There are so many different stories about the headless horseman, including those which have been put into films.

The thing is - there are so many different stories from all over the world of the sight or tale of a headless horseman. I am not a sceptic, but how can all of these stories be true as there are so many, or did they originate from one in particular?

There are many sites on the net, all say similar and all say different!

My local town has its own headless horseman story - who apparently is seen in the local woods in the dead of night on a particular night. I was wondering though, could this story be a way of keeping children away from woods at night - away from non-paranormal danger?!?

What do others think? Has anyone else got a 'local headless horseman'?

On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow traveler in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck, on perceiving that (the rider) was headless!--but his horror was still more increased, on observing that the head, which should have rested on (the rider's) shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle.

--Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

yeah, i always thought that the headless horseman was just a fiction book.

s'posed it could have been based on a 'true story' so to speak. gosh, i've not read that book in more than 20 years!

It is physically impossible for one to survive without ones head.
IF it was true at one time, and someone actually seen it, then I would have to say that it was only a prank/scheme.
Im totally skeptical about this ever having been real.

the whole thing is one is supposed to see the ghost of the headless horseman.
i don't believe in this one at all. if the washington irving story was based on folklore it was prolly one of those stories told to keep ppl off the streets so the drunks could find their way home...

There is a story of a ghostly Hessian soldier who searches the old American Revolutionary War battlefield where he died, trying to find his head. Actually, it's fairly common to find reports of ghosts who lost a body part in life searching for it after death. Usually it's the head, but not always.

There's a manor in England that's supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Sir Edmund Verney, the King's standard bearer at the battle of Edgehill. When he was captured by Cromwell's men he refused to give up the standard and was killed, but they were unable to pry to pennant from his death grip so they cut off his hand. Later in the battle, when the standard was re-captured, his hand was still gripping the staff and was identified by his signet ring. His body had been buried on the battlefield, but his hand was sent home and buried in the family vault. Now he's said to roam the grounds at night looking for it.

I guess headless ghosts and the like are as possible as any other kind.

Yes, oftentimes ghosts have been reported as missing various body parts..What strikes me as fishy though is in the case of Horsemen; is that it's always the head they lack..
you never once hear of an armless horseman; or a horseman missing one leg..
More than anything else the consistency of the headless state leads me to believe that these stories are just legends..

horsemen missing arms or legs would have a tendency to fall off their horses, thereby making them just regular ghost. hee hee

I figured somebody would say that.. And though you were probably joking I had an answer ready if it was serious..
Simply this..Ghosts that are only torsos' are often seen moving about normally as if thier legs were there but invisible..Sometimes ghosts are reported as only legs and yet they seem to know where to walk. It would seem, wouldn't it; that the state of visibility of limbs and heads doesn't impede them in many ways?
Therefore a spectral horseman; we could conjecture; might be seen in a variety of states. And yet only the lack of a head is ever mentioned..
So to me it seems we have more of an archetypical legend than a true spirit..

yeah i was only joking.

i think its an urban legend. could be based on an actual event, but i doubt Sleepy Hollow really happened.

though i do like Johnny Depp acting like a crazy coroner and all the people standing around them going, "My gosh! They sent us a buffoon!" and the things the bad guy (no spoilers here, just in case) shouting stuff at the climax like, "Watch your head!"

i'll watch johnny depp do anything.....

I came across a headless horseman story from Corpus Christi, Texas. The place is called Headless Horseman Hill. The ghost of a headless cowboy riding a horse has been reported for over one hundred years there. The cowboy is thought to be a horse thief who was captured by a posse and gruesomely decapitated because they couldn't find a suitable tree to hang him from.

I repeat: Urban legend. possibly based on an actual events, but still an urban legend.

So here's a question, OK so we have this fellow with no head charging around the place but he has to be riding a horse right? is the horse a ghost, or what, I mean there are animal ghost reports and that sort of thing, does this mean that the orseman's ride was killed at the same time?...

O.o

why havent i questioned that before?!

not sure, just seemed like it was worth asking, any thoughts?

I dont know...ive never heard, "So they chopped off his head, and then butchered his horse for meat..."

weird.

kinda confirms its an urban legend, i guess. unless the horse is an extention of his spirit.

There's a thought, I wonder if it along the lines of James Dean's car, I have read that after the crash his car was sold for scrap and various parts went to different guys, such as the engine to one guy and the rear suspension to another, any how the guy that had the engine put it into his car and several times he "felt another presence in the car trying to cause a crash".... as if the spirit of JD didn't like the fact the car had been broken up.

I mean horse's and cars to guys do become extensions of our personalities.
What do you thinlk

I dont know. maybe that's why ghosts can't be touched, in this case. their soul is spent into making the horse, so they become insubstantial.

Now there's an angle, so getting back to our equestriene guy with cerbral issues, these stories were all over the world back early on before communication had advanced to such an extent, ie: the internet, telephone etc, so how did these stories spread if they were not based on something,

There are all sorts of similarities between the Mothman and the Vampire in that cemetary in Londan but I wonder if different countries and cultures put a slightly different spin on the story so that it never quite tells the same.

there are quite a few tales here in ohio!

