The headless Irish fairy that inspired Sleepy Hollow

"The Headless Horseman pursuing Ichabod Crane" by John Quidor, public domain

Every year from September through October, I make it a point to watch what I consider to be all the very best Halloween movies. (But let's be real - I play these movies year-round, too. How could I watch Corpse Bride, Beetlejuice, and Donnie Darko only once a year?!)

Many of the movies on my list are either directed or produced by Tim Burton, and one of my favorites from him is Sleepy Hollow, an absolutely underrated masterpiece of the horror/dark fantasy genre.

Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow is inspired by Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Irving's 1820 short is iconic, and the most memorable part of the story is its terrifying villain: the Headless Horseman.

I'm obviously crazy for folklore and mythology, and after watching Sleepy Hollow every Halloween season for over a decade, you can bet your bottom dollar I know exactly where the Headless Horseman came from.

(Well, actually, where he probably came from. There are several headless rider legends across the world, mostly from Europe, but this is the one most people seem to associate Irving's HH with.)

"Brom Bones and Ichabod" from the NYPL's public domain archive

The Dullahan is a fairy that comes straight out of Irish folklore (one of my favorites - and yes, I have books planned around the mythology).

The creature is, of course, headless, and it can either be riding on horseback or driving a coach. Thomas Crofton Croker says it can also be a man or woman. The title isn't gendered - it's just a basic term for a malevolent entity without a head.

As far as appearances go, it doesn't get much scarier than the Dullahan. The creature carries a whip made from a human spine, and when it's a coachman rather than a horseman, its carriage is said to be crafted from human bones. Occasionally, it's just a headless body, but many times, it's said to carry its own severed head, which is described as smelling and looking like moldy cheese.

According to most sources, the Dullahan is an omen of death, sort of like the Banshee. But while the Banshee warns the prospective dead of their untimely fates, the Dullahan comes to collect their souls. It's said that if the Dullahan so much as utters a person's name, that person will die.

Strangely enough, the Dullahan is afraid of gold, and the precious metal is the only thing known to deter the creature. I don't know about you, but I'll be carrying a lot more gold from now on...

The most interesting piece of information I've found on the Dullahan, though, is that some people believe it originated from an old god called Crom Cruach/Crom Dubh ("the crouching darkness"). Crom Cruach/Crom Dubh was apparently a pagan god of Ireland before Saint Patrick destroyed his stone idol and banished him to hell.

I hope you enjoyed October 2023's favorite folktale!