Headless Horseman

The dullahan or dulachán ("dark man") is a headless, demonic fairy, usually riding a horse and carrying his head under his arm.[2] He wields a whip made from a human corpse's spine. When the dullahan stops riding, a death occurs. The dullahan calls out a name, at which point the named person immediately dies.[3] In another version, he is the headless driver of a black carriage, the Cóiste Bodhar.[4] A similar figure, the gan ceann ("without a head"), can be frightened away by wearing a gold object or putting one in his path.[5]

The most prominent Scots tale of the headless horseman concerns a man named Ewen decapitated in a clan battle at Glen Cainnir on the Isle of Mull. The battle denied him any chance to be a chieftain, and both he and his horse are headless in accounts of his haunting of the area.[6] Among the Highland Scottish diaspora in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, seeing the image or hearing the sound of a horse or headless rider is traditionally regarded as an omen of an imminent death within the family.[7]

In Germany, headless-horseman stories come mostly from the Rhineland. Rather than using decapitation, the headless horsemen killed their victims simply by touching them. They were revenants who had to wander the earth until they had atoned for their sins, sometimes by doing a good deed for a stranger, but instead of showing their gratitude by shaking hands, the stranger and the horseman held a tree branch between them and the branch would wither and die rather than the stranger.[8] Irving travelled in Germany in 1821 and had become familiar with Dutch and German folklore.[9] In particular the last of the "Legenden von Rübezahl" ('Legends of Rübezahl') from Johann Karl August Musäus's literary retellings of German folktales (Volksmärchen der Deutschen, 1783) is said to have inspired The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.[10]

Washington Irving's gothic story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" features a character known as the Headless Horseman believed to be a Hessian soldier who was decapitated by a cannonball in battle.[11]

The comic book series Chopper, written by Martin Shapiro, is a modern-day reimagining of the Headless Horseman. It features a headless outlaw biker on a motorcycle who collected the souls of sinners. The only people who can see him are those who have consumed a strange new Ecstasy-like drug that triggers their sixth sense and opens a gateway to the afterlife. During the hallucinogenic high, any characters who have committed significant sins are hunted by the headless ghost. Once the drug wears off, the victim is safe and beyond the Headless Horseman's ghostly reach.[12][13][14]

The Headless Horseman appears in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Just like the story, the Headless Horseman pursues Ichabod Crane which ends with the Headless Horseman throwing his pumpkin head at him. While it was mentioned what happened to Ichabod's hat was found near the shattered pumpkin, a rumor was mentioned that he has married a wealthy widow in a distant county with children who look like him. In the film the Horseman is depicted as an actual ghost rather than Brom in disguise like in the book.[15] This rendition of the Headless Horseman was also featured in the television series House of Mouse in recurring cameo appearances.

In the 1939 Will Hay comedy film Ask a Policeman, a headless horseman appears in connection with a smuggling ring.[16]

In the 1999 Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman is the ghost of a murderous Hessian mercenary (performed by Ray Park in Headless Horseman form and portrayed by Christopher Walken in his true form) summoned by Katrina Van Tassel's stepmother Lady Van Tassel to eliminate her enemies after she stole his skull from his grave and used it to control him. After Ichabod Crane returns his skull, the Horseman returns to Hell, taking Lady Van Tassel with him.

The 2007 Sci Fi Channel film Headless Horseman takes the tack that Irving's story was the "white-washed" version and the events in this horror film is the real story. It stars Richard Moll and Billy Aaron Brown and is directed by Anthony C. Ferrante.

The 2022 The Asylum film Headless Horseman directed by Jose Prendes.[17]

The Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode "Chopper" (initially broadcast on January 31, 1975)[18] features a headless motorcyclist who enacts revenge for the loss of his head on a rival biker gang,[19][20] 20 years after his murder.[21]

The 1999 Season 4 Hey Arnold! episode 14 "The Headless Cabbie" depicts a headless cab driver.[22]

The Midsomer Murders episode "The Dark Rider" (Series 15, Episode 1) shows a murder within a family who believes seeing a headless horseman is the mark of death, only for secrets to unravel the true culprit.[23]

The 2013 series Sleepy Hollow, loosely inspired by Irving's original story, depicts the Headless Horseman as both the ghost of Abraham "Brom" Bones and as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The Headless Horseman is the central character in multiple video games such as Dullahan and Headless Jack. The horseman also appears in many other games such as Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed Rogue, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Fate/Grand Order, Team Fortress 2 and World of Warcraft as a minor or secret and usually adversarial character.[24]

The Headless Horseman mascot for Sleepy Hollow High School, in Westchester County, New York, has been referred to as "America's scariest high school mascot".[25] Since 1983, Conner Prairie Interactive Historic Park in Fishers, Indiana has held a Headless Horseman festival celebrating the legend with a haunted corn maze and other activities.[26]