Will was ten years old and had never been afraid of anything. He had heard many ghost stories, had seen many “scary” movies and none had every scared him. Will loved Halloween more than any other holiday. He loved to dress up and scare his friends, but they could never scare him.
This Halloween, his cousin, who lived in the next town over, invited Will to attend a Halloween party with him and then go trick or treating. Will had never been to his cousin’s house before and, on top of that, he had heard about a haunted swamp just on the outskirts of the town that he thought would be fun to see.
As Halloween arrived, Will’s parents drove him over to his cousin’s house to spend the night. At dinner, Will asked about the story of the haunted swamp. Will’s cousin told him that the swamp was a place to stay away from on Halloween night because the headless horseman roamed the swamp looking for victims until dawn. No one knew who the headless horseman was, where he came from, why he was there on Halloween or how he got headless. Will said that he would love to see this guy.
As night descended, Will and his cousin changed into their costumes and headed out to the Halloween party on the edge of town. Will dressed up as a warlock and his cousin was Frankenstein. Part of the activities at the party was a haunted house put on by some of the kids. Will’s cousin played a part in the haunted house. Will went through the haunted house, but it did not scare him. He knew that his cousin would be in the haunted house for some time so Will decided that this would be his chance to sneak out to the swamp which was just a mile up the road. He would be back before anybody knew he was gone.
Will went out into the night and headed down the road towards the swamp. Will did not see anybody on the way there. Apparently, everybody stayed clear of this area on Halloween. There was a full moon out that made the swamp visible even though there was a mist rising off the damp ground. Will was excited in the hopes of seeing the headless horseman. He walked down the road that bordered the swamp until he found a fairly dry break in the foliage that allowed him the head into the swamp.
The damp fern covered ground barely made a sound as Will walked and walked. The trees took on a look like he had seen last year in a swamp monster movie. Rising out of the swamp water, the trees, hanging with moss, occasionally blocked some of the bright moonlight shinning down through the thickening mist. An owl’s howl was the only thing that broke the silence all around him.
Will started to become disappointed since he was really hoping to see the headless horseman. He knew that he was going to have to turn back soon.
Suddenly, in the distance ahead of him, Will heard the clopity clop sound of a hoofed animal heading toward him. As it got closer, he could hear a snorting sound of an animal breathing hard. Will stood there staining his eyes when, coming out of the mist at a full gallop was a horse snorting mist out of its nose. The rider wore a dark flowing cloak, held the reins with black gloves and appeared to be headless. Will could not believe his eyes. “How cool,” he said. Just as the horse was almost in arms length, a dark cloud moved in front of the moon and darkness fell over the swamp. Will could feel the movement of the air as the horse and rider rushed by.
The cloud moved away from the moon making the swamp visible again. Will remained silent hoping to hear the sound of the running horse, but all was quite. Even the owl’s howl had stopped. Moments later, the horse and headless rider appeared from a different direction heading toward Will. Will just stood there and called out, “WOW this is so cool. I wish my cousin was here to see this!” The headless horseman came again from another direction and rushed by Will, the horse snorting and hoofs clanking. Will was having such a great time that he sat on the fern covered ground and yelled out into the dark, “Do it again.”
The horse and headless rider charged again and again, going by Will with just inches to spare. About an hour later the horse and rider made one last charge. Will just sat there clapping. As the horse got closer it started to slow until it finally stopped right next to Will. It just stood there pawing the ground with one leg and breathing hard while the headless rider sat there kind of slumped over like he was tired. Will stood up and said that he enjoyed seeing them, but it was late and he had to get back to the Halloween party. The only thing was that, in all the excitement, he had forgotten the way back. Will thought for a moment and then said, “Can you give me a ride?” If a horse can make an expression than it appeared to Will to say, you’ve got to be kidding me! The horse looked back at the headless rider shook his head once and in a moment the headless rider reached out his gloved hand toward Will. Will grabbed the glove and was pulled up onto the horse. Sitting behind the headless rider, the horse reared up and started running like the wind. Within a couple of minutes the horse stopped just outside of the building where the Halloween party was being held. Will jumped off, thanked the headless horseman and waved as the horse and rider disappeared down the road.
Will rushed into the party and told his cousin and his friends all about it. He even took them outside to show them the hoof marks in the dirt road. They initially did not believe him, but after a few years of no headless horseman sightings, everyone began to believe the story of the boy with no fear. He became known as the only person who could give a headless horseman a headache.
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