Horror Ink Sketches
As part of our horror countdown we’re posting one new ink sketch every day. All through October, Miguel was caught up in a creative frenzy and drew a ton of Horror movie inspired illustrations! It was pretty crazy. Every time I arrived home, there were more black and white sketches all over the place. So, we’re posting all 25 horror sketches!
★To see all of the Horror Ink Sketches, click here.
The Horror of the Headless Horseman
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which reads as an oral tale collected and re-told in print a generation after the events unfolded. It exists in that hazy space between history and folk-tale.
The story derives from the Dutch settlements north of New York City on the Hudson River. During the Revolutionary War in 1776, George Washington’s army was forced to retreat from Manhattan. At the Battle of White Plains, the British commanders sent forward their Hessian horsemen – merciless German mercenaries with a fearful reputation. On virtually the first cannon fusillade, one of these mercenaries had his head shot off. He was hastily buried in the churchyard of Sleepy Hollow, since the Dutch church had a feel of the homeland. Ever since, he rides out to seek his head – left shattered on the battleground – or to take another’s. It’s unique as one of the few examples of American mythology, of melding the supernatural with actual history related to the founding of the US.
This tale is merely one of many folkloric stories of headless horsemen that stretch from the Teutonic tales of the Brothers Grimm to Scandanavian myth to the Irish Celtic legend of the dullahan, the headless demon careening around on a black horse. It’s even been updated to involve headless bikers riding hogs from hell. Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was substantially reworked by Tim Burton in his 1999 film Sleepy Hollow, with a memorably unhinged Christopher Walken performance as the headless Hessian, all filed-down teeth and pitiless eyes, but betrayed at the last by two sweet American girls in the forest. Heads do roll with somewhat gleeful abandon in Burton’s adaptation.” [click here to read more]
Flaming Skull by Miguel Guerra
