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It’s October and with it comes the Halloween season. Scary and creepy icons come to the forefront of most people’s movie options, book reads, and home decoration choices. One story revisited this time of year is the tale of the Headless Horseman. Most people know the tale of Icabod Crane’s fascination and ultimate encounter with this menacing horse-riding apparition. What most people don’t know, however, is that this version of a Headless Horseman was not the only in history. There was and still is another, still possibly haunting South Texas. This is the story of El Muerto, the lesser known but equally chilling version of a creepy horse rider with no head.
Who Was El Muerto?
Before adopting the name El Muerto, the man who was said to become the headless Horseman was a Mexican bandit named Vidal. This man was no saint, with numerous horse rustling crimes committed throughout his adult years. In one instance, he happened to choose the wrong person’s property to add another raid to his already long criminal path. The owner of the horses stolen was Creed Taylor, who was a hardcore, do-anything-to get-the bad-guys, Texas Ranger, and he didn’t take lightly to Vidal pouching his horses.
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Hot On the Trail
The theft succeeded with Vidal and his henchmen fleeing the crime scene and entering a stirp of land between the United States and Mexico, informally known as a “no man’s land.” This area was saturated with seedy individuals, outlaws, and straight-up killers. It was a rough area, to say the least, and Taylor with his fellow Rangers, had to be equally brutal. Taylor, along with fellow Ranger, William Alecander Anderson Wallace, and a vengeful victim of one of Vidal’s crimes, tracked down the horse rustlers and ambushed them while they slept. Bullets flew, killing Vidal and his men in cold blood. Normally, with the death of the outlaws, the story ends. But in the case of Vidal, it’s truly just starting…
After Death Degradation
After being killed, legend has it that Vidal was beheaded, with both his bloodied corpse and detached head being tied to his horse. Taylor then let the horse loose to wander the surrounding area, while the body and head of Vidal decomposed and “cooked” under the hot Texas sun. This, Taylor thought, would send a message to others that crimes would not go unpunished as witnessed by this horrifying display.
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The horse roamed the land and crossed paths with others. Some of these encounters erupted in gunfire towards the decayed body. Naturally, bullets didn’t fell the corpse and the legend grew that Vidal was an unstoppable supernatural entity. Even local Indian tribes tried to kill the horse-transported figure but their arrows (naturally) didn’t affect it. This is when El Muerto was born. Sightings of the Headless Horseman by residents of the South Texas lands, complete bullet holes and arrows embedded in his decayed skin, were thought to be an omen that bad things were coming their way.
It Gets Weirder
Eventually, the horse with its dead and decaying rider on it were finally seized and secured. What was left of the sun-ravaged, decayed corpse was buried hastily with little fanfare or public notifications. Again, this should be the end of the story, but it is not. Shortly after burial, the sightings of the headless El Muerto continued by many in and around the area of this death, as well as on the most traversed trails across of Texas.
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One such encounter occurred in 1917, a full half century or so after Vidal’s brutal execution and decapacitation, where a couple on their way to San Diego both sighted a headless man on horseback. Aside from the shocking image, the two also heard words coming from the figure crying in agony, “It is mine. It is all mine!” Jump ahead another 50-plus years and El Muerto was spotted again. This time near Freer, Texas. Additional sightings in the unsavory “No Man’s Land” were also observed throughout the long history of this incredibly ongoing legend.
Folk Lore Or A Possibility?
Now, with any paranormal experience, there’s always a great part of the tale that can be attributed to exaggerated stories by witnesses, false logic based upon the time of occurrence, and simple seeing something else and attaching it to the more dramatic belief. However, to this day, on clear nights in South Texas, the image of Vidal’s headless body on horseback can be seen (allegedly) by some people and it shows no signs of riding into the sunset for good anytime soon.
The post Headless Horseman In Texas: El Muerto appeared first on Athlon Outdoors Exclusive Firearm Updates, Reviews & News.
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