EL MUERTO - The Headless One

It is not only the Sleepy Hollow made famous by Washington Irving's tale that can boast a Headless Horseman. There are those who live on the small ranches in the mesquite thickets around Alice and Ben Bolt who claim to have caught a glimpse of a headless rider, galloping through the moonlit night, and others who say they have seen him stopping at a willow-choked resaca to let his weary horse have a drink.

But whereas the horseman of Irving's story carried his head in front of him on the saddle, like a pumpkin, the Headless One of Texas, or El Muerto as he is called, has his head, neatly covered with a wide-brimmed sombrero, attached to his saddle horn by a long strip of rawhide where it swings eerily back and forth to the rhythm of the horse's moving feet.

As in the Sleepy Hollow legend, there is a logical explanation of the origin of the restless Texas ghost. It seems that back in the early days, a man known simply as Vidal had a habit of taking cattle that did not belong to him. When the angry ranchers who had been robbed finally caught up with him, a Texan who was known by the name of Bigfoot Wallace was with them. Employing the kind of grisly humor for which he was known, Wallace had the man beheaded and the, with the help of the other men, lashed him firmly into his saddle on the back of a wild mustang, tied his hands to the pommel to hold him upright, and then attached his head to the saddle horn with a stout rawhide thong. The horse was then turned loose to wander from place to place, unable to rid himself of the horrible burden on his back.

Wild and afraid of man, and made even more skittish by his macabre rider, the mustang kept to the country where few men ventured. On occasion, however, he was spotted by lonely cowboys or trail riders who, horrified, tried to shoot the headless rider. Certain they had hit him dead center in the chest and unbelieving when he remained upright in the saddle and rode away on the mustang horse, these men returned to civilization with wild eyed tales of El Muerto, the headless man who would not die.

Before long, all those who lived in or even close to the Coastal Plain of Texas were panicked. No one knows how many innocent riders may have been shot at by frightened cowboys who feared a sighting of the headless one.

Finally, the wild pony was captured at a watering hole. Still strapped firmly on his back was the dried-up corpse of Vidal, now riddled by scores of bullet holes, testifying to the correctness of the many marksmen who swore they had not missed. The body was buried in an unmarked grave near Ben Bolt, and the poor horse set free at last.

That should have been the end of El Muerto. But as is often the case with weird and macabre happenings, he has refused to lie at rest. On clear and moonlit nights, there are those who say they have seen a headless rider galloping in and out through the mesquites, his sombreroed head swinging back and forth, back and forth on a rawhide thong tied to the saddle horn. A brief glimpse is all, and he is gone. But the true believers are certain he will return. El Muerto will not die.