A Story for Halloween: Is Fear Why You Fail? Part I
In 1933, as he and his nation battled The Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt told the American people in his First Inaugural Address that, “…The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Why did he say that? What was it about fear that can produce what he referred to as “unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance?” (Moran, 192)
First, a definition of fear: What is fear? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fear as an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger; an instance of this emotion; a state marked by this emotion; an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. There are many things and situations of which people are afraid. American essayist, poet, and lecturer, Ralph Waldo Emerson said that people are “afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other.” Psychologist Dr. Thomas A. Myers wrote that “Fear can be poisonous. It can rob us of sleep, and preoccupy our thinking. People can be literally scared to death. Fear can also be contagious.” (Myers, 384) That is a lot.
That said, let us use some examples from literature and cinema to provide some insight into the nature of fear, how to effectively deal with it, if not overcome it, in an attempt to prevent fear from adversely affecting one’s performance.
One of my favorite stories about fear is, THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (TLOSH), written by Washington Irving, who was one of the first American writers to achieve popularity in both the United States and Europe during the early decades of the 19th century. TLOSH was a fictional short story about a Hessian soldier, who got his head knocked off by a cannonball while fighting the Americans in the American Revolutionary War. If you recall from a U. S. History class, Hessians were German mercenaries hired by King George III to fight against the rebellious American colonists. TLOSH was published in 1820 as part of THE SKETCH BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT., a collection of short stories and essays by Irving. Maybe you read TLOSH in one of your high school literature classes, at least you should have. I did many years ago and the story’s lesson has stuck with me ever since. If you have not read it, it would be advisable that you should, for it is a story about fear, and competition, particularly, how a person’s fears can be their undoing since their rivals can elicit and, then, take advantage of such fears to achieve their goals, like striking you out and winning a baseball game.
TLOSH told the story of Ichabod Crane, a gangly itinerant schoolmaster, who, in 1790, settled into Sleepy Hollow, a small farming village in the Hudson River Valley of New York. A strange-looking learned fellow, Crane did not seem like a good fit for the rustic environs in which he found himself. Despite all of that, he was able to adjust, at least in some ways. His students, who came to benefit from the academic rigor he imposed, grew to like him, though not always the academic rigor. Crane also became a big hit with the females of the village, who seemed spellbound by his charm. Yet, unfortunately for Crane, not all of the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow would be as welcoming. One demographic, in particular, came to resent his presence. That element would be a gang of rowdies led by one Brom Bones, known to be an accomplished prankster among other things. It would be safe to say that Brom and his comrades might have taken exception to Crane the moment he first set foot in their village. You see, not only was Crane well educated, something they were not, he was a fashionable dresser, proper, a touch condescending, and consequently, irritating, very irritating. However, it was Crane’s effect on the womenfolk that would anger them the most, causing them to take action. One would not have to possess keen psychological insight to realize that the cause of the inevitable showdown was jealousy, as you may have guessed. It would be a classic matchup: brains and ingenuity versus brawn and intimidation. One might say that it was the proverbial irresistible force versus the immovable object, though, at the outset of the conflict, it was difficult to determine who was what and Crane might well have been both the irresistible force and the immovable object.
Brom and his fellow mischief-makers would try hard to get the best of Crane but each time Crane was up to the task, much to their frustration, and humiliation. This was especially true when Crane tried to move in on Katrina VanTassel, the object of Brom Bones’ romantic interest. Crane’s pursuit of Katrina caused Brom and his boys to pick up their game and escalate the conflict. However, Crane always met the challenge. He was motivated. You see, Katrina was quite the catch, for not only was she attractive, but her father also owned a very large, prosperous farm. Any ambitious suitor would be interested in that farm and it certainly could be debated whether Crane was more interested in Katrina or her father’s farm. I guess one could say that the same was true for Brom Bones. Whatever, it does not really matter, for this retelling of this centuries’ old story is about fear and not the motives of two rivals, who were destined to do battle with each other for the same girl’s affection. So, keep that in mind. One of them would eventually find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and, ultimately, the losing end of the competition. The opposite was true of the other.
