The Headless Horseman | From the Dullahan to Sleepy Hollow

An unnerving ride home through the countryside after dark is made ever more dreadful when the sound of hoofbeats arise. Out comes a magnificent black stallion with a silent rider....one who is missing his head! The Headless Horseman is a frightening character, hellbent on revenge for the loss of his head. Though his most famous escapade took place in Washington Irving's tale, the character of the Headless Horseman has been around since the Middle Ages!
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MYTHOLOGY HAS BEEN TOLD AND RETOLD IN MANY FORMS ACROSS TIME, STORIES AND ACCOUNTS MAY VARY.
MUSIC:
"The Headless Horseman" Brandon and Derek Fiechter
"Sleepy Hollow Music & Ambience" Mr. Ambience
CLIPS:
"The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad" Disney
"A Flow Through the Forest" brightskydrones.co.uk
"The Outer Hebrides" Graeme Forrest
OPENING:
www.fiverr.com/saif_edits
ARTISTS FEATURED:
Jurei Chan
Dyrick Schaefer
Andy Walsh
David Pyatt
D3vilusion Art
Lizard Helen
John Quidor
Mark Latham
Aly K Sasagawa
REFERENCES:
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving
www.thevintagenews.com/2018/0...
www.history.com/news/legend-s...
folklorethursday.com/legends/...
www.grunge.com/215250/the-leg...
mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Headle...
mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Dullahan
www.bbc.com/culture/article/2...
historydetectives.nyhistory.o...
www.kitgentry.com/sleepyhollow...
www.scotclans.com/scotland/sc...
If we used your artwork please let us know so we can give proper credit!

[@MythologyUnleashed]

Thank you all for watching our episode on the Headless Horseman! If you enjoyed this video, consider leaving a like, sharing the video, subscribing to our channel, or supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/mythologyunleashed

[@guntherthequizmaster9515]

The horseman was a Hessian mercenary, sent to these shores by German princes to keep Americans under the yoke of England, but unlike his compatriots who came for money, the Horseman came for the love of carnage. When battle was joined, there you'd find him. - Baltus van Tassel, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

[@AishaVonFossen]

May I just say, thank you so much for referencing so much of Disney's version of Sleepy Hollow? It's one of my favorite Disney movies for a good scare, and it deserves to be mentioned and shown alongside the ages old myths that brought Irving's story to life. I just really feel like you did me a solid, so, thank you. 😂🤗🥰

[@Duelinator]

Adding the maniacal laugh from the Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hallow’s headless horseman is like nightmare fuel, and said the exact part about Ichabod’s disappearance like how Bing Crosby narrated.

[@Viking_Luchador]

In the version I heard as a child, Ichabod discovered the Headless Horseman chasing him was just Brom in disguise... Only for the real Horseman to show up

[@alicerivierre]

Yikes! Nope, I'm good! I'll just sit down and have some tea!

[@Viking_Luchador]

?

[@ELICARIO12345]

Yeah same here, though I only heard it once, every now and then I recall the chilling tale as a warning, some times a over used joke, can be a real problem

[@guntherthequizmaster9515]

The horseman was a Hessian mercenary, sent to these shores by German princes to keep Americans under the yoke of England, but unlike his compatriots who came for money, the Horseman came for the love of carnage. When battle was joined, there you'd find him. - Baltus van Tassel, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

[@sarahhurst140]

I absolutely love the cross-cultural, comprehensive coverage of the various, mythological, headless horsemen of lore! Brilliant presentation, my friend!💜🍑🌍🌠

[@more17]

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was one of my favorite stories growing up. I've watched pretty much every film adaption from the classic Disney cartoon to the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film to even a b-grade shlock movie called "Sleepy Hollow High."

[@4Just1Girl]

@Rob113 --- But did you know that the old tv series: The Ghost Whisperer had an entire episode written and filmed about a Headless Horseman ghost: the episode was titled "Head over Heels." And have you seen the old tv series Sleepy Hollow? I bought the series and have some type of weird connection with the legend, as it seems I somehow ironically am drawn to find out of the path of general population to find strange yet connected stories, Folklore tales, tv series episodes, Movies that even though I've never seen them, I discover they have folklore of HH within or around them somehow? My #1 favorite story/ legend for around Halloween also; (besides Jack the Ripper :) LOL). And even the tv series Charmed (the Alyssa Milano, Holly marie Combs version) had an HH episode, titled The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell. The ghost whisperer episode starred an actor named Gabriel Olds as one of the main characters being visited by the HH Spirit. :)

[@fantasyfiction101]

There’s a web series called Headless: the legend of sleepy hollow.

[@trackerjacker0013]

Sleepy hollow high, that takes me back. Slightly lower budget than an Are You Afraid of The Dark episode in a similar vein.😂 nicely done.

[@al145]

There's a school vaguely near my hometown that shares a name with the poor fool that got horseman'd... If there was any threat of snow, they would close. Watching weather news for my whole childhood, "Ichabod Crane School - Closed" was a constant in the winter. Some say they were never open to begin with...

[@dragowolfraven3806]

I remember watching the Sleepy Hollow movie and seeing the Headless Horseman.

[@alicerivierre]

I had no idea that the Headless Horseman was partially inspired by the Green Knight of Arthurian Legend. Interesting!

[@franciscoalmanza5751]

One of the best classic stores 👍

[@LacertaZilla2024]

I have watched movies about Sleepy Hollow, seen the tv series and to top it off I visited Sleepy Hollow and it was awesome. There were stop signs with the headless horseman on them. There was a pumpkin festival with amazing artwork done with pumpkins I even got a book of the headless horseman, keychain and a cool art picture with the headless horseman on it

[@kevinnorwood8782]

Sleepy Hollow was the first version I ever heard of the Headless Horseman. And I'll be perfectly honest, for the longest time, I thought it was the ONLY version. I had heard of Dullahan thanks to him being a boss in the Castlevania series. But I never knew he was a Headless Horseman because when you fight Dullahan in those games, he's always on FOOT.

[@TylerRakstis]

I love that you used the laugh sound used in the Disney version of one of my favorite monsters. Since I always associate that sound for this ghostly rider.

[@dragowolfraven3806]

I love the multi-cultural background of these monsters/stories. Great job.

[@alicerivierre]

Same!

[@wikibear9632]

The headless horseman is my favorite ghost story! Especially around Halloween! Remember finding out the story from Sleepy Hollow 1999 with Johnny Depp. Thank you for covering the story

[@jamescrawford8538]

I love this story

[@robertwenzilk3608]

Great video ! I love this legend.

[@josephbonczyk3182]

With more Headless Horsemen to learn about is one of the many reasons why Halloween is fundamental and popular in my book.

[@robbabcock_]

Awesome video! This is one of my favorite legends.

[@trackerjacker0013]

Brilliant work as usual. Tying the legends together like that, showing how they all came to be. On a separate note, my gran who came to Canada from Scotland after the war told us stories of Crom Dubh. Though never mentioned a coach, learned something today. My mom who was raised a strict German catholic used to read me sleepy hollow. Mom kept asking why I called him the rider instead of the horseman. Neither woman knew what the other did. Define irony.

[@cs0555]

I love the little notes along the video. It adds a lot to it without breaking the flow.

[@vinz4066]

5:30 I dont know If it is the same story but in the Region where I live there is also a headless horseman who is rather friendly.

[@rjmckenzie4706]

Awesome video. Not only will I cross the bridge but I can also rebuke this monster by cross and cry out to God for protection.

[@aidanhever3369]

It truly is one of your proudest episodes to date ! 😁

[@HeartlessRandomguy]

I knew you guys would have to run some clips from the Disney movie, also, speaking of Disney, the Hatbox Ghost in the Haunted Mansion (Disneyland version) is another variation on the Headless Horseman

[@deeblack9393]

I once delivered a vehicle down to NYC and got to the village of Sleepy Hollow at 1:00a.m. on my right was the sign welcoming travelers on my left was a cemetery. I couldn't get through the village fast enough!

[@pntr92]

🎶With a hip, hip and a clippity clop He's out looking for a head to swap So don't try to figure out a plan You can't reason with a headless man🎶

[@michaeljauch1142]

Man, I’m getting outta here.

[@doctorwyvern9992]

I remember the show Are You Afraid of the Dark doing an episode on the headless horseman. One of the best episodes.

[@calisthenicsmadness1]

Amazing as always brother. Love all your stories

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodGeek99]

This was awesome I love the headless horseman 💕 thanks for the history lesson

[@nazeersadek6705]

Really good video

[@sharkchaos5160]

Great video.

[@marinakaiser7639]

M.E i'm a little bit late🤣we have 12pm.but better late than not at all i'm really curious thank you my friend for this great story i'll try to sleep😄but i see it would be difficult 😱

[@Amadeus8484]

I would love a version of the Headless Horseman that doesn't just get kills but REPLACEMENTS. Bonus points if He has to kill a certain amount of likeminded evil people in order to free himself, upon which he can finally pick one last victim and pass the buck so to speak. We could even have it that Ichabod was a soldier who slaughtered and raped Indians as a member of Washington's Army and thus a good pick for the Hessian who had previously killed hundreds of highwaymen and what not.

[@broccoli919]

Should you ever find yourself in the rural country side - stay strapped out get clapped

[@VictorHernandez-nj2lo]

First time i heard of the dullahan was from the anime Durarara.there is a headless motorcycler named Celty who carries a giant scythe & fights psychopaths

[@kdkdass2045]

My was Overlord

[@floridaboy.californiaman.649]

These to tale's do come from my first heritage ( Irish ) love the story of stingy Jack and The Headless Horseman. 🍂🍁👽🎃

[@dhelenybuganan9627]

Cool pumpkin head

[@christopherpotter6650]

I went to Sleepy Hollow a few times. I also adore the legend of that place. The Headless Horseman’s one of Halloween’s scary figures. 🎃🗡🐎😱

[@JohnJackson-hv8it]

Great video!

[@sarekpaine930]

The headless horseman is real

[@nebulousprime]

AW MAN! I was really hoping you guys knew about the Texan version of the tail

[@BonnieCassler-dx6sd]

That was great fun❤

[@Hallel2006]

Please do one about the grim reaper

[@UncleOf5]

Several years ago I went to this place in Oklahoma had a tree that look like the one from Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. Plus there's a street in Texas called Sleepy Hollow

[@UncleOf5]

I didn't realize there are so many different versions of the headless horseman urban legend

[@paulkomoroski]

For anyone interested, there is an awesome Sleepy Hollow/Headless Horseman mystery-comedy series called Headless for free on Shipwrecked Comedy's KZbin channel! New episodes will be uploaded each Monday through the finale on Halloween! Link to the episode playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLs2T_dNZ-XW4bKFe8bsQolAG_fVUVWk4W

[@Random_Chiroptera]

Sounds like the various headless horsemen are connected to Stingy Jack.

[@ndb232]

👍✌

[@karashbro6589]

This is leomord in mlbb 🤣🤣 jack o lantern 😎

[@skipmage]

You forgot the newer modern interpretations, Seltie Surliston from Durarara, Kyoko Machi from Interviews with Monster Girls. There are more, but the point is the Folk Lore doesn't stop with an American story written a hundred years ago.

[@brianjordan3841]

Yeah n the Ghostbusters dealt with the Headless Horseman after he changed his mo to become a motorcycle rider 😁

[@barker5947]

Am 12 and I feel that am smarter

[@jeremybennett2168]

more

[@bududuts9624]

ryiox

[@kyleryoung1991]

MU2024