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This will by my last Fay/ Fairy post for now, my next post will be Paranormal..Cryptid's and Monsters at least until Halloween. anyway Enjoy :)
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The Dullahan is a type of fay from Irish Mythology it's often seen as a harbinger of death.
This creature is depicted as a headless rider usually on a black horse or is some versions riding in a black horse drawn coach. The Dullahan is also refered to as Gan Ceann which means "Without a Head".
The headless rider is known too carries their own head under one arm. typically the Dullahan is described as male, but there are some female versions.
The Dullahan has limited speech capability's.
Its disembodied head is permitted to speak just once on each journey it undertakes, after that it only the ability to call the name of the person whose death it heralds.
A dullahan will stop its snorting horse at the door of a house and shout the name of the person about to die, drawing forth the soul at the call.
He may also stop at the very spot where a person will die.
On nights of Irish feast days, it is advisable to stay at home with the curtains drawn; particularly around the end of August or early September when the festival of Crom Dubh reputedly took place. If you have to be abroad at this time, be sure to keep some gold object close to hand.
The origins of the dullahan are unkown, but he is thought to be the embodiment of an ancient Celtic god, Crom Dubh, or Black Crom.
Black Crom was worshiped by the prehistoric king, Tighermas, who ruled in Ireland about fifteen hundred years ago and practiced human sacrifice.
Unlike the banshee, the dullahan does not follow specific families and its call is a summoning of the soul of the dying, rather than a death warning.
There is no real defense against the dullahan because he is death's herald. However, an charm or trinket made of gold may frighten him away.
The Dullahan's mouth is usually seen in a sinister or hideous grin that stretches from ear to ear. Its eyes are constantly moving about and can see across the countryside even during the darkest nights.
The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese.
In some tales the Dullahan is believed to use the spine of a human corpse for a whip, and it's ghostly wagon is adorned with funeral objects: it has candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels are made from thigh bones and the wagon's covering is made from a worm-chewed pall or dried human skin.
The ancient Irish believed that where the Dullahan stops riding, a person is going to die.
The Dullahan calls out the person's name, drawing away the soul of his victim, at which point the person immediately drops dead.
Some legend's say that golden objects can force the Dullahan to disappear.These tales are coming from ancient times, where gold was very valuable and most commoner's / villagers did not have it.
It was thought that by .leaving behind the gold as a sort of sacrifice the soul could be spared.
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Dullahans have also been main charterers in modern anime and manga's...
Durarara, Interviews with Monster Girls and Monster Musume to name a few.
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