So share some

I found this reference on an Irish Folklore site.

Dullahan
(Headless horsemen)
Variants: dullahan, far dorocha, Crom Dubh
The dullahan is one of the most spectacular creatures in the Irish fairy realm and one which is particularly active in the more remote parts of counties Sligo and Down.
Around midnight on certain Irish festivals or feast days, this wild and black-robed horseman may be observed riding a dark and snorting steed across the countryside.

W. J. Fitzpatrick, a storyteller from the Mourne Mountains in County Down, recounts:
"I seen the dullahan myself, stopping on the brow of the hill between Bryansford and Moneyscalp late one evening, just as the sun was setting. It was completely headless but it held up its own head in its hand and I heard it call out a name. I put my hand across my ears in case the name was my own, so I couldn't hear what it said. When I looked again, it was gone. But shortly afterwards, there was a bad car accident on that very hill and a young man was killed. It had been his name that the dullahan was calling".

Dullahans are headless. Although the dullahan has no head upon its shoulders, he carries it with him, either on the saddle-brow of his horse or upraised in his right hand. The head is the colour and texture of stale dough or mouldy cheese, and quite smooth. A hideous, idiotic grin splits the face from ear to ear, and the eyes, which are small and black, dart about like malignant flies. The entire head glows with the phosphoresence of decaying matter and the creature may use it as a lantern to guide its way along the darkened laneways of the Irish countryside. Wherever the dullahan stops, a mortal dies.

The dullahan is possessed of supernatural sight. By holding his severed head aloft, he can see for vast distances across the countryside, even on the darkest night. Using this power, he can spy the house of a dying person, no matter where it lies. Those who watch from their windows to see him pass are rewarded for their pains by having a basin of blood thrown in their faces, or by being struck blind in one eye.

The dullahan is usually mounted on a black steed, which thunders through the night. He uses a human spine as a whip. The horse sends out sparks and flames from its nostrils as it charges forth. In some parts of the country, such as County Tyrone, the dullahan drives a black coach known as the coach-a-bower (from the Irish coiste bodhar, meaning 'deaf or silent coach'). This is drawn by six black horses, and travels so fast that the friction created by its movement often sets on fire the bushes along the sides of the road. All gates fly open to let rider and coach through, no matter how firmly they are locked, so no one is truly safe from the attentions of this fairy.

This fairy has a limited power of speech. Its disembodied head is permitted to speak just once on each journey it undertakes, and then has only the ability to call the name of the person whose death it heralds. A dullahan will stop its snorting horse before the door of a house and shout the name of the person about to die, drawing forth the soul at the call. He may also stop at the very spot where a person will die.

On nights of Irish feast days, it is advisable to stay at home with the curtains drawn; particularly around the end of August or early September when the festival of Crom Dubh reputedly took place. If you have to be abroad at this time, be sure to keep some gold object close to hand.

The origins of the dullahan are not known for certain, but he is thought to be the embodiment of an ancient Celtic god, Crom Dubh, or Black Crom. Crom Dubh was worshipped by the prehistoric king, Tighermas, who ruled in Ireland about fifteen hundred years ago and who legitimised human sacrifice to heathen idols. Being a fertility god, Crom Dubh demanded human lives each year, the most favoured method of sacrifice being decapitation. The worship of Crom continued in Ireland until the sixth century, when Christian missionaries arrived from Scotland. They denounced all such worship and under their influence, the old sacrificial religions of Ireland began to lose favour. Nonetheless, Crom Dubh was not to be denied his annual quota of souls, and took on a physical form which became known as the dullahan or far dorocha (meaning dark man), the tangible embodiment of death.

Unlike the banshee, the dullahan does not pursue specific families and its call is a summoning of the soul of a dying person rather than a death warning. There is no real defence against the dullahan because he is death's herald. However, an artefact made of gold may frighten him away, for dullahan's appear to have an irrational fear of this precious metal. Even a small amount of gold may suffice to drive them off, as the following account from County Galway relates:

"A man was on his way home one night between Roundstone and Ballyconneely. It was just getting dark and, all of a sudden, he heard the sound of horse's hooves pounding along the road behind him. Looking around, he saw the dullahan on his charger, hurtling towards him at a fair speed. With a loud shout, he made to run but the thing came on after him, gaining on him all the time. In truth, it would have overtaken him and carried him away had he not dropped a gold-headed pin from the folds of his shirt on the road behind him. There was a roar in the air above him and, when he looked again, the dullahan was gone".

Interesting read, Chedster! Thanks for posting it! This thread has gotten fascinating since the last time I looked in. I've heard the ghostly cowboy story, too. And James Dean's car, btw, was supposed to have killed several other people who put parts from it in their cars. I think Snopes has that story listed as "undetermined" because the records that would support or disprove it are all lost.

You know, this story Chedster found quite possibly answers the whole thing. The widespread legends of headless horsemen is the watered down survival of an ancient belief system.

