Why Does the Headless Horseman Carry a Pumpkin?

Mention a headless horseman to those of a certain age (or horror movie connoisseurs) and the image that immediately springs to their mind might well be drawn from the 1990 film, Sleepy Hollow.

That excellent movie, directed by the great Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas), stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. It's set in 1799 and follows New York City constable Ichabod Crane (Depp) and his investigations into a series of mysterious killings in the titular village. Those killings, as it turns out, involve a spectral horseman with a fearsome visage who brings terror to the night.

But why does the headless horseman carry a pumpkin?

Washington Irving’s Classic Tale

Sleepy Hollow was based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a short story first published in 1820 by the author Washington Irving. It originally appeared in Irving's collection of writings, "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." the success of which proved to be pivotal to Irving's writing career.

In one of the story's dramatic moments, Ichabod is being pursued on horseback by the phantom spectre. Just as Ichabod looks set to escape, the spectral horseman pulls off its own head and hurls it at the constable: "Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but it was too late." The next morning, the story continues, search parties are sent out to look for the missing constable: "…on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin." It is supposed, therefore, that the horseman was using a pumpkin as a substitute for its missing head. 

Headless Horseman In Folklore

Interestingly, the concept of a headless horseman predates Irving's tale by some way.

Many cultures contain folk tales of such creatures. In some versions, the horseman carries its missing head with it. In Irish mythology, this spirit is called the Dullahan or 'dark man,' but you can also find this figure in old stories from Germany, Wales, and all over Europe. The practice of carving and lighting jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween actually relates to a different Irish folk tale – that of Stingy Jack.

According to legend, when Jack died, neither God nor Satan wanted to claim him for their own. Instead, Jack was sentenced to roam the land for eternity. It became a tradition in Ireland for people to carve faces into turnips to scare away Jack's wandering spirit. When many Irish migrated to the US, they began carving pumpkins as a local alternative.

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