DID YOU KNOW this little horror history fact:
Most
people don’t know that pumpkins come in other colors besides orange.
There
is a classic horror story about a real, young Black child who lived in the
1800s. Can you guess what story it was? The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow was not originally the fictional story of Ichabod
Crane.
According
to New York records of the time, Ephraim Brownsome was a student in a secondary
school for free Black children before the tragedy. This event took the lives of
twelve children and eight adults.
It
began with the request of an abolitionist to integrate the schools of Boston,
Massachusetts. Parents were excited to send their children, who represented the
best and the brightest, and give them the opportunity study under elite scholars.
It required the colored students to travel from New York to Boston.
The
trip took days. They crossed lands with old plantations that had bloody slave
revolts on them. Legend told that the lands were dangerous because the spirits
of the slave owners would possess weak minds.
On
the group’s return trip, Ephraim mocked slavery and slaves themselves. He said
Africans had to be stupid to let someone enslave them. On the evening of the
third day, young Ephraim murdered all of the children in his stagecoach and
another one before his killing spree was cut short. He was shot down during the
conflict.
While
lying on the ground, the horses pulled the stagecoach wheel over his body and
decapitated him. Both his head and body were brought back to Sleepy Hollow and
buried in an old Dutch cemetery.
Months
later, the cemetery had become overgrown with weeds and vegetation. On the
night of All Hallows Eve, Ephraim rose from his grave. His body had pushed
through the weeds and a pumpkin had grown nearby, replacing his head. A black
pumpkin.
The
possessed, black-pumpkin-headed body of Ephraim continued his murderous
rampage. This time, he killed more than just Black children. The town’s militia
was able to stop him again but not before fear struck the hearts of any and all
survivors.
The
story of this incident has changed over years and, due to racism, the young,
Black Ephraim was replaced with the name of his first white victim - Ichabod
Crane. Even the color of the pumpkin was changed to orange.
Only
one photograph of Ephraim exists. If you look closely, you can see the face of
a white man inside a black pumpkin.
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