The Dullahan , a sinister headless rider who rides on moonless nights, can be considered one of the most terrible beings in Celtic mythology and has served as the seed for the " Sleepy Hollow " story , in which a man named Ichabod Crane he was facing one of these creatures.
The Dullahan bears his decapitated head in his hand, a head that otherwise has the quality of shining in the blackness of the night (with special preference for midnight) and serves to find lone travelers in the fields and roads of Ireland , besides being endowed with a supernatural vision with which you can see in the distance.
His mount is a steed as black as the night itself and whose helmets throw sparks when riding. The Dullahan can also carry weapons, either a sword or a strange whip made with a human spine, used to attack those who spy or watch on purpose, or the unfortunate who have had the misfortune to run into him . It is at least curious that a terrifying being has a special aversion to two things, one to be observed and the other to gold, so that travelers who venture into the night must wear some of this metal to avoid suffering the wrath of Dullahan.
Some argue that this ghostly being is the earthly incarnation of Crom Dubh, an ancient Celtic god whose cult required annual human sacrifices (and who was venerated well into the sixth century, at which time the first missionaries began to evangelize Scotland and Ireland ), and that has returned to our world in search of new human souls. Undoubtedly the Dullahan is a terrifying counterpoint to the rest of beings that can be found in Celtic mythology.
