Washington’ Irving’s classic tale about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman pulls off a time-traveling stunt to modern-day Westchester County in “Sleepy Hollow,” debuting on Fox Sept. 16.

It’s an entertaining and manageably crazy Gothic mix of flavors, from Irving’s work as well as the Bible (The Four Horseman of The Apocalypse) and the supernatural. Imagine the Headless Horseman as a serial killer whose only agenda is to wipe out humanity. The only man who can stop him? You guessed it: Ichabod Crane, played here by British actor Tom Mison in what looks like Constantine Maroulis’ old wardrobe from “Rock of Ages.”

When Crane finds his way out of a 914 area code cave, 250 years after the Revolutionary War, he stumbles across a murder scene that leaves one cop dead and his partner, Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie), bewildered. Crane is hauled off to central booking and given a lie detector test where his story sets off no alarms: he was serving in the Queen’s Army in the Revolutionary War when he defected to fight on George Washington’s side. The cop administering the test puts a dollar bill in front of Crane’s face and the soldier sees Washington’s puss. “Welcome to the 21st century,” says the cop.

The cops think Crane is just another nut. When he persists with the accent and the formal elocution, Abbie interrupts him, asking, “You’re not going to break character, are you?”

The witty touches keep “Sleepy Hollow,” which was actually filmed in North Carolina, from taking itself too seriously — which is good because, with lines like “You must stop the Headless Horseman from retrieving his skull,” a cackle from viewers might be in order.

“One of the main missions behind the show was to be fun and entertaining,” says executive producer Len Wiseman. “We just wanted to find the right tone and the right balance of horror, suspense and fantasy.”

Potential viewers who’ve had to read Irving’s short story for an English-class assignment may also appreciate the moxie it took to put Ichabod in a squad car next to a pretty African American cop and have them poking around a cemetery, where they exhume the Headless Horseman’s pickled noggin.

As for the Headless Horrseman, executive producer Alex Kurtzman promises, “We’re going to actually get to find out who he was before his head was cut off.” Can you say “November sweeps”?