04
Become the Horseman
“Known at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.”
The Legend
Brom Bones
Abraham Van Brunt, called Brom Bones, is the rider, prankster and local hero of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane’s rival for Katrina Van Tassel. Washington Irving never says he was the Horseman that night, and never says he was not.
Who is Brom Bones?
Brom Bones is Abraham Van Brunt, the burly young rider and prankster of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, nicknamed for his frame. He courts Katrina Van Tassel and feuds with Ichabod Crane over her. After Ichabod vanishes, Brom marries Katrina and laughs whenever the pumpkin is mentioned. Irving hints, and never states, that Brom was the Horseman.
Who he is
His name is Abraham Van Brunt. Brom is the Dutch short form, and the hollow calls him Brom Bones for his size and strength. Washington Irving draws him broad-shouldered, with short curly black hair and a face that mixes fun with arrogance. He is the hero of the country round, always ready, Irving says, “for either a fight or a frolic.” Irving is careful to add that there is more mischief than ill-will in him and a streak of good humor under the roughness. Whenever a prank or a brawl happens in the neighborhood, the neighbors assume Brom was at the bottom of it.
Daredevil
Brom’s horse is Daredevil, a creature Irving says is like his rider, full of mettle and mischief, and that nobody else can manage. Brom prefers vicious horses on purpose; a tame, well-broken one, in his view, is unworthy of a lad of spirit. He rides Daredevil to the Van Tassel party, and there he tells his own Horseman story. Riding home one night from Sing Sing, he was overtaken by the Galloping Hessian and offered to race him for a bowl of punch. He had him beaten, he says, until they came to the church bridge, where the Hessian bolted and vanished in a flash of fire. A few hours later, on the same road, Ichabod remembers that story.
The feud with Ichabod
Brom has courted Katrina Van Tassel for some time, and the other suitors give way when his horse is tied at her father’s fence. Then the schoolmaster starts calling, and Brom’s horse is seen there no more. Brom would settle it with his fists; he has boasted that he will “double the schoolmaster up, and lay him on a shelf of his own schoolhouse.” Ichabod will not give him the chance. He and his gang smoke out the singing school by stopping up the chimney, and break into the schoolhouse at night to turn everything upside down. He teaches a dog to whine as a rival music master for Katrina. At the party he sits brooding in a corner while she dances with Ichabod.
The knowing laugh
Ichabod vanishes on the ride home, and the hollow decides the Galloping Hessian carried him off. Shortly afterward Brom leads Katrina to the altar. Irving ends his account of Brom with one observation. Whenever the story of Ichabod is told, Brom looks exceedingly knowing. At the mention of the pumpkin he always bursts out laughing, “which led some to suspect that he knew more about the matter than he chose to tell.” A shattered pumpkin lay beside Ichabod’s hat. Brom knew where the goblin was supposed to vanish, because he told that story himself. Irving sets this beside the old wives’ certainty that Ichabod was spirited away and chooses neither. Who rode that night is left open.
In Irving’s words
Irving, introducing Brom Bones.
Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1820. The voice reading Irving in the films was designed for Sleepy Hollow with ElevenLabs. It is not a recording of any person. The whole story is free to read.
Among these, the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roystering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb he had received the nickname of BROM BONES, by which he was universally known. He was famed for great knowledge and skill in horsemanship, being as dexterous on horseback as a Tartar.
On Roblox
In the game
Brom is not a character in the game, but his question is. Irving leaves open who rode that night. In The Sleepy Hollow Experience any player can take the ride: put on the Horseman’s costume at the statue in the square and ride as the Horseman yourself while your friends run for the bridge. Pumpkins by the lanterns rear his horse, and a caught player is knocked down and helped back up. Of the five short films narrated with Irving’s lines, 04, Become the Horseman, is the one for this page. The game is coming to Roblox.
Coming to RobloxWatch the films
Keep reading
The questions beside this one.
Asked
What people ask about Brom Bones
Irving never says so. He gives two facts and lets them sit together: a shattered pumpkin was found beside Ichabod’s hat, and Brom laughed at every mention of the pumpkin afterward. Some in the hollow suspected he knew more than he told, and the story leaves it there.
Abraham Van Brunt. Brom is the Dutch short form of Abraham, and Bones is the nickname the neighborhood gave him for his size and strength.
Daredevil. Irving describes the horse as full of mettle and mischief, like his rider, and says no one but Brom could manage him.
Yes. Shortly after Ichabod’s disappearance, Irving writes, Brom Bones led Katrina Van Tassel to the altar.
Yes. Put on his costume at the statue in the square and ride as the Horseman yourself. The game is coming to Roblox.
On Roblox
The bell rings at nightfall.
Free to play. Nothing to buy right now. Alone or with friends.
Coming to RobloxWatch the films
Maturity: Mild
Violence (Repeated/Mild). Shown as Roblox shows it.
Ages 16+ for now
Roblox opens a new experience to age-checked players first. The Parents page has the detail.
5 badges
Every night you survive is kept on your name.