This image is the cover for the book Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley

Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley

A storyteller examines Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and the lore that inspired it, as well as other local legends of the Hudson Valley.

The story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman is one of America's best-known fables, but what other stories does the Hudson Valley hold? Imps cause mischief on the Hudson River, a white lady haunts Raven Rock, Major Andre’s ghost seeks redemption and real headless Hessians search for their severed skulls. These mysterious and spooky tales from the region’s past inspired Irving and continue to captivate the imagination to this day.

“Kruk has been enchanting audiences with his dramatic, enticing storytelling ability for 20 years.” —Suzanne Rothberg, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch

Jonathan Kruk

Born in El Paso, Texas, but raised in Westchester County, New York, Jonathan Kruk grew up on tall tales and daydreams. He toured the country in a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle, watered Henry Kissinger’s office plants and regaled his rambunctious brothers with bedtime “boojzhak” tales. Jonathan made storytelling his full-time career in 1989. Every year, he performs for thousands of children at hundreds of schools, libraries and historic sites in the Hudson Valley and metropolitan New York. Kruk’s performances of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for Historic Hudson Valley sell out each year. An Early Stages teaching artist, Kruk brings stories of colonial and Revolutionary times to New York City schoolchildren. His recordings of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, The Rainbow Dragon, Barkface & Rootnose, Halloween Tales, Revolution on the River and Once Upon the Hudson have won Parent’s Choice awards and NAPPA honors. He was selected in 2008 as Best Storyteller in the Hudson Valley. The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution presented Kruk with the Citizenship Medal. Jonathan’s Sleepy Hollow work has been featured on the Travel and History Channels. He’s performed at Pete Seegers’s Clearwater Festival, New York’s Quadricentennial, the New-York Historical Society and for thirty Magic Tours in Tales of Elfin Lands at Pound Ridge Reservation. Jonathan lives in a cottage in the Hudson Highlands with his wife, actress and filmmaker Andrea Sadler. For more information, go to his website, www.jonathankruk.com.

The History Press