Capacious is an adjective that means capable of containing a lot. Crane has a capacious appetite for a couple of things. First of all, he loves food. Many of his thoughts revolve around food topics.
In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon, and juicy relishing ham; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed up, with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a necklace of savory sausages . . .
He also has an insatiable appetite for stories. He loves reading them. He loves telling them, and he loves hearing about them. Additionally, he prefers the scary and creepy stories. Why he likes these is odd because he is very superstitious and easily scared. He's so involved with all of this spooky superstitious stuff, and he is so easily frightened that Crane is actually scared by his own footsteps.
How often did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet . . .
Crane is an easy target for a popular, bully type of character like Bones because Crane is far too gullible and has a vivid imagination. Crane inundates himself with so much creepy knowledge that Crane tends to assume reality is framed in that creepiness. A guy like Bones can have great fun scaring somebody like Crane because Crane is likely to believe every word that Bones says. Bones knows this, and we are told he loves to be mischievous. Crane is an available target that doesn't really do much to insulate himself from guys like Bones.
He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; but had more mischief than ill-will in his composition; and, with all his overbearing roughness, there was a strong dash of waggish good humor at bottom.
Ichabod Crane has a truly capacious appetite for creepy tales, legends, and ghost stories of all kinds. He's a very gullible, superstitious man, easily frightened by the merest hint of anything dark and mysterious. This is what makes him such an easy target for Brom Bones' cruel tricks. We never know for sure that it's Brom who dresses up as the Headless Horseman to torment poor old Ichabod, but no one would it past him. It's just the kind of crazy, immature stunt that he'd pull. And we know that Brom is dead keen to get his love rival out of the way so he can marry Katrina Van Tassel. If that was his plan then it worked like a charm. Brom does indeed marry Katrina, and on their wedding day it's noticed that he has a knowing look on his face whenever the story of Ichabod is related. Most damningly of all, however, is the hearty laugh he always lets out whenever someone mentions the pumpkin.
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