Cultural survivals fascinate me. You know, in Italy, centuries after everyone had forgotten that there was ever a place called Pompeii, the plain that it was buried under was called "The City". And here in the states, in Pennsylvania to be exact, children playing will suddenly scatter when one of them yells, "head for the hills! The dam's bustin'!" Most have no idea that they're quoting the man who rode ahead of the floodwaters and tried to warn the people of Johnstown.

So here's a question, OK so we have this fellow with no head charging around the place but he has to be riding a horse right? is the horse a ghost, or what, I mean there are animal ghost reports and that sort of thing, does this mean that the orseman's ride was killed at the same time?...
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Maybe the headless horseman was riding his horse and got into an accident, killing both him and the horse at the same time, chopping of his head in the process! lol

I have been looking around the net to see if I could find any mention of where the legend of the headless horseman might have come from.

Apart from the book about sleepy hollow, I haven't been able to find anything conclusive! (which I guessed as much!).
I have found many articles about hte headless horseman in both America and Ireland, though not many stories from other places in the world. (oh and I also found the painting in the attachment which I thought was pretty good!!

Story found on headless horseman and how he came to be!

As there are so many tales of this horseman from Ireland, could this be where the tale originated from (either made up or based on truth?)

a lot of railroad ghost stories! have a railroad workers losing their head!

it amazing how many do in the stories!

Is it a true axiom that says a human body cannot live without brain and dies almost instantly when the brain stops functioning? It is known that body of a decapitated chicken can move for some time. This fact cannot be explained with reflex actions, as clonus commands originate from the brain. Probably, the head of a chicken is not so perfect as a human head. Can similar things happen with humans?

Any doctor knows that when the head is separated from the human body, the heart inside of this body still continues functioning for some time. It means that agonies of the body are still possible after decapitation, but it-s generally believed that a headless body cannot perform movements. Once the St.Petersburg press reported about a man who gathered mushrooms in the forest and found an explosive device. The man took the devilish device; and an explosion that sounded next tore his head off. Witnesses saw that the decapitated mushroomer managed somehow to walk 200 meters more, at that his 3-meter way was along a narrow plank across a brook.

WWII soldiers told they saw bodies of their comrades continued attacks on the enemy while their heads were hanging by a thread or were torn off by shells. History tells lots of phenomena of this kind. Witnesses told they saw an executioner holding the head of a just guillotined woman, the eyes and the mouth of the victim were open wide at that. It is strange but the victim-s brain was still functioning for some time, and the mouth opened as if the woman cried.
The old manuscript of the Troitse-Sergiev monastery describes a tragedy that occurred in the Pskov-Pechora monastery in 1570. Father Superior Kornily was the prior of the monastery at that time; the man was famous not only for his healing talent and good deeds, but for his courage as well. He ordered to build a high wall around the monastery for protection from enemies, but he got no consent of the tsar for this construction. Ivan the Terrible was informed of the unauthorized construction, and the tsar went to the monastery to administer his cruel justice. Father Superior Kornily met the tsar near the gates with a cross in his hands, but enraged Ivan the Terrible was implacable. He ordered to decapitate Kornily.

The execution was committed before the eyes of the whole monastery. Kornily-s head rolled down, and then mysterious things occurred: a decapitated body took the head and made its way toward the temple. Only before the altar Kornily fell dead. Ivan the Terrible was struck with the mysterious accident, repented sincerely and made generous presents to the monastery to pray for forgiveness of the sin. The path that Kornily followed was called ?a bloody path¦ and even now it is decorated with flowers. Martyr Kornily himself was canonized.

Scientists were racking their brains more and more over new facts that contradicted the traditional medical canons. Information about new incredible instances was reported from reliable sources and couldn-t be falsification.

Famous German neurosurgeon Professor Haufland described a case of a patient stricken by paralysis; the man was of sound mind until his death. At that time doctors had no equipment to look inside the patient-s head to discover the fact, but even if they had such an opportunity, they would have seen nothing inside the cranium. When the cranium was dissected after his death, Professor Haufland discovered spinal liquid instead of brain there.

In 1940, a 14-year-old boy was delivered to a Bolivian hospital of Nikolay Ortiz, his diagnose was brain-growth. The patient complained of severe headache that became especially painful in the evening. Soon the boy died, and doctors even had no time to perform an operation on him. What doctors discovered after the dissection wasn-t certainly human brain. A giant abscess filled almost the whole of the cranium, which made doctors hesitate whether the medical science was precise at all.

American scientists found accumulation of nerval tissue on the inner surface of the gullet and the stomach. Scientists counted that the number of neurons in the ?third brain center¦ made up over 100 million, which is more than even in the spinal cord. They say, it is not a mere nervous joint, but a formation capable of keeping information and even influencing our emotions and health. American scientists say, ?the abdominal brain¦ commands secretion of hormones in stress situations, it urges the body for struggle or escape. However, the phenomenon isn-t thoroughly studied; it is not ruled out that it may unveil the mystery of decapitated bodies that can run after execution.