Here's the secret behind Sleepy Hollow football's viral 'Headless Horseman' entrance

A headless horseman leads the Sleepy Hollow High School football team onto the field for home games. The rider is Leora Dillon, a horse trainer and emergency room nurse from Warwick, New York. The popular tradition has been a staple at the school's games since 2009. As Sleepy Hollow's football team (Sleepy Hollow, NY) rounds the corner at every home game, so does someone (or something) else – a large black horse galloping across the turf, its rider’s cape billowing in the breeze behind them. There's one small thing missing: a head. Videos of the headless horseman – an iconic character from the 19th-century short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – leading the New York football team onto the field have garnered millions of views on social media this fall, drawing everything from shock to disbelief. “Nah that’s actually crazy,” one commenter wrote. “Please tell me this is real.” Never fear – it’s real.

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