Washington Irving's Historical Connection to
Folk Secrets
Washington Irving plays a crucial role in the Folk Secrets narrative, and was eclectic and complicated in his own right. America’s first true celebrity, he’s probably most famous for the tale of a New York school teacher coming face to face with the headless horseman. But there’s a lot more to Irving than The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
While stories like Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and The Devil and Tom Walker are classic American folk tales, they actually originate from European legends. And Irving wrote them while in England. He lived in England and Spain for seventeen years before returning to America in 1832.
When he arrived in New York after being gone so long, he scarcely recognized the place. In some ways, he felt very much like the character of Rip Van Winkle. In that story, Mr. Winkle goes to sleep for twenty years and awakens to find everything different. Maybe leaving a place for a long time and then returning is a form of time travel?
That might be why he was so quick to leave New York after just returning. Within a few weeks, he was off to Indian Territory (later the state of Oklahoma) to explore untamed wilderness. This trip is central to the Folk Secrets narrative, and also led to Irving’s book, Tour on the Prairies. Whether he hid treasure on that trip is a matter of debate:)
Folk Secrets portrays Irving as having particular views regarding slavery and Native Americans. In the story, he befriends an escaped slave and teaches him how to read using the Codex book. He is sceptical of the Indian Removal process happening in the 1830s and sympathises with the Native American plight. Both views are grounded in his own letters and journal entries.
During his trip west, Irving encountered an emaciated and imprisoned Sauk Chief, Black Hawk War. The state of the chief seemed symbolic of the state of Native Americans during the period of Indian removal. He wrote in a letter to his sister, “He is an old man upwards of seventy: emaciated and enfeebled by the sufferings he experienced and by a touch of cholera.” He went on to say, “I find it extremely difficult, even when so near the seat of action, to get at the right story of these feuds between the White and the Red Man. And my sympathies go strongly with the latter.” (1)
Irving also met a distraught slave woman on the Ohio River who had been forcibly separated from her children. “Such wrenching true stories turned his stomach,” writes Irving Biographer Brian Jay Jones, “yet Washington Irving…never risked his reputation espousing controversial political views. His opinions remained his own.” (2)
Irving’s run-ins with history actually stretch back to the year he was born. In 1783 the Revolutionary War officially ended, leading his mother to name him after General George Washington. A six year old Irving met George Washington at his inauguration in New York, while walking through a shop. The new president patted Irving on the head and wished him well. Fitting that the final chapter of Irving’s life involved writing a lengthy biography of George Washington.
Brent Wheelbarger, Author, Folk Secrets
Citations: Danny Heitman, Humanities Magazine, July / Aug. 2014, Volume 35, Number 4 Link
Washington Irving wrote many famous stories, and may have understood the mysteries of the Thuban Coins. While his likeness was never printed on currency, he’s named after a president whose was. “Time is money,” but time will not stop you from activating this clue. However, you may want to look for this “one” outside the book.
Clue
*Reminder: clues direct you to the next image to scan, and the correct date and time to scan it (when applicable).