What would happen to Ichabod when he would walk home at night after spending the afternoon reading?

After school got out Ichabod would sometimes read all afternoon until he could no longer see the words printed in his book. When he could no longer see he would begin to make his way home. ". . . every sound of nature, at that witching  hour, fluttered his excited imagination." He would allow his imagination to run away with him so much so that at hearing these sounds (the whip-poor-will, the tree toads, the screech owl, and frightened birds) he would become frightened. He was so frightened that he was "ready to give up the ghost with the idea that he was struck with a witch's token" or that he would almost die with fright and think a curse had been laid upon him. In order to frighten evil spirits and his fears away he could often be heard by the citizens of Sleepy Hollow, singing "pslam tunes" on his walk home.