Dullahan

The headless phantom coachman who drove a black coach known as coach-a-bower (cóiste-bodhar), sometimes drawn by headless horses. In the coach there was a coffin; Thomas Crofton Croker called it the Death Cart. The Dullahan were usually accompanied by the banshee, wailing as if in the funeral. Sometimes, this banshee was also headless. In other traditions, the Dullahan didn't ride in a coach, but rode a headless horse.

If a person opened a door when he or she heard a coach rumbling by, that person might have a pitcherful of blood thrown onto their face. That person is therefore marked for death.

It seemed that a Dullahan could take off or put on his head at will. The Dullahan might even toss his head around like in a gruesome ballgame. Those who watch him pass might lose their eye to his whip. According to Yeats, the cracking of their whip was the omen of death.

There are antecedents to a headless phantom or person that are scattered throughout older Celtic literature. The best known was Curoi (or Cu Roi), a king of Munster who was involved in beheading games with three of Ulster's champions in the tale of Fled Bricrenn (Feast of Bricriu). A similar beheading tale is found in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.