Publisher's Synopsis
At this point in Irving's life he was a well known author for his writings and was becoming family famous. He drew connections with the story from German folklore from his heritage and from other people in his life. While the story was meant to be of a tale and for general amusement, it did have some historical influence into its writing. It was written after the war of 1812, the story tells of a man who's superstition tends to get carried away and his own sins with greed get caught up into his troubles that eventually leads to his disappearance. In this time in history people had large fears of religion catching up with their sins and actions. Irving explores this with a whimsical tale of how our fears can get the best of us. Almost making fun of people and their over active imaginations.This book contains a biography too
