Headless Horseman

The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow was an unused character found in early drafts of the Haunted Mansion

Background[]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow[]

The Headless Horseman originally appeared in author Washington Irving's 1820 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The figure is said to be the ghost of a Hessian Soldier from the American Revolutionary War who was decapitated by an American Cannonball in 1776 outside the village of Sleepy Hollow, New York. He is said to have been cursed to roam the haunted Woods of Sleepy Hollow as a ghost every year on Halloween Night in search of a new head.

By the time the short-story takes place, the story of the Horseman is told by village-hero Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt to the village schoolmaster Ichabod Crane in order to scare the man as Ichabod was courting a woman named Katrina Van Tassel who Brom was a jealous admirer of. Ichabod then encounters the Horseman in the woods but by the end of the story it is implied the Horseman was nothing more than a character in a story which Brom Bones dressed up as to chase Ichabod out of town.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad[]

In the 1949 animated Disney film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (which Ken Anderson's Horseman took influence from) the Horseman was animated by Wolfgang Reitherman and John Sibley while being iconically voiced by Billy Bletcher.

Unlike in the original story, here it is left ambiguous as to whether or not the horseman was a real ghost or in-face, simply a story used to frighten Ichabod by Brom Bones. The Horseman's backstory is not given in this version but a motivation is; that motive being to decapitate whoever enters his domain in hopes of replacing his own head with theirs. It is also implied through his song in the movie that other spirits and demons spurn him for his headlessness and that part of his motivation to acquire a new head is to spite his tormentors.

Notable Adaptations[]

House of Mouse: The Headless Horseman was frequently featured in this TV show as a patron of Mickey Mouse's night-club.
- Haunted Mansion characters were notably featured in this series in House Ghosts and Mickey's House of Villains.
Mickey Mouse (TV show): A statue of the horseman terrorizes Goofy in the episode The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!.
- The Haunted Mansion was parodied in this show in the episode, "Potatoland".
Sleepy Hollow (1999): The Headless Horseman is a supporting-antagonist in this 1999 Tim Burton film.
- Jack Skellington makes a cameo in this film as a scarecrow similarly to in Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Connections[]

Deleted Scripts[]

The Headless Horseman appeared in an unused Ken Anderson script for the Haunted Mansion where he would appear in the climax of the attraction where guests would gather in the Grand Salon overlooking the Mansion's cemetery where guests would hear the pounding hoofs of the Horseman's horse slowly growing louder as guests briefly see the horseman riding through the trees surrounding the cemetery.

The scene's background would then beacon grow and cloudier as flashes of lightning and the sounds of thunder appear suddenly all around as the Horseman suddenly bursts into view in the Courtyard just outside the windows of the Conservatory as he gallops from left to right before stopping in the view of a balcony to the guests' right. Following this several ghosts would start rising from the tombs in the cemetery as the room illuminates and the guests exit to the next scene.

Ken Anderson reportedly attempted to insert this scene into several versions of the attraction's script before ultimately removing it.

In the same script, The Horseman would have been at the Haunted Mansion the attend the wedding of the Mansion's owners "Monsieur Bogyman" and "Mlle. Vampire" where the Horseman would have been a guest alongside Count Dracula, Great Caesar's Ghost and Frankenstein (likely the Monster rather than the Doctor due to a piece of Ken Anderson concept art showing a figure resembling the Boris Karloff monster). Of the previously mentioned wedding guests, the Headless Horseman and Frankenstein are the only ones to have not appeared in the final attraction.

Legacy[]

In Disney Kingdoms' Haunted Mansion comics, the Headless Horseman is brought up by an old woman interviewed about the Haunted Mansion by protagonist Danny Crowe. She says that according to legends he can be seen riding the grounds of the manor before changing her story to say the mansion was host to a doomed wedding, another tribute to the unused Ken Anderson plans for the horseman.

In Epic Mickey, the Horseman can be seen as a portrait in Lonesome Manor, the Wasteland's equivalent to the Haunted Mansion.

Disney Park Appearances[]

While not making it into the Haunted Mansion, being an iconic Disney Villain the Headless Horseman had made several direct and indirect appearances at the Disney Parks.

The Headless Horseman is the mascot for the "Sleepy Hollow Refreshments" restaurant of Liberty Square as-well as the restaurant's themed-facade of "The Sleepy Hollow Inn. Hearty Fare & Drink. 1790". This is because Liberty Square is themed after the colonial Hudson River Valley which was selected to be the location of the Haunted Mansion and Gracey Manor due to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
The Headless Horseman appears at events during Halloween time including the Boo to You Parade and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween.
A statue of the Horseman has become a central feature of Disney California Adventure's Halloween festivities on Buena Vista Street.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, the Headless Horseman was the host of the 2011 Halloween festivities. He was the central focus of walkthrough, maze attraction in Adventureland known as The Revenge of the Headless Horseman. In this attraction, a member of an Adventurers Club claimed to have found the horseman's lost head and is presenting it in a sideshow exhibit, provoking the Hessian's wrath. Due to popularity, this became a recurring seasonal attraction.

Trivia[]

The Headless Horseman was not only supposed to be a nod to classic supernatural stories (like Medusa or The Flying Dutchman) but his appearance was also supposed to reference the 1949 Disney film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad where the Horseman appears as the villain of the film's Sleepy Hollow segment. The appearance of the Horseman in concept art looks nearly identical to the Disney Villain from the picture and they were likely intended to be the same character.
Although he never made it into the final attraction, another prominent character from Ichabod and Mr. Toad made his way into the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square this being Mr. Toad himself who is buried in the Pet Cemetery.
The Headless Horseman and Captain Hook are the only known Disney movie villains to have been considered for appearances in the mansion only to both be scrapped.
- Oogie Boogie is the only one to have been truly integrated into the attraction via Haunted Mansion Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare.