Hi, and welcome. If you're looking for a story, a dose of
the stranger than fiction side of the world we live in, then you've come
to the right place. I am contacted by a man of old, as
it were. He and his family have been New York residence for a very
long time. He has a mysterious issue that is about as old as his
family's legacy, and before he dies, he wants it solved. They call
me the Ghost. I am a dark operative on the dark Web, taking
on the mysterious and outrageous jobs that no one else will or can. This
is one of my adventures. Today's story is about the power of the past
and the pain it can carry. The Headless Horseman legend has been around since
the American Revolutionary War, and since the late seventeen hundreds, there's been a
stranger in our midst the Headless Horseman. Is it time to finally put this
one to bed? Take a listen and enjoy? All right? So this
job was more of a mystery investigation than some of our other jobs, but
no less interesting or difficult. That's why I wanted to share it with you
today. So let's start out with the request I received from a man who
I will refer to as Doctor Edgar Brixton. This guy is a direct ascent
of one of the original settlers of Brixton Town. Although I can't tell you
exactly where this town is, I can tell you that, yes, it
was, of course named after this founding family. It happens to also be
home to the famous legend of the Headless Horseman, and this is not just
a coincidence. Mister Brixton expresses that there is more to the Headless Horseman legend
than people are willing to believe. As a terrifying Halloween haunt, sure,
but as a real thing no No one can fathom. No one on the
outside, that is, But for Edgar and his family, this legend is
a tad different. He calls on me to help him sort out this Headless
Horseman rumor and what it has to do with his family, What really happened
back in the day, and what is the true meaning and purpose of the
haunts still today. He says in the request that I shouldn't be swayed by
the fun stories around his legend, because for him and his family, there
is no fun, just a heavy reminder that something from the past still lingers
He sought me out, he says, because there is simply nowhere else to
go with something like this. Fearing that if he told others, he'd end
up with nothing called crazy and end up in an old folks home. He
me. We look into him, and the guy is full on legit,
as are the stories of his family. He and his family have a long
and interesting past. I agree to meet with him on site in Brixtontown,
New York. You might not know this, but the true Sleepy Hollow didn't
get its name until after the legend started getting spread around. And I mean
legends need homes right, makes everything more real and creepy when they live somewhere,
And with the place comes tourists and money, so it's all good.
Unfortunately for the Brixtons, though they don't care about any of that, as
they are the legend. Edgar says he wants to share his story and get
some resolve. At the warehouse, we talk about the idea of this job.
The mystery around the Headless Horseman is something we're actually surprised we haven't seen
sooner, but finally here it is. I take Frankie and Rider and we're
off to Brixtontown. Now, in you're not familiar with the Sleepy Hollow legend
and its background, I can tell you that the village of Sleepy Hollow is
located in Westchester County, New York. It's approximately thirty miles north of New
York City. The real legend of the Headless Horseman is said to have originated
in the neighboring village of Terrytown, which is located just south of Sleepy Hollow.
The author of this legend was a Washington Irving, who popularized the legend
in his story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This was first published way back
in eighteen twenty. I'm pretty sure all of you have heard of that the
real location and where Edgar is is not that far off. We get to
Edgar's match in an estate, and as we approach, we can't help but
feel a strange sense of foreboding. The old Victorian style building towers over us.
It seems so much bigger than the pictures that he had sent. There
are a lot of trees and shadows outside, lines crawling up the windows.
We make our way up the winding gravel path to the front entrance, and
we noticed the overgrown hedges and the eerie silence that seems to envelop the property.
We've been to a lot of old locations, but for a place that
is still a living residence, it did lack some care, and that seemed
a little bit odd. We finally reached the massive wooden doors and lift the
knocker. The sound echoes through the empty front porch, and for a moment
we wondered if anyone was really going to come to the door. Frank even
started wiping the dust off one of the windows so we could look inside.
But right then we started to hear the shuffling of feet, and the door
creaked open to reveal an older man dressed in an old fashioned suit. It
was Edgar. He greeted us with a nod and introduced himself, as did
we, and he invited us inside. The place was big and it was
quiet. We get to this dimly lit sitting room and Edgar jesters for us
to take a seat, and he sits down cross from us without warning.
Then he picks up a bell from his side table and he rings it,
and then he just looks at us and asks, you know, tea,
you know? Will We tell him sure, of course, and some of
that is really just because we're curious as to who's going to come after he
rang that bell. While our question was quickly answered as a woman entered the
room. She introduces herself as Sylvie. She brings us a tray of a
variety of items and of course, a selection of tea. We accept the
tea time and Sylvie helps get us all set up. You know, I
mean, Frankie is definitely not a tea guy, but he does do a
good job of faking it, I have to say. And it was actually
pretty funny. And you know, this happens along with jobs. You know,
we are a serious bunch, but we're also full of humor and inside
jokes give each other a hard time all of the time. I mean,
it took a lot to hold back a laugh in that moment, but we
did call him Sir Francis for a while later that day. And I mean,
although he didn't think it was quite as funny as we did, it
was pretty fun. But anyway, if you're wondering, no, Edgar is
not English, but he did like his tea time and it was over tea
that we get into the discussion about what he has been dealing with. I
mean, basically, he and Sylvie and a few other family members closer by
are there, but his family's been spreading out and they love the area.
But he has to be honest, and he says, the legend gets to
be too much. And you know, he points out, you know,
even if the people in this world that love the legend have no idea what
it really means, they know his family knows more of the story and it's
personal to him and them. Edgar says he would like to break the chain
that has haunted his family and free the future generations after he passes. He
would like the family home, you know, the family to take over the
estate and the family legacy. That won't happen with this legend out there and
all the tourists and rumors, and he said, it's just all wrong and
there has to be a solution. In giving us some of his background,
he tells us about how he grew up in a good life and went on
to become a successful doctor, but he never lost his passion for the mysteries
of the past, and that includes the haunts that plagued his family. Edgar
admits that as of late, he's become obsessed with solving this mystery once and
for all. Edgar's family has always been wealthy and influential in the town,
and his mansion is a reflection of that. The sprawling estate has been in
the Brixton family for generations, is filled with antiques and art artifacts from centuries
past, much of it covered now. The mansion itself is a symbol of
the town's history and the Brixton family place in it. And Edgar, who
would like to change what it means. He wants his family respected and he
wants their family pride to come back in Brixton Town. We can see how
this could be hard. Okay. Sure, it's great to have a place
for a legend, like I said, but a little different when there's a
family attached to it. A lot of our legends are scary or awful,
so not always awesome. Okay. Edgar gets into some of the strange events
that have been happening in the town for generations, and that means talking about
the headless Horseman, that ghostly apparition that has been seen by members of his
family and other residents of the town, and who we've made movies about,
talked about dressed up as all of that anyway. According to Edgar, the
true story behind the legend of the Headless Horseman has a lot more to it
than people realize. As we sip our tea, he begins to tell us
about the true legend of the Headless Horseman and the history of the town.
But first, okay, for anyone who's listening who does not know, the
Headless Horseman and its original story was described as a Heitian soldier, those were
German soldiers is hired by the British to fight against the colonists during the American
Revolutionary War. Okay, they were known for their discipline, their greatness in
battle. They were a force. And in this legend, this soldier was
decapitated by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. His head was never recovered,
and he is said to ride through the town on his black horse every night
in search for his lost head. The townspeople are afraid of him and believe
that if they encounter him, they will meet the same fate, so the
legend goes. In the story, the main character, Ichabod Crane, encounters
the Headless Horseman and is chased through the woods by him. And now this
legend is associated with the town of Sleepy Hollow, which has of course embraced
the legend. It's a tourist attraction. Like I said, all right,
so that's that. You'll hear a lot more about that version come October.
Right now, let's move on to Edgar. We're sipping our teeth, and
he begins. He tells us about the true legend of the Headless Horseman.
While similar to our folklore stories, the real story was also during the Revolutionary
War, and there was a Hecian soldier who fought for the British. This
guy possessed remarkable skills and was known for his veracity in battle. But beneath
his hardened exterior and like so many soldiers, he didn't want to be in
battle. He wanted a wife and a family. Like so many of his
comrades, he would never see that dream. However, as one fateful day
gunther this man, he found himself caught in the chaos of a brutal battle,
amