By SilentOwl
The Irish Dullahan (also Gan Ceann.) is a type of unseelie fairie. He is a soul collector who roams the countryside during midnight on certain Irish festive days. He is dressed in a long black cloak and is headless, usually seen riding a black horse and carrying his head under one arm. The head’s eyes are massive and constantly dart about like flies, while the mouth is constantly in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. 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 flesh of the head is said to have the colour and consistency of moldy cheese.He has a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth filed to a point. The Dullahan’s whip is actually a human corpse’s spine, and the wagons they sometimes use are black horse drawn hearses. When the Dullahan stops riding, it is where a person is due to die. The Dullahan calls out their name, at which point they immediately perish.
There is no way to bar the road against a Dullahan, all locks and gates open on their own when it approaches. Also, they do not appreciate being watched while on their errands, throwing a basin of blood on those who dare to do so (often a mark that they are among the next to die), or even lashing out the watchers’ eyes with their whips. Nonetheless, they are frightened of gold, and even a single gold pin can drive a Dullahan away.
Read the original article at: Silent Owl
