Summer 1781, Ichabod Crane was in the square of a small nondescript town in rural Idaho. He was there as a tourist of a sort: there was a legend of a local witch and he was curious to know more. As he milled about he asked the locals irritating and generally stupid questions and it was getting more and more annoying. He asked one old lady in particular the same question 20 times and she was getting extremely hacked off.

He was about to ask her again for 21st time when she finally snapped: she pushed him backwards and yelled, "Will you stop asking me that? You poncey city types are all the same! You come here and apply your city-dwelling perspective to our situations and then wonder why none of it makes sense!" She glared at him and pointed a spindly finger at his surprised face, "You have come here looking for the witch of legend young man. Well you're in luck: I am that very witch and you've asked me that bloody question for the last time! It's like you can't remember your own head, so therefore City Boy I hereby curse you. You will encounter a living headless creature every year for 20 years. The curse will start when you encounter a headless horseman and although you may try to run and escape from this magic, it will only end when you encounter a headless chicken." With the gangly city dweller admonished, she left quite peacefully. Ichabod was hounded out by annoyed townsfolk and returned to the city.

In time, Ichabod forgot this curse but in 1790 he was attempting to court a young lady when it struck and the Headless Horseman appeared and gave chase. He tried to run and had thought himself successful when the horseman's inability to cross a river gave halt to the pursuit, but the magic was strong and the wily spirit threw his own severed head at his quarry. It was a perfect shot and Ichabod was struck and sent flying from his own horse. He hit the ground but managed to get up and run and did not stop running from about 2 miles. He thought he was free, but from the curse he could not escape: over the following 20 years he encountered a variety of headless things including a badger, a bat, a squirrel, an angry lumberjack and a singing poodle.

Finally after 20 years of weird creatures, he encountered the headless chicken and upon remembering the witches words, breathed a sigh of relief. The curse was over and was he was free of the menagerie of head-free supernatural things. Unfortunately there was a bit of the curse he hadn't heard. The witch had muttered it under her breath as she had walked away. Consequently, an image of her terrible visage appeared in front of him, causing Ichabod to stumble backward in fear. It glowered at him for a moment before speaking in a terrible voice, "City Boy! You think you are free of my curse. Think again, for there is more. You must now travel to Haiti, where there is currently a civil war." The vision seemed to calm down a bit and in more normal tones added, "My cousin lives there and is fed up with it all. Sort something out young man and all will be finished. Don't dawdle now, there's a good lad." The apparition then dissipated leaving Ichabod in a fearful daze, but he saw that it was probably best do as the old witch said. He immediately travelled to Haiti and brokered a peace treaty, thus ending both the war and his cursed days.