.
“Salem is close to Boston and Sleepy Hollow is a short drive from New York
City,” he said. “They have this small-town, big-city atmosphere to them. They
also have traffic. Who would live in Salem or Sleepy Hollow unless they’re spooky,
right?”
Another similarity shared by the Witch City and the Hudson Valley seems
to be their eerily picturesque cemeteries. “There’s the Old Burying Point on
Charter Street that almost serves as the hub of Salem in many ways,” he told
me. “It’s even more true in Sleepy Hollow. The cemetery is extremely important.
The Old Dutch Church is on the hill and Washington Irving is buried in the
cemetery. The location fits right into Irving’s story and you can almost map
out Ichabod Crane’s journey.”
Speaking of the famous chase from Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow,” Ocker uses the tale as a metaphor to describe the differences between
the two tourism-driven destinations. “In my mind, Salem is Ichabod Crane and
Sleepy Hollow is the Headless Horseman,” he explained. “Salem is so far ahead
in regards to marketing themselves, but I feel like the Headless Horseman is
slowly creeping up from behind. In most people’s minds, Sleepy Hollow is a less
evolved version of Salem, but one day it will catch up.”
Ocker pointed out that Salem had a huge head
start. “The very first Haunted Happenings was in 1982,” he explained. “North
Tarrytown didn’t even become Sleepy Hollow until 1996, so they’re almost
fifteen years behind Salem.”
There’s also the obvious geographical hurdles holding back the village.
“Sleepy Hollow isn’t set up to be a Salem because it simply isn’t walkable,” he
told me. ”In Sleepy Hollow, you definitely need a car. In the past, they tried
turning the area near the chase statue into a plaza, but the problem is that
the street is the same Broadway that’s in Manhattan. It’s a busy road and it’s
potentially dangerous to put outside seating or a cafe near the statue. The
infrastructure isn’t there yet.”
For Ocker, Sleepy Hollow’s greatest weakness is also what makes it so
special. The OTIS: Odd Things I’ve Seen
blogger said he prefers celebrating spooky season with his all-time favorite
monster, the Headless Horseman. Why? After spending an October in Salem while
writing his book, A Season with the Witch,
the New Hampshire-based writer prefers the smaller crowds and the old-school
charm of the Hudson Valley.
“In Salem, there’s the witch-trials tragedy of 1692,” he said. “The
inciting incident in Sleepy Hollow is just American letters. It’s art. So
there’s no underlying guilt, which is nice. But without that guilt you don’t
have the friction, the narrative, and the interesting public relations angles.
The appeal of Salem is a tragedy and in Sleepy Hollow it’s just a story.”
The lack of an underlying cautionary tale, Ocker told me, also
complicates things when it comes to creating paranormal-themed tourism. “Now
that Sleepy Hollow is a spooky town, they’re trying their best to pull as much
haunted content as they can to make it more interesting,” he said. “It’s really
hard to find great ghost stories in Sleepy Hollow, but it was like that in
Salem too.”
Thanks to all of the lantern tours in the Witch City, one can’t walk
down Essex Street without hitting an allegedly haunted location. In Sleepy
Hollow, however, the haunts are definitely spread out.
Another telltale sign that Salem is currently in the lead as a Halloween
destination? Ocker pointed out that the Witch City’s annual Haunted Happenings
parade happens at the beginning of October while Sleepy Hollow holds its
celebration during the last weekend of the month. “It’s very telling who is
better at promoting the holiday,” he said.
Ocker insisted, however, that New Yorkers are slowly learning to
capitalize on the power of the Headless Horseman. “In Sleepy Hollow, you’re
starting to see recycling bins that are branded. Their fire engines and police
cars now have themed logos,” he said. “Even the fire plugs are black and
orange. If you look around Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman is everywhere.”
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Excerpt:
Sleepy Hollow, New York is brimming with ghostly legends that have somehow taken on a life of their own.
Nestled on the banks of the Hudson River, the fabled region —which includes the adjoining Tarrytown— has become the go-to place during spooky season thanks to the popularity of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
Late-night lantern tours in search of a decapitated soldier's galloping ghost? Yes, please.
If one spends enough time walking through the labyrinthine paths of the village's historic cemeteries, however, there's something sinister oozing beneath Sleepy Hollow's rustic, story-book facade.
It's as if the entire hamlet is under some sort of enchantment. Or, as Irving penned in 1820, it oddly feels like the locals are somehow bewitched and "are subject to trances and visions."
The revered writer referred to the area as the "spell-bound region," and rightfully so. According to several first-hand accounts, creepy music and disembodied voices emerge out of thin air
Based on Irving's mythical take on his later-in-life hometown, it should be no surprise that the Headless Horseman isn't the Valley’s only fearsome phantom seeking postmortem revenge.
The entire region seems to be teeming with paranormal activity. Several publications sensationally claim that both Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown together make the "most haunted places in the world."
But, is it?
After digging beneath the surface, it's difficult to pinpoint what's actually paranormal activity versus a made-up ghost story that has been collectively conjured over a 200-year period.
Alex Matsuo, a Maryland-based author and paranormal investigator who has written about the area’s alleged paranormal activity in her Spooky Stuff blog, believes that the line between fact and fiction is somehow blurred in Sleepy Hollow.
“After Washington Irving's infamous tale plunged the area into fame, I would hypothesize that perhaps some of the paranormal activity could be attributed to thought-forms,” Matsuo told me. “There's also the case of self-fulfilling prophecies that people can accomplish without realizing it.”
Matsuo cited the replica of the bridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery as a potential hotspot for ghostly encounters that are freakishly fueled by the expectations of thrill-seeking visitors.
“Just by knowing the tale and the true story behind it, they would already get a case of the creeps,” she explained. “Then, with tensions rising, they hear a branch break or footsteps, and they get really spooked. They go home and tell their friends and family about the creepy experience, unknowing that there was an animal nearby causing the ruckus.”
Also, there are what paranormal researchers call thought-forms or an outward manifestation of the heightened emotions of those who visit Sleepy Hollow during spooky season. Matsuo believes that based on this concept, extreme fear can somehow take a physical form within the spirit world.
“When you have a massive amount of people invested in a story, even a fictional story based on real people, that energy has to go somewhere,” she said. “In the case of Sleepy Hollow, it may have manifested into paranormal occurrences. I would guess that most of that energy is more organized, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of that energy was displaced, which could explain some of the random paranormal events that have happened over the years.”
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