Whether Crane’s motives were real or just all in the jealous and paranoid Brom’s head, Brom simply did not take too kindly to what he perceived as Crane’s overtures toward Katrina and he became obsessed with getting rid of the intruder. However, as it all unfolded, everything that Brom would try failed. That was until the night of a harvest celebration party at Katrina father’s farm when Crane gave Brom the opportunity he had been waiting for.
At dinner, Brom noticed that Crane, upon toppling the saltshaker and spilling salt on the table, became very nervous, even agitated, and began hurriedly picking up the spilled salt and tossing it over his shoulder. It is a superstition, held by some, that, when they spill salt, they must do that, in case you are wondering. Crane was superstitious! Brom wondered if Crane was fearful too, maybe even susceptible to scary ghost stories. If so, Brom had his man right where he wanted him. Maybe Brom could get rid of his rival by scaring him out of town. It was certainly worth a try.
As Katrina’s party neared its end, as was the custom, it was time for some storytelling, often by Revolutionary War veterans, who told of their experiences fighting for American Independence. There were those who told ghost stories as well. Brom, who could not let the opportunity slip by, seized the moment and went into his rendition of the folktale of the Headless Horseman.
Brom was a captivating and credible storyteller, at least from the vantage point of Ichabod Crane, who easily became captivated, and credulous. The more of the story Brom told about the Hessian soldier, who, as the story went, roamed the countryside at night, looking for his head, or any head to replace the one he had lost in the war, it became increasingly noticeable that Crane was scared. This is easy, Brom must have thought and he was certainly enjoying himself at Crane’s expense.
After Brom completed his tale, it was time for Katrina’s guests to leave. Crane departed on a not-so-trusty steed, an old plough horse, misnamed Gunpowder, which he borrowed from a farmer to get him to and from the party. That horse, unbeknownst to Crane, was just as fearful as he was. I guess it was a case of like master-like horse, or vice versa, and the two were most unsuited for what they soon would experience. Though Crane did not realize it as he left the party, his trip home would be eventful, to say the least.
Crane’s journey took him through dark woods and eerie swamps, terrain that could only intensify his fear level. As he made his way, Crane could not stop thinking about Brom’s story. His imagination ran wild on him and everything he saw or heard alarmed him and made him think that the decapitated Hessian soldier’s appearance was imminent. He was right! Just then, the Headless Horseman appeared carrying a pumpkin head on his saddle. He, then, began to chase Crane, swinging his sword at him whenever he got close to the terrified schoolmaster.
Before reading this paragraph, go back to the opening paragraph of this article and read it again. Let us just say, for the sake of argument, that Crane was not a fictional person, he was real. Now, use a little more imagination and ask yourself this question: what if Crane had access to 21st-century technology and he was able to plug in a pair of ear buds and listen to Franklin Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address on his trip home for inspiration? In all likeliness, the President’s message to Americans of the Depression era, that “there was nothing to fear but fear itself,” would certainly be lost on Crane. Fear was all too real to him, as there was a headless man chasing him and swinging a sword at him. President Roosevelt urged the American people, facing the difficult times of the Great Depression, to overcome the “unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Well, Crane was stricken with “terror,” justified or not. That was for sure. He nearly suffered paralysis at the sight of the Headless Horseman, or what he thought was the Headless Horseman. One could say that he was so scared that he twisted President Roosevelt’s message around and turned “advance” into “retreat.” To Crane, his “terror” certainly was justified.
That legendary chase is an example of the fight-flight-freeze response system of the autonomic nervous system and its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. The autonomic nervous system controls the self-regulated actions of the internal organs and glands – a person’s heartbeat, for example. The sympathetic division arouses a person in response to a threat, real or merely perceived. The parasympathetic division calms a person after a threat has subsided.
Well, Crane understandably froze at first but that could not work for long. That much was apparent to him. Fighting was certainly not an option to him either, as the schoolmaster was no match for his imposing pursuer. Crane’s horse wanted no part of a physical confrontation either. It would be flight as both a horrified Crane and his equally horrified horse made their getaway as fast as they could, dodging the slashes of the Horseman’s sword as he swung it in an attempt to take Crane’s head off. Yet, in the midst of the chaos, it became something of a comfort for Crane that escape was possible. As he somehow was able to recall from the story that Brom had told, the Headless Horseman lost his powers if he ventured across the wooden bridge. Crane knew that he just had to make it to that bridge and get to the other side.
As Crane’s fortune would have it, he was able to outrun the Headless Horseman and make it across the bridge with his head still attached to his shoulders. One could attribute Crane’s escape to his equestrian expertise or Gunpowder’s ability to run fast when he had to, or a combination of the two. More likely, letting Crane escape was the Headless Horseman’s intention all along – to scare the meddling teacher away. To add insult to injury but, more likely injury to insult, the Headless Horseman hurled the pumpkin head that he carried with him at Crane and hit him in the skull, knocking him off Gunpowder. As the startled Crane lay in the dust, an unsympathetic but opportunistic Gunpowder headed for home, surely glad to rid himself of the ill-fated pedagogue.
Crane was safe, traumatized but safe. However, merely crossing the bridge did not allow the parasympathetic division of Crane’s autonomic nervous system to kick in and restore calm. Crane’s fear was such that it caused him to make a hurried exit on foot, forever vanishing from Sleepy Hollow. Gunpowder? Well, the villagers saw him grazing at his owner’s farm the next day. Yet, the story of Ichabod Crane did not end there. Although the gullible, fear-prone schoolmaster may have been out of the sight of the Hollow’s inhabitants, memories of him would linger and speculation, as to his whereabouts, became the subject of many a conversation there for some time as rumors abounded.
Oh, by the way, I should have told you that Brom Bones was the Headless Horseman, just in case you have not figured that out. Brom’s portrayal was spot on, and Ichabod Crane, because he was so scared, never realized that Brom was merely acting the part during Crane’s encounter with what Crane thought was the Headless Horseman that night. Really, there was no Headless Horseman but it made for a scary story, at least for those who tend to get scared over such things (It still does make for a scary story, as the Villages of Sleepy Hollow, New York, and Sleepy Hollow, Illinois put on a Headless Horseman show every Halloween.). Crane let his overly vivid imagination, an easily exploitable weakness, run-wild on him. Fear set in during Brom’s telling of that tale and it almost overcame Crane during his fateful ride. Brom Bones was all too eager to take advantage of Crane’s fear, once he discovered Crane’s vulnerability. Brom Bones eventually did marry Katrina and got the farm as well. Click on the links below to see how Brom was able to get his man and the girl.
Ichabod Crane-Headless Horseman Song
Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) Ichabod Travels Home
After showing the Disney cartoon version of TLOSH to my psychology and sports psychology classes during Halloween week, which I did for the sake of relevance, I assigned several questions for my students to answer. I always included this question for extra credit: “Where did the Headless Horseman live?” Too many students, believing that the Headless Horseman was real, said in the woods or under the bridge. The more insightful students said the correct answer – in Ichabod Crane’s overly active, fear-prone mind, as there was no Headless Horseman! Evidently, fear is in the mind of the beholder.
What are the lessons about fear that an athlete, in particular a baseball player, can learn from this early 19th-century short story? Well, there are several: (1) One’s imagination, in a sports context, can make one vulnerable, especially when it comes to things that do not exist like The Headless Horseman. Things usually are not what they are imagined to be, certainly not as bad as one can imagine them to be. This may be especially true when it comes to reading about an opponent’s accomplishments in the media or paying too much attention to hearsay (see Part II); (2) if one is prone to being afraid, some people, particularly one’s opponents, will eventually realize it and take advantage of one’s fears to get what they want. For Brom Bones, it was to get the girl and her father’s farm. For a pitcher, it is to strike you out and win the ballgame; (3) one’s fears will make life difficult for them. (Continued in Part II)
References
Blair, W., Hornsberger, T., Miller Jr., J., Stewart, R., (Ed.). (1971). The literature of the United States: An
anthology and history from the colonial period through the American revolution. Volume One. (Third Edition). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.
Cook, J. (1993). The book of positive quotations. Fairview Press.
Disney, W. (Producer) & Kinney, J, Geronimi, C. Agar, J.(Directors). (1949), The adventures of Ichabod
and Mr. Toad [Animated Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Moran, M. C. (Ed.). (2003). U. S. history and government. Amsco School Publications.
Myers, T. A. (2011). Myers’ psychology for ap*. First Edition. Worth Publishers.