At 7 p.m. that same Saturday, the line for Horseman’s Hollow was full, and devil horns ($3.95 at the gift shop) glowed red on many a head. Ghosts in tricorn hats chased shrieking SUNY students. A local market sold doughnuts and cider. Inspired by “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Historic Hudson Valley staged Horseman’s Hollow on the grounds of Philipsburg Manor, converting the historical site into a colonial town gone mad. Think fewer clowns, more yellow fever.

I followed a lantern-lit trail along the Pocantico River toward the old manor. Signs along the path warned of the Headless Horseman, but mostly it was just nice to be out of the city.

Decapitations were, fittingly, all the rage in the town. “Let’s see how you laugh without a windpipe,” one lobbed-off head barked through planks of wood.

“Welcome to my garden,” a crone beckoned, and I proceeded cautiously, worried she’d push a farm share.

In a dark barn, ghosts in flowing, glowing sheers oscillated like tower fans. A zombie nun stopped eating a dead soldier’s entrails to scream at me, then the dead soldier popped up to scream as well.