About the Book

In Leaving a Trace and Tracing What’s Left: Exploring the Lore, Legends, and Ghost Stories of Hessians in America, historian and author Jonathan Eizyk uncovers the forgotten spectral legacy of the German soldiers who fought- and died- on American soil during the Revolution. Feared as mercenaries and immortalized through Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman, the Hessians have long been shrouded in myth. Through years of archival research and folklore investigation, Eizyk resurrects their untold stories- from haunted farmhouses in Brooklyn and ghostly riders in New Jersey to restless spirits in Pennsylvania and beyond- revealing how war, memory, and legend intertwine in America’s oldest ghost tales.

Richly researched and vividly told, this collection blends history and the supernatural to illuminate a neglected corner of early American folklore. As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence, Leaving a Trace and Tracing What’s Left reminds readers that even the most forgotten soldiers can still haunt the landscape they helped to shape.