Washington Irving, 19th century American author, celebrated short story author, diplomat, historian - inspiring ghost? So it would seem, if the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch of Tarrytown, NY, is to be believed.
The local news site reported on July 9 the story of 14-year-old Rachel Lambert, a paranormal enthusiast and aspiring writer, who visited Irving's famous Sunnyside estate (shown here) in late June and possibly caught the ghost scribbling away in an upstairs window.
According to the article, "after seeing Tim Burton's film, Sleepy Hollow, Rachel pursued her interest in the paranormal and convinced her family to take a trip from Rotterdam, NY, to see what the town of the horseman is really like." During her tour of the property, the girl quickly snapped a photo of the window, but didn't catch the image of a head and torso with a quill pen until she returned home - which she believes to be Irving himself.
Local legends do claim the estate and the Sleepy Hollow cemetery are reliable hotspots for ghost sightings of Irving, but Rachel's father thinks the author's potential appearance is less a coincidence and more of a sign from the dead man.
Says the article:
Just before the family stopped outside the cottage, they were having a conversation with the guide about Rachel's achievements as an English honors student and her dream of becoming a writer. They additionally spoke about her interest in Sleepy Hollow and how she had planned out sights to see and goals for the trip, which included stopping at Washington Irving's grave in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery beforehand. The family thinks that Irving's spirit may have overheard this conversation and acted. Perhaps Irving's thoughts were, "I'm gonna let her see this and do this for an aspiring author," as Rachel's father put it.Rachel put together a video (embedded below) to show off her pic, and while we're not really convinced the photo is paranormal, we're not going to crush the young girl's haunted hopes - instead, we'll let GhostTheory do the honors