Odenwald & "The Spectre Bridegroom"

In reading through "The Spectre Bridegroom" did you wonder exactly what Odenwald means and what it is? Did you look it up? Here are some clues:

First, oden means odes (as in sagas) and wald means forest; thus odenwald means forest of sagas. That's significant because the Odenwald is a place filled with many traditional German legends, particularly ghost stories. Irving's choice of setting is not incidental.

The Odenwald is located in southwestern Germany.The northern and western Odenwald belong to southern Hesse, with the south stretching into Baden. In the northeast, a small part lies in Lower Franconia in Bavaria. People from Hesse, of course, are called Hessians. The Hessians rented out mercenaries to the English to fight the American rebels in the American Revolutionary War. You will recall that the Headless Horseman of legend was a Hessian soldier.