Unearth the chilling tale of the Headless Horseman! From Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" to its historical roots, we explore the origins and impact of this iconic Halloween figure. Discover the folklore, legends, and real-life events that may have inspired Irving's creation, and how it continues to haunt our imaginations today.
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00:00This video is brought to you by Paramount Scares.
00:05-"Murder needs no ghost to come from the grave."
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're unearthing the legend of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy
00:13Hollow fame.
00:14-"Here!
00:15Take her!
00:16She's yours!"
00:20The Headless Horseman is synonymous with Washington Irving's 1820 short story, The Legend of
00:25Sleepy Hollow.
00:26The narrative follows schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who travels to the village of Sleepy
00:30Hollow where he attempts to woo the aristocratic Katrina Van Tassel.
00:34-"I'm looking for Balthus Van Tassel."
00:37-"I'm his daughter, Katrina Van Tassel."
00:40Standing in his way is the town resident ruffian, Abraham Bron Bones Van Brunt.
00:45Brom antagonizes Ichabod with pranks, although the greatest trick is saved for one autumn
00:50night.
00:51Brom tells the tale of the Headless Horseman at a party with Ichabod in attendance.
00:55-"He rode a giant black steed named Daredevil."
00:58This ghostly figure is said to be a Hessian trooper, i.e. a German soldier who assisted
01:03the British army during the Revolutionary War.
01:06The Hessian earned his headless reputation amid battle when a cannonball knocked his
01:10skull off.
01:11-"This butcher didn't finally reach his end until the winter of 79."
01:17Although the horseman was supposedly buried, his spirit continues to roam at night, searching
01:21for a new head.
01:22-"But now the Hessian wakes.
01:25He's on the rampage, cutting off heads where he finds them."
01:28The horseman has his limits, though, unable to cross a bridge near a stream.
01:32The legend gets too real for Ichabod as he rides home that night.
01:36Along the way, he comes face to face, kind of, with the Headless Horseman himself.
01:41-"Who's there?"
01:42At least, that's what we're led to believe.
01:52Irving never makes it clear if the horseman is real or if this is just Brom playing his
01:57most elaborate prank yet.
01:58Either way, Ichabod is chased to the bridge, but he isn't out of the woods.
02:02The horseman shucks what appears to be his own head at Ichabod, who falls from his horse
02:07gunpowder.
02:08Along with gunpowder, all that's found of Ichabod is his hat near a broken jack-o'-lantern,
02:17suggesting the severed head was really a pumpkin.
02:20This leans toward the theory that the horseman was truly Brom, who ultimately marries Katrina
02:24with no competition left.
02:26Even if Ichabod had stuck around, Katrina previously turned him down.
02:30-"Goodbye, Ichabod Crane.
02:32I curse the day you came to Sleepy Hollow."
02:34Given Katrina's rejection and his terrifying encounter with the horseman, it'd make sense
02:38for Ichabod to leave Sleepy Hollow.
02:40Of course, there's also reason to believe the horseman got him.
02:43However you interpret the ending, the residents of Sleepy Hollow never saw or heard from Ichabod
02:48again.
02:49Just as Irving leaves the nature of the headless horseman open-ended, the inspiration behind
02:54this character is clouded in mystery.
02:56-"The Bronx is up, the Battery's down, and home is this way."
03:01Much like how Ichabod was an outsider in Sleepy Hollow, Irving found himself in a new
03:05town when he arrived in Tarrytown, New York.
03:08Yellow fever had broken out in the teenage Irving's native Manhattan, forcing him to
03:12relocate in 1798.
03:14Irving's experiences in Tarrytown planted the seeds of Sleepy Hollow as the locals shared
03:19ghost stories.
03:20-"The horseman was a Hessian mercenary, sent to these shores by German princes to keep
03:26Americans under the yoke of England.
03:29But unlike his compatriots, who came for money, the horseman came for love of carnage."
03:36For Ichabod, it's been said that Irving drew inspiration from schoolmaster Jesse Merwin
03:41and teacher Samuel Youngs.
03:43The bridge from Irving's story is also derived from real life.
03:47It once stood over the Pechanico River, although the bridge has since been replaced.
03:51The inspirations behind the headless horseman are less clear-cut.
03:54-"It was a headless horseman."
03:55-"You must not excite yourself."
03:56-"But it was a headless horseman!"
03:57-"Of course it was, that's why you're here."
03:58-"No, no, you must believe me.
03:59It was a horseman, a dead one.
04:00Headless."
04:01-"I know, I know."
04:02-"You don't know because you were not there!"
04:07Of course, it's not as if Irving invented the concept of a headless man.
04:11Based on the records available, the first beheadings might have taken place as early
04:15as 3000 BCE.
04:18Throughout history, decapitation has been a form of capital punishment.
04:21-"The heads are gone."
04:24-"Taken.
04:25Taken by the headless horseman.
04:29Taken back to hell."
04:31In ancient Greece and Rome, beheadings were actually seen as an honorable execution.
04:35In Christianity, several saints carry their own heads, such as Denis of Paris and Justice
04:40of Beauvais.
04:42These saints are known as cephalophores.
04:44The term stems from the Greek words kephali, which translates to head, and pheren, meaning
04:49to bear or to carry.
04:51Cephalophores are often portrayed as martyrs, their heads symbolizing the ultimate sacrifice
04:56in the name of their beliefs.
04:57Although Irving's upbringing wasn't without religion, his inspiration for the headless
05:01horseman more likely derived from European fables.
05:10Before Sleepy Hollow, there were already several prominent headless horsemen in folklore.
05:14-"Take this.
05:15It is my gift for you."
05:18-"No, I have no use for it."
05:20-"Are you so certain of everything?"
05:22One such example is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a 14th century Arthurian legend.
05:27After being challenged in King Arthur's court, Gawain beheads the Green Knight.
05:32Victory isn't easily claimed, as the Green Knight picks up his head, gets back on his
05:35horse and tells Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel.
05:39Whereas that tale is categorized as a chivalric romance, Ewan of the Little Head is closer
05:44to a traditional ghost story.
05:46This Scottish legend centers on a horseman who was beheaded in the battle on the Isle
05:50of Mull sometime around 1538.
05:52Ewan's horse continued to ride on with his headless corpse.
05:56The horse eventually stopped, but Ewan's ghost endured.
05:59-"I have faced my fears and come out determined to locate the horseman's grave.
06:03In short, to pit myself against a murdering ghost.
06:09Who's with me?"
06:10Irving's headless horseman also draws parallels to an Irish folklore creature, the Dullahan.
06:15While interpretations vary, author Thomas Crofton Croker famously depicted the Dullahan
06:20as the headless rider of the death coach, signifying somebody is about to take their
06:23last breath.
06:25Since the horseman in Irving's story was a Hessian, it wouldn't be surprising if he borrowed
06:29from German folklore figures like Hans Jagenteufel, who lived out his afterlife riding a horse
06:34while carrying his head as penance for his sins.
06:37Another German figure, Kopfloser Reiter, is also portrayed as a sinner without a head.
06:42Hans Jagenteufel and Kopfloser Reiter both serve as cautionary figures, warning the living
06:46of the dangers that await.
06:48In that sense, they're less menacing than the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
06:52-"Wait!
06:53He's not after you!"
06:54-"I'll get him!"
06:56In 1778, German poet Gottfried August Börger wrote the poem Der wilde Jäger, a.k.a.
07:01The Wild Huntsman.
07:02-"Do you know of the horseman, ma'am, the Hessian?
07:08That'll be him, ma'am."
07:11With echoes of Norse mythology, the story centers on a hunter who is punished for his
07:16evil deeds.
07:17Being pursued by the devil, the hunter becomes the hunted.
07:21In 1796, Walter Scott translated Börger's poem into The Chase.
07:25Only three years before publishing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving became good friends
07:30with Scott, who was just as much a mentor.
07:33Given their close bond, it's been theorized that the huntsman from The Chase inspired
07:37the headless horseman.
07:39-"He rides to the hollow and back.
07:42I hear him.
07:43I spill the blood on him."
07:46While numerous stories could have influenced Irving, the headless horseman just might be
07:50grounded in real life.
07:51No, we're not saying that a literal headless ghost haunts the village of Sleepy Hollow
07:55on horseback.
07:56During the Battle of White Plains, though, some historians believe that an actual Hessian
08:00trooper lost his head via cannonball.
08:03The battle occurred on October 28, 1776, right around the spooky season that defined
08:09The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
08:10The soldier was supposedly buried in an unmarked grave at Old Dutch Church, which would be
08:15featured in Irving's tale.
08:16It is entirely possible that Irving heard about this Hessian trooper during his time
08:20in Tarrytown, providing the basis for the headless horseman.
08:23-"The horseman does not kill at random.
08:26His victims are chosen by someone who controls him."
08:29Within the decades following the publication of Sleepy Hollow, Halloween developed into
08:33an annual tradition in the U.S.
08:35It's no shock that the headless horseman would become a Halloween staple.
08:39Irving truly created a modern legend that continues to fuel stories around the campfire
08:43and the ensuing nightmares.
08:45It may be debatable where exactly Irving got the idea for the headless horseman.
08:50Considering that he intended the character to be vague, perhaps the mystery is welcome.
08:55One question exceeds all others, though.
08:58Did Washington Irving envision the horseman looking anything like Christopher Walken?
09:09We like to think so.
09:10What was your introduction to the headless horseman?
09:12Let us know in the comments.
09:14-"The skull is gone.
09:18Take him.
09:19That is where the horseman returns from the grave, to take heads of his own."
09:25This video is brought to you by Paramount Scares.