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!

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
"The Outer Hebrides" Graeme Forrest

OPENING:

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

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!

[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.

[guntherthequizmaster]

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)

[sarahhurst]

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

[alicerivierre]

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

[al]

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...

[dragowolfraven]

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

[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.

[LacertaZilla]

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

[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

[more]

"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."

[kevinnorwood]

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.

[wikibear]

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

[dragowolfraven]

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

[josephbonczyk]

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

[trackerjacker]

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.

[cs]

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

[robbabcock_]

Awesome video! This is one of my favorite legends.

[aidanhever]

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

[vinz]

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.