Why did Ichabod Crane leave Sleepy Hollow? Support your theory with references to the Washington Irving story.
It is speculated that Ichabod Crane left Sleepy Hollow from mostly fear and partially embarrassment. Fear of the Headless Horseman, Hans Van Ripper (the cranky farmer who loaned him the horse and his Sunday saddle to attend the Van Tassel's party), and Katrina Van Tassel (the daughter of a wealthy farmer he hoped he could marry and inherit her wealth), but she instead dismisses his foolish heart for another suitor. The other suitor, Brom Bones (the town hero), was a strong, handsome, skilled in horsemanship, rival that also had a reputation for mischievousness and practical jokes. Ichabod was a believer of the supernatural stories, the haunted spots, and also the ghost of the Hessian trooper, whose head was supposedly carried away in battle by a cannonball and his body buried in the churchyard. This demon of a ghost, known as the Headless Horseman, rode to the scene of the battle at night in search of his head and any unlucky victims that he encountered along the way were never to be seen or heard from again.
Now feeling the sting and embarrassment of Katrina's rejection, Ichabod quickly leaves the party and finds himself in the path of the Headless Horseman who scared him to death by hurling a pumpkin at his head that knocks him out. When the horse without its rider or saddle show up the next morning, some assumed he had fallen prey to the Headless Horseman, but most everyone felt that Brom Bones had played his best prank ever and that he had frightened his competition away.
