Storyteller Brings Halloween Spirit to Westchester

Have you been craving a good scare this Halloween season? Look no further than one of Westchester County’s top storytellers, Jonathan Kruk. 

Kruk, 55, of Cold Spring, has been spinning tales about the things that go bump in the night since he was a teenager living in Katonah.

Since then, he has become a Halloween tradition at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation and has performed "Legends and Lore of Little People" there every October for the past 30 years. Kruk has also produced an award-winning recording of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and authored numerous books on local legends and folklore. 

“I began telling tales as a teen to amuse my rambunctious brothers, with the misadventures of 'the Boojzak,' a monster with a moustache," he said. "My first real professional engagements happened here—I performed at Katonah Elementary School, and led my first 'Legends and Lore' in 1981."

In an interview with Patch, Kruk shared his favorite Bedford ghost story, The Tale of Chief Catoonah—and shared what he knows about how legends are made.

Patch: What is your favorite thing about what you do?

Jonathan Kruk: Playing a positive pied piper! I love taking children away from our wired world of noise and haste into the realm of the imagination. Seeing their faces relaxed, enchanted by the story's spell, is my favorite thing, my motivation—It's what I work for.

Patch: What got you interested in  folklore and fairy tales and fables?

JK: Studying the classic Greek dramas and myth at Holy Cross College under Jesuit priests showed me the heart of all we experience and turn into art. Folklore, fairy tales, fables are more pure, refined by storytelling over the centuries. I enjoy the way they catch the nitty-gritty of human emotion, and have a magical quality.

Patch: How did you learn about the local legends you re-tell in your book, Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley?

JK: From storytellers, like a wonderful school teacher, Mrs. "Pud" Addis at Katonah Elementary, and Charlie Duda a long time interpreter at Washington Irving's homestead in Tarrytown, and my mentor, Nick Shoumatoff, now known as He-Who-Stands-Firm all told me tales. 

Patch: Are you always on the hunt for a new legend?  

JK: I am always on the hunt to make an old legend new. 

Patch: How much of your storytelling is your own creation, and how much is a recounting of an old tale? 

JK: Every tale I tell is one-third a close recounting, a third original Jonathan Kruk, and the rest audience inspired improvisation.

Patch: Speaking of retelling an old legend–what can you tell us about the origins of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? Was it based on any local superstition or purely on Washington Irving’s imagination?

JK: The Legend is both and more. Washington Irving listened to local lore while a teen hunting in central Westchester. His best sources appear to be a Native American guide and a former slave.

A scholar from Katonah, Elizabeth Paling Funk, told me that the headless horseman's chase of Ichabod is a Dutch custom. But there are passages borrowed and even lifted from German lore and a famous Robert Burns poem. The Legend's beauty rises from something more than many sources Irving used. His artistry in uniting all the elements into a romantic ghost story makes The Legend a classic.

Patch: And speaking of creation, do you ever create brand new legends? 

JK: Many of my stories for children like, "Barkface and Rootnose" are my originals. A legend must by definition have a sliver of truth at the heart. There was, for example, a real Hessian soldier who lost his head at a real Revolutionary War battle here in Westchester. It's in my book "Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley." But I don't usually create a completely new legend. I try to be clever like Washington Irving basing my legends on some actual event or person.

Patch: Since there is nothing better than a good local ghost story during the Halloween season, can you share some tales from Katonah, Bedford, or the immediate surrounding area?

JK: Here's a story Pud Addis and He-Who told me of a tale regarding Chief Catoonah.  His name roughly means "Big Mountain."

The Tale of Chief Catoonah:

It was a scorching summer day when the great chief put his mark on the final deed for the lands making up today's town of Bedford. Doom fell upon Catoonah. Leaving the English settlers with gifts for use of his people's lands, Catoonah heard a fierce clap of thunder. Arriving at his home near Beaver Dam Brook, he discovered the lightning struck down a huge branch. It crushed the wigwam and his dear wife Cantitoe and their baby boy.

Heartbroken over what his deed had done, Catoonah just sat and awaited death. He was buried with his wife and child near Katonah Woods Road, beneath two huge boulders and a tree. His Spirit hovers here especially in the colorful Fall, a sun struck shape, ever watchful, and protective of the land he let the English take. Catoonah still takes care.

If you want to catch one of Kruk's upcoming storytelling sessions, click here for a calendar of events.

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