“Did you hear that?” the worker asked, loading the boxes onto the truck assigned to him.

“Hear what?” His skeptical coworker looked at him. “Focus on work instead of imagining things.”

“But I…”

The worker fell silent, looking at the dark forest surrounding the Sleepy Hollow factory. He had never liked that place, due to the story he was told when he was young.

“Are you daydreaming or working?”

“Yes, sorry…”

As soon as he dropped the box, the echo of a sinister laugh resounded from all directions, almost feeling omnipresent.

His coworker, upon hearing it, dropped the boxes suddenly.

“What was that?”

“I… I don’t know.” The worker responded, sweating and trembling.

A mysterious shadow emerged from the darkness, moving steadily.

“Who goes there?”

Silence. The workers looked at each other.

“Can it hear us?”

The shadow started to approach, revealing an old, almost decaying, period costume. But that wasn’t the strangest part.

Instead of a head, it bore a flaming pumpkin.

“It’s him, the Horseman!”

“What are you talking about?” the coworker responded. “It’s just someone in a costume, I almost fell for it!”

With determined steps, he approached the strange figure, who was watching attentively.

“Hey, where did you get the costume? Amazon?”

“You are of no use to me.” The Horseman’s voice was hoarse and extremely deep.

“Huh? You don’t scare me, not like my coworker, right Bob?”

As he finished speaking, the Horseman grabbed his pumpkin head and threw it at the coworker.

Upon impact, the pumpkin started burning, engulfed in powerful and terrifying flames.

“AHHH, SOMEBODY HELP ME, OH GOD!!!” His screams could be heard for miles as his muscles and bones became almost visible.

“Oh God, no!” shouted the other worker as he started running in the opposite direction of the creature.

Meanwhile, the creature hopped onto a horse that appeared out of nowhere, drawing its rusted sword.

“You, maybe you are of value to me…” The Horseman clicked its fingers, creating another pumpkin formed from flames in its hands.

“Please, leave me alone!”

The worker stumbled and fell down a slope in the forest. He felt the hits from rocks, branches, and bushes until he reached flat ground, where he briefly recovered and then turned around, searching for traces of the Horseman.

But strangely, the Horseman was no longer there.

“Okay, okay, I threw it off.”

As he relaxed, he saw a sword emerge from the bushes…

“It’s fake.” Select answered, looking at the vase they had handed him.

“What do you mean, fake?” The museum director looked disbelievingly at Select. “It’s impossible! Our experts have stated that it belongs to the Zhōu dynasty, around 692 BC.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’m afraid your experts are a bit blind, because they would have seen this label saying “Made in Vietnam” here, and not to mention the copyright of the creating company…”

The director turned red as a tomato, embarrassed by the situation.

“How is this… possible? My experts couldn’t have been wrong!”

“Then perhaps they’ve lied to you, I’m afraid.”

“Thank you for your opinion, Mr. Select. Now that this matter is settled, I need your help.”

“What is it about?”

“Are you familiar with Sleepy Hollow?”

“Of course, it’s a story written by Washington Irving.”

The director approached Select.

“Recent researchers claim that the Headless Horseman might have existed, at least the person on whom it was based. A Hessian soldier, apparently.”

Select was surprised.

“Well, that’s interesting… Do you want me to go investigate?”

“Exactly, compared to other expeditions, this one will be quite simple for you. Don’t you think?”

“I suppose so, I’ll get to it right away.”

Sleepy Hollow, Select thought for a moment. Could that soldier be the origin of the story?