History Main / HeadlessHorseman

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}'': In ''The Fright Stuff'', Binky suggests that he and arthur dress up as a "headless horseguy" to scare Francine and Muffy. This idea is quickly rejected after they realize that they wouldn't be able to see out of the costume and would likely crash their bicycle.

* The premise of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse CrackFic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/8302852/chapters/19014151 Stiofán Dubh]]'' is that Steve Rogers, AKA ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, gets his head sliced off, but due to a deal his Irish mother cut with the Irish pagan deity Crom Dubh when he was an infant, he does not die, and instead gets transformed into a dullahan, moldy cheese-stinking head, weakness to gold, motorcycle, and all. The fic focuses a lot on the practicalities of Cap's new situation- the only thing he can say is people's names, which will kill them, making him functionally mute until he learns sign language; he "sees" by sensing where people and things like walls and thresholds are, but he can't see color or detail; he eats by cutting up his food very small, sticking a funnel into his exposed esophagus, and dumping the food in; and Tony has to make him a special metal cover for his neck stump so it doesn't leak fluids all over the place. When Cap does eventually decide that he wants to do the modern dullahan thing and ride around the country smiting evil from his motorcycle, Tony modifies his neck-cap with a socket that will hold a prosthetic head, so that at least he'll look mostly normal if he gets pulled over or has to be in populated areas as long as he keeps his motorcycle helmet on and the visor closed.

* In an {{Elseworld}} story of ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice'', the Wretched Weapon is a {{Cyborg}} FusionDance of Ruby and Penny. After her head was destroyed by Pyrrha, a [[TechnicolorFire green and red flame]] burns from her neck in its place. When she completes her modifications, the Weapon rides on a mechanical horse and carries a replica of Ruby's head in her free hand which emotes and can be used as a weapon itself. For bonus points, the Wretched Weapon came to be in Sleepy Hollow.

* The TropeMaker[=/=]UrExample is '' an dubhlachán,'' anglicized as "[[http://pg4anna.tripod.com/Dullahan.htm the Dullahan]]", an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dullahan Irish fairy]] that carries its head under its arm, and either rides a massive black horse or drives a massive black coach. Most of the details come from tales collected by an antiquarian named [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crofton_Croker Thomas Croker]] in 1828, who was known for embellishing the stories he was told, so it's debated how much is actually genuine folklore.

* The TropeMaker[=/=]UrExample is [[http://pg4anna.tripod.com/Dullahan.htm The Dullahan]], an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dullahan Irish faerie]] (Unseelie court) that carries its head under its arm, and rides a massive black horse. Its head is much larger than a normal human's, with a literal ear-to-ear grin full of sharp teeth, big glowing eyes, and flesh that is often described as having the color and texture of moldy cheese. Getting a basin of blood thrown on you by one is a bad omen -- [[{{Psychopomp}} it means you're going to die soon]]. Sometimes instead of a basin, a Dullahan wields a human spine [[NightmareFuel as a whip]] and flicks blood at passersby from said spine. No gates and doors can bar their passage, but gold scares them away.

** One of the myths of the Dullahan says that it drove a horse-drawn carriage known as a Coiste Bodhar (Death/Silent Coach) -- sometimes pulled by headless horses.

Tales of headless riders have existed in folklore for centuries, most notably the Irish legend of the Dullahan (see below for examples), but the TropeCodifier is Creator/WashingtonIrving[='s=] story "Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow" (although that is arguably an UnbuiltTrope, as it's strongly implied that the Headless Hessian that pursues Ichabod Crane in the climax is actually his romantic rival Brom Bones [[ScoobyDooHoax playing a prank]] to scare the shit out of the schoolmaster).

A specific type of undead (sometimes a [[GhastlyGhost ghost]], sometimes a physical revenant), the Headless Horseman is a headless rider who haunts woods and roadways, often the one where he lost his head, in search of victims. Sometimes a Headless Horseman just seeks to scare, other times [[OffWithHisHead he will try to take others' heads]]. Sometimes, the Horseman will carry a [[StingyJack jack-o'-lantern in place of his lost head]].

Tales of headless riders have existed in folklore for centuries, most notably the Irish legend of the Dullahan (see examples below), but the TropeCodifier is Creator/WashingtonIrving[='s=] story "Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow" (although that is arguably an UnbuiltTrope, as it's strongly implied that the Headless Hessian that pursues Ichabod Crane in the climax is actually his romantic rival Brom Bones [[ScoobyDooHoax playing a prank]] to scare the shit out of the schoolmaster).

Tales of headless riders have existed in folklore for centuries, most notably the Irish legend of the Dullahan (see examples below), but the TropeCodifier is Creator/WashingtonIrving[='s=] ''Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow'', although that is arguably an UnbuiltTrope, as it is strongly implied that the Headless Hessian that pursues Ichabod Crane is actually local lad Brom Bones [[ScoobyDooHoax playing a prank]] to scare the shit out of the schoolmaster.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'', a number of the random encounter enemies share the same floating headless horseman. One of them is the strongest enemy in the whole game and a BonusBoss in his own right.

* A Dullahan is a [[ThatOneBoss notoriously difficult]] BonusBoss in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge''. Either he or a new Dullahan also shows up in ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Dark Dawn]]''. In neither instance does he have his horse.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' has a more modernized version of the Dullahan... the horse takes the form of a CoolBike (landing it into MyHorseIsAMotorbike territory). The mount's spirit [[TheShadowKnows is still of a horse]], but coming upon the remains of a motorcycle 20 years ago inspired the current ride. It can be heard whinnying, and it can revert to a horse on occasion. And the horsewoman is actually a BadassBiker. Bonus points for its name being a multi-referential language-based pun (popular in Japanese media) referring to the difficulty the Japanese language would have in pronouncing "Dullahan" and the revving of a bike, amongst other things.

* Appear irregularly in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' as a headless knight sans horse. A noteworthy example is a female Dullahan that shows up as a mid boss in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' during a Challenger Quest. The fact she appears in Ikebukuro makes her a reference to ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' (see the Anime folder above).

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{AdventureQuest}}''; the Horseman monster is indeed headless, but is actually a combination between a horse and a man, rather than a horse-rider.

* In ''Podcast/LessIsMorgue'' it turns out that Riley summoned a dullahan to curse their middle school nemesis, and he's been hounding her ever since. When Evelyn convinces Riley to try and call him off they mess up the summoning and get an [[HornyDevils incubus]], who turns out to know the horseman in question, quite intimately.

A common modern variation [[MyHorseIsAMotorbike replaces the live horse]] [[CoolBike with one of steel]].

* ''[[WebVideo/HeadlessASleepyHollowStory Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story]]'' stars Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman in a modern-day setting, who agrees to be Ichabod Crane's roommate if Ichabod helps him find his head. A witch's spell allows the Horseman to go around without a head by reanimating the skull of a deceased person placed on his neck, whose identity temporarily takes over the Horseman's. [[spoiler: The Horseman's condition is later revealed to be a curse originally placed on the witch Henrietta Hudson in 1621, which can be passed down to other hosts.]]

* ''[[WebVideo/HeadlessASleepyHollowStory Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story]]'' stars Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman in a modern-day setting, who agrees to be Ichabod Crane's roommate if Ichabod helps him find his head. In addition, a witch's spell allows the Horseman to go around without a head by reanimating the skull of a deceased person placed on his neck, whose identity temporarily takes over the Horseman's.

* There was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' about this sort of rumor. Actually executed both humorously and creepily at the same time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheHauntedPumpkinOfSleepyHollow'', the eponymous story turns out to be a legend in-universe based on the true story of an EvilSorcerer, who returns from the afterlife as a headless horseman and seeks to retreive his head (which was turned into a pumpkin) so he can regain his powers.

* ''[[WebVideo/HeadlessASleepyHollowStory Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story]]'' stars Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman in a modern-day setting, who agrees to be Ichabod Crane's roommate if Ichabod helps him find his head.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' has a more modernized version of the Dullahan... the horse takes the form of a CoolBike (landing it into MyHorseIsAMotorbike territory). The mount's spirit [[TheShadowKnows is still of a horse]], but coming upon the remains of a motorcycle 20 years ago inspired the current ride. It can be heard whinnying, and it can revert to a horse on occasion. And the "horseman" is actually a BikerBabe. Bonus points for it's name being a multi-referencial language based pun (popular in japanese media) referring to the difficulty the Japanese language would have in pronouncing "Dullahan" and the revving of a bike, amongst other things.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Puppeteer}}'', he serves as the mayor of [[HalloweenTown Hallowee-Ville]].

* The Horseless Headless Horsemann [sic] in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is the game's first boss character, who first appeared in the 2010 Halloween update in the "Mann Manor" map. He's extremely powerful, and prances around the map [[AxCrazy gleefully with an axe]] decapitating all in his path with a single swing. If a player manages to kill him, they'll score an achievement and a free [[NiceHat hat]] -- the jack o' lantern the Horsemann was wearing in place of a head. If they go the extra mile and land a hit with a melee weapon near his dying moments, the player gets an extra rare crafting item as well.

[[quoteright:325:[[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Headless_Horseman_5.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:325: He's looking for a replacement, [[LosingYourHead and he's not picky about where it comes from]].[[note]][[https://www.deviantart.com/kanyn/art/The-Headless-Horseman-126583637 The Headless Horseman by Kanyn]]]]

* The TropeMaker[=/=]UrExample is [[http://pg4anna.tripod.com/Dullahan.htm The Dullahan]], an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dullahan Irish faerie]] (Unseelie court) that carries its head under its arm, and rides a massive black horse. Its head is much larger than a normal human's, with a literal ear-to-ear grin full of sharp teeth, big glowing eyes, and flesh that is often described as having the color and texture of moldy cheese. Getting a basin of blood thrown on you by one is a bad omen -- [[{{Psychopomp}} it means you're going to die soon]]. Sometimes instead of a basin, a Dullahan [[UpToEleven wields a human spine]] [[NightmareFuel as a whip]] and flicks blood at passersby from said spine. No gates and doors can bar their passage, but gold scares them away.

* The premise of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse CrackFic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/8302852/chapters/19014151 Stiofán Dubh]]'' is that Steve Rogers, AKA ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, gets his head sliced off, but due to a deal his Irish mother cut with the Irish pagan deity Crom Dubh when he was an infant, he does not die, and instead gets transformed into a dullahan, moldy cheese-stinking head, weakness to gold, motorcycle, and all. The fic focuses a lot on the practicalities of Cap's new situation- the only thing he can say is people's names, which will kill them, making him functionally mute until he learns sign language; he "sees" by sensing where people and things like walls and thresholds are, but he can't see color or detail; he can still eat by cutting up his food small and sticking pieces into his exposed esophagus Mike the Headless Chicken-style, and Tony has to make him a special metal cover for his neck stump so it doesn't leak fluids all over the place. When Cap does eventually decide that he wants to do the modern dullahan thing and ride around the country smiting evil from his motorcycle, Tony modifies his neck-cap with a socket that will hold a prosthetic head, so that at least he'll look mostly normal if he gets pulled over or has to be in populated areas as long as he keeps his motorcycle helmet on and the visor closed.