The Headless Horseman

by Daniel Eskridge

Title

The Headless Horseman

Artist

Daniel Eskridge

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Painting

Description

A terrifying apparition emerges from behind a huge twisted tree. It's a dark rider on a darker horse. He carries a flaming jack-o-lantern raised and ready to hurl at you. Most terrifying of all, he lacks his head. Meet the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

This is an image I've wanted to create for a while. So, for Halloween 2022, I felt time was ripe. The Headless Horseman is a ghost of folklore that can be found in many parts of Europe and America. Usually, the specter is carrying his head in the saddle, but the most famous version is that of Sleep Hollow, made popular by the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. This version of the Headless Horseman carries a jack-o-lantern (or maybe a pumpkin). The reason for this is that the story heavily implies that the horseman of the story is the character Brom Bones in costume, who is running his run his rival for the affections of a woman, Ichabod Crane, out of town. Brom is using the jack-o-lantern in the dark to look like he is carrying a disembodied head.

One of the relevant features of the story is Andre's Tree. It's the location in the story where the Headless Horseman begins to chase Ichabod. The tree was supposed to be where Major John Andre, the British spy master, was hanged (In actual history, Andre was hanged on the opposite side of the Hudson river from Sleepy Hollow in Tappan). This tree actually makes an appearance in the Tim Burton movie "Sleepy Hollow", though it is not named. I really wanted to make it a feature of my artwork, so I have it almost as much the subject of this work as the ghoulish horseman.

In the story, the chase actually begins close to midnight, but I set this in the evening as just an artistic decision to better light the scene.

Thanks for looking,
Daniel

Uploaded

September 22nd, 2022

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