Who is the Headless Horseman of South Texas?

May 1

That’s the face of an animal that will carry a dead man on it’s back and not give a fuck

El Muerto

In 1917 a young couple wrote of a strange and terrifying event while they were out camping in San Diego, Texas.

As the darkness began to set on their trip they heard the gallops of a single horse approaching. It had come without warning, looking towards its direction, in the dark, they could make out a single figure atop a horse with what appeared to be a burlap sack hanging from its side.

It was only when the horse was close enough that they were able to give shape to the burlap sack, the shape of a bloody head, while the figure atop the horse was missing their own. The large grey stallion flew by while the head hanging from the horse yelled, “it’s all mine, it’s all mine.”

It was only after they returned from their trip, they learned of the headless horseman that roams the deserted lands in South Texas known as “El Muerto”.

No Man’s Land

During the early 1800s tension was building in Texas from multiple directions including internally. Mexico including Texas had fought Spain for independence and the United States was looking to expand its territories, either peacefully or by force.

Meanwhile, American settlers in Texas and Mexican-born Texans disagreed on how to move forward, whether they should try to claim independence from Mexico or continue as part of Mexico. The tension boiled over in October of 1835 with the Texas Revolution leading to the annexation of Texas by the United States.

But this only led to further conflict between Mexico and the United States with the main dispute being where the border would be and Mexico’s General Santa Anna attempting to take back Texas. Mexico would claim the border between the two countries was at the Nueces River while the United States claimed the border lay at the Rio Grande. The land in between during the dispute became known as “No Man’s Land”.

Los Diablos Tejanos

With both countries laying claim to the land but it essentially being in limbo, crime flourished in the area. Texas responded to the increasing crime by officially creating the Texas Rangers to quell the violence. The rangers would go on to commit horrific acts of violence against their enemies, including killing all the men in small villages while looking for criminals.

To some, they were the Texas Rangers but to many others, they were “Los Diablos Tejanos” or the Texas Devils.

Until the Mexican-American War in 1848 settled the border, crime and lawlessness flourished in No Man’s Land. Afterward, the Rangers were tasked with completely stomping out anyone who dared to commit crimes in what was now decidedly US territory.

Vidal’s Mistake

During the 1850s a Mexican bandit named Vidal and his crew became notorious for stealing cattle and horses in South Texas. The bounty on his head called for him to be captured dead or alive but with the Rangers dealing with clashes at the borders, the hunt for Vidal was mostly ignored.

That is until Vidal made a terrible mistake. Vidal and his crew came upon an unprotected ranch and, believing themselves in luck, stole most of the horses. But the reason it was unprotected was that it belonged to Creed Taylor, a notoriously ruthless Texas Ranger.

When Taylor returned, seeing his ranch empty, he gathered a local rancher named Flores and another Texas Ranger to assist him in tracking down the bandits. That other Texas Ranger was soon to be a legend, William Alexander Anderson Wallace, also known as Big Foot.

The three tracked down Vidal’s gang but waited until nightfall when the gang was asleep to attack. Once night fell Taylor and Wallace killed all of Vidal’s gang including Vidal himself. But, Taylor wanted to send a message to any other Mexican bandits who dared to commit crimes on US soil.

Taylor and Wallace beheaded Vidal, propping his body up, and tying it onto the back of a dark horse. They then took his head running a rope through its jaw and around the saddle of the horse so it would hang as the horse rode. Once they were satisfied the men let the horse loose and it disappeared into the night.

The Headless Horseman

For several years after, many claimed to see the headless body of Vidal riding the horse through the night. Some claimed to hear his head yelling through the dark as the horse sped by at incredible speeds. Many began to fear the headless horseman now calling him “El Muerto” or the dead man. Some brave souls would shoot at the body in attempts to kill the spirit but each night the headless horseman would roam the land claiming it for himself.

Sometime later a group of ranchers were able to catch the horse at a watering hole. Vidal’s dried-up body still tied to its back now riddled with bullet holes and arrows. They removed the body and buried it in an unmarked grave near Alice, Texas.

It was assumed the sightings of “El Muerto” would come to an end after this but instead many more claimed to see the ghostly spirit, some sightings claimed the horse breathed fire, and bullets would pass right through the body. Others claim seeing the headless horseman means bad luck and misfortune were sure to follow.

In 1917 a couple claimed to see the headless horseman and yet another sighting occurred in Freer, Texas in 1969. Some say he can still be seen atop his horse in the darkest of nights riding, headless, claiming the land.

But how about you? Do you believe the headless horseman of Texas is still out there?