Is it a man?

Is it a beast?

Is it the ghost of Ichabod Crane?

From somewhere out of the woods of Chicora, the Headless Horseman rides again.

Residents swear they've seen it ride for a number of years, always around Halloween. Some have even caught it on camera.

Mounted on a tall black horse, the mysterious figure is shrouded in black.

Dusty riding boots wedged into stirrups are all that emerge from the billowy cape.

A jack-o-lantern perches atop the cape in place of the unknown rider's head.

Sharon Thomas, owner of Chicora Flowers, remembers seeing the horseman a couple of years ago. "It was rainy," she said. "It kind of gave you that chill up your spine - freaked you out. … It's spooky."

"Headless" wouldn't say a word to Thomas as she tried to discover the identity of the person under the cape.

Pat Deitz, 42, of West Slippery Rock Street, saw Headless last year as Deitz sat in her neighbor's kitchen. "I ran out on the porch, and I don't know who he was - or if he was a she," Deitz said.

"I was just curious," Deitz added. "I don't know how he hid his head."

Jenny Potts of Frogtown got a close-up glimpse of the horseman last October when he stopped at E.F. Hays and Sons Hardware store, where Potts works. "I don't know where it came from," Potts said.

Since the store had pumpkins for sale, Potts thought maybe Headless was searching for its head, then she realized it had come to feed the horse.

After the horse finished the apple, Headless led the horse across town. "(It went) right down and crossed the main road, (then) it headed towards the school," Potts said.

Ed Uber, owner the store, said "This time of year he or she appears."

"All of a sudden you (saw) this coming down the street. Everybody was staring at the Headless Horseman. The (people in) cars were all looking. It never said a word. Some of the old timers used to do these cranks."

Rumor around town is that last year Headless also rode by the elementary school, but when the younger children saw it, they got scared and Headless rode away.

13-year-old Stephanie Stoughton, of Chicora, saw Headless from her school bus. "I was on the bus and (it) was riding around and (its) cape was blowing in the wind, and it was really, really spooky at first sight," she said.

The other kids on the bus got excited too, "They're all like, 'Oh my gosh, it's the Headless Horseman!'" Stoughton said.

Chicora is usually a quiet little town, and the consensus is that Headless causes quite a stir. People stop to stare. They come out of their homes and places of businesses, and people in cars drive by slowly to get a better look.

Who is this horseman? The people of Chicora want to know.

Well, maybe they'd like to know. Truth be told, many are actually enjoying the intrigue - hoping to see the rider again.

To Thomas it doesn't really matter. She's just glad the horseman rides through town.

"That's a person who truly loves Halloween," she said.