Legend of Sleepy Hollow airs Halloween Night

First written in 1820 as part of author Washington Irving's The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has alternately been called "a classic of American literature" and "The Great American Ghost Story."

Just in time for Halloween, a new half-hour film adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by documentary filmmaker Jim Ormond features a storyteller using Irving's authentic language from the 1820 tale. With a spooky aura, the thrilling chase of Ichabod Crane by the Headless Horseman, and quaint charm, this new production captures the spirit of the beloved classic. Rhode Island PBS airs The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at 10:30 p.m. on Halloween, October 31.

Filmmaker Ormond specializes in short films on local history. His recent releases have included Hudson River Brick Makers, which chronicled the rise and fall of the Hudson River brick industry and The Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden, which examined slavery in New York state from the founding of New Amsterdam in the 1600s up to 1840, when slavery was finally phased out in the state.