The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

A schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane arrived in Tarry Town in the Sleepy Hollow valley to pursue his career of instructing young people. He was a naive and lively man who often became so frightened by the ghost tales told by the villagers that he would rush into the woods humming to himself to avoid going crazy. He discovers that maybe they are more than simply tales till late at night. What is that shadowy, ominous person on a horse behind him? Furthermore, what is it holding? And why did schoolteacher Crane go from Sleepy Hollow forever?