FOX's 'Sleepy Hollow' TV Show Is Scary Good for Local Businesses

In FOX's 'Sleepy Hollow,' actor Tom Mison plays Ichabod Crane

                                                       (right) alongside Nicole Beharie as police Lt. Abbie Mills.

                                                                                       Image credit: FOX

Everyone loves a scary story, right? So when a major television network repurposes a classic, chilling tale for a modern audience, it has the makings of TV gold. This Halloween, it turns out FOX's Sleepy Hollow is also a boon for local businesses in the New York town that bears the same name.
OK, prepare to suspend your disbelief: The mystery-adventure drama is based loosely on Washington Irving's 1820 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and follows the character of Ichabod Crane, who has woken up after sleeping for 250 years and is now partnered with police Lt. Abbie Mills in modern day Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. The mismatched pair finds themselves tracking and battling Irving's infamous Headless Horseman -- only, in this story, the horseman is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are on a murderous rampage.
Dramatic, right? The show's premiere episode, which debuted last month, drew more than 10 million viewers. Now five episodes in, FOX has already renewed Sleepy Hollow for a second season.
Even in these early weeks, the show has had a significant impact on local businesses in Sleepy Hollow, a sleepy village within Tarrytown, N.Y. -- a town nestled quietly on the eastern bank of the Hudson River about 30 miles north of Manhattan.

Privately-owned Castle Hotel & Spa, a refurbished turn-of-the-century castle on a sprawling hilltop in Tarrytown, N.Y.