| File:Document stub.png | This article is a stub. It may be incomplete, unfinished, or have missing parts/sections. If the article can be expanded, please do so! There may be suggestions on its talk page. (Date?) |
The Dullahan (also Durahan, Gan Ceann) is a type of undead legendary creature. It is headless, usually seen riding a headless black horse and carrying his head under one arm. The myth may have inspired The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. When he stops riding, a mortal dies.
W. J. Fitzpatrick, a famous storyteller claims to have seen a Dullahan. He recounts:
"I seen the dullahan myself, stopping on the brow of the hill between Bryansford and Moneyscalp late one evening, just as the sun was setting. It was completely headless but it held up its own head in its hand and I heard it call out a name. I put my hand across my ears in case the name was my own, so I couldn't hear what it said. When I looked again, it was gone. But shortly afterwards, there was a bad car accident on that very hill and a young man was killed. It had been his name that the dullahan was calling".
His face is the color and texture of molding cheese; his head, has a large mouth and huge eyes that dart around like flies. And in some of the stories his horse has a head too. Its head is longer than its body by 6 yards and has flaming eyes and short ears. The Dullahan throws buckets of blood at people he passes. In other legends he sides with the legendary ghost, the Banshee, and they drive a black cart drawn six black horses and whips them with his long spinal cord whip. (which he sometimes has on his own which he whips the eyes out of the mortals foolish enough to spy on him during his nightly runs, for he hates those with sharp eyesight. The only fear it has is gold, which any lonely traveler at night would be wise to have to ward off the monster!
Some people believe that the Dullahan is the embodied spirit of a celtic god, Crom Dubh, who demanded human sacrifices each year. The worship of Crom continued in Ireland until the sixth century, when Christian missionaries arrived from Scotland. But Crom Dubh still wanting souls became the Dullahan or far dorocha (Which translates into Dark Man.)
The Dullahan is portrayed in fantasy fiction and video games as a beheaded knight who carries his severed head under one arm while viciously attacking interlopers in the place that is haunted by the Dullahan. They also have some magic in their bodies, giving them magical swords or the ability to breathe fire from the severed head. Alternately, the Dullahan may be an animated suit of armor.