Coach Bones? Coach Bones, can you hear us? Jill, Adam, Jack, please get in line with the other students. Mr. Crane! Miss Matters, I didn't see you. What's wrong? It's Coach Bones. He's trapped inside the school. Trapped? She's on the phone, but we can barely hear it. She says there's a fire. Coach Bones, are you there? But this is just a drill. He must be playing a prank. It sounds like...
It's coming closer. Right toward me! What do you see? No! It can't be! It can't be! Coach! What is it? Coach Bones! Every town has its ghosts. But in Sleepy Hollow, as Halloween draws near, the wall between the land of the living and the dead comes down. That's when he rides again. The ghost of the headless horseman. Gen Z Media presents The Hollow. An eight-part audio adventure inspired by Washington Irving's timeless Halloween tale in honor of its 200th anniversary. Episode 4.
Three heads are better than one. Hi, Jill. Looks like they already started. Yeah, people are pretty worked up. And scared. Is this really a town meeting about you-know-who? It's been three weeks since Coach Bones was attacked. And I've heard it's been happening all over town. If you ask me, everyone's losing their heads. Excuse me. Sorry. Yes. Poor choice of words. My husband and I moved to Sleepy Hollow because we heard good things about the schools.
I have a son in the same school as yours, Mrs. Nelson, and I promise you it's safe. Tell it to Coach Bowles! Miss Mathers, you were there during the fire. Can you explain what happened? Well, I mean... I heard Coach Bones over the phone. He was legitimately frightened. But when we got the basement door open, he was passed out and I didn't see anything. And if there was a fire, it was out.
What I experienced was real, Kate. I'm not saying it wasn't. And what about Bob? He swears he saw it too, didn't you, Bob? It was him, all right. The horseman. He's the one who left the scar on the side of my head. I crashed my car in the fog last Tuesday. Why? Because I swerved when I saw him and his horse. Are you trying to say I'm a liar? Oh, this isn't going well. You think? Horseman really is here. We need to get to the bottom of it.
Oh, it's hanging in midair! Beware, sleepy Hollow. Beware! Your hour has come! The hour... I can answer that, Miss Mathers. Crane, did you have something to do with this? I had everything to do with it. What you just saw was a demonstration of laser lighting, voice projection, and some harmless sulfur and stage smoke. You almost caused a panic. No, Chief, I prevented one. You're all susceptible to the power of suggestion.
A little smoke and mirrors, and you were ready to believe you saw a ghost. I know what I saw. I'm sorry, Coach, but we only have your word. So it was a fake. Was it all fake? It's not funny, Crane. Turn the lights back on. And enough with the ghost theatrics. That wasn't mean. Let's get out of here, guys. The people in this town are really scared. They have no reason to be. Then you're sure it's not real? Wanna know what I think? Oh boy, here we go. I think the wall is coming down.
The wall. Between the living and the dead. We're getting closer to Halloween. And all of these encounters with the horsemen, I think it has something to do with the 200th anniversary of the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Maybe we should stay out of it. You heard Coach Bones' story about the 150th. We need to... What we need to do is prove it's not real before it hurts my dad's business. Either way, I know where to find the answers.
Come on! Where are we going? The library! But isn't it closed? Probably. Oh great! Who doesn't love a creepy old library after dark? It's Jess from GZM Shows. Right now, we're running a listener survey to make sure we're bringing you ads and partnerships that you actually like.
We ran a survey last year and it helped us so much. I'm not even joking. We learned that a lot of our listeners have pets and that helped us get sponsorships for pet owners. And that's just one example of how you've helped us already and how you can help us again. Help us out by going to gzmshows.com slash survey and taking a super quick survey to tell us more about yourself and what you like. Once again, that's gzmshows.com slash survey. Thank you.
There's a light still on. Miss Quisenberry must still be inside. Miss Quisenberry the librarian? The one who read the book fifty years ago? She's been here forever. Forever, forever? Pretty close. Welcome, children. Didn't mean to startle you, Jill, Jack, Adam. Come inside. I've been expecting you. How does she know our names?
Miss Quisenberry, we wanted to ask you if... If you could look at the book I keep under glass. The first edition of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The one I read at the 150th anniversary. It's still here? Of course. With handwritten notes by Washington Irving himself. We know the story. My parents used to read me to sleep with it every night. You think you know the legend, do you? Of course.
How a new school teacher named Ichabod Crane came to town and fell in love with Katrina. Jill, that sounds a lot like Mr. Crane and your mom. Coincidence. And Ichabod Crane had a rival named Brom Bones. Like... Coach Bones? Another coincidence, I'm sure. The real story is that one Halloween night, Brom dressed up... as the Headless Horseman, and chased the school teacher across the old wooden bridge. And Ichabod Crane was never seen or heard from again.
The real story, you say? Then you don't believe the Horseman was real? Do you? Why don't I show you the book? Here you are, children. Take your time. But remember what they say. Those who remember the past are doomed to repeat it. Uh, don't you mean those who don't? Remember the past, are doomed to repeat it? I like my way better. Is she always that- Yes. Here. Wow, look at this book. It's so old.
We know the story, Jill. Your dad used to tell it to you every night when we were little. But Miss Quisenberry said something about Washington Irving's handwritten notes. Look, in the margins, it's like his research. about the Revolutionary War. What does it say? As the British and Americans fought battles up and down the Hudson Valley in 1777, there were spies in every village and town. Spies? What's that? Sounds like drums. Okay, this is getting weird. Getting? Keep reading.
A British spy was captured but made his escape on horseback. Don't tell me. He was shot down by a cannonball and lost his head? What was that? Cannonball? If this is another one of Mr. Crane's tricks... Could Mr. Crane make the whole library shake? The books... What's happening? They're flying off the shelves! We're under attack! What was that? Oh, I don't know. A revolutionary war battle in the library? Um, guys, what happened to all the streetlights on Main Street? Where are all the buildings?
And the people. Look at that wooden sign. Sleepy Hollow. Population 50? Only somebody scratched out the 50 and wrote 49. Did we? Go back in time? Hear that? Sounds like... a horse. Where there's a horse, there's a... no, horseman! It's coming this way! Run for the bridge! Bridge? I didn't know there was a bridge here. There isn't. Not in our time. You mean... Jail! You know the story as well as I do, Jack. This is the bridge where Ichabod Crane made his escape.
According to the legend, the horseman can't cross to the other side. The headless horseman. Oh, how is this happening? It's getting closer. Go across the bridge. Other side. If we stop, he'll get us. This isn't real. There's no headless horsemen. There's no such thing as ghosts. It's all in our heads. At least we have heads. Look! your next adventure at gcmshows.com. Shh. It's starting. GZM Shows.
Are you a fan of teen spy action-adventure podcasts? Then you'll love six minutes. But don't take my word for it. The New York Times said, children and their adults who love the X-Men and other tales of youths with innate powers will get lost in the six-minutes fictional saga. And we're not just in the news. We've got over 15,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts alone. Look for 6 Minutes on Apple Podcasts and for more information on gzmshows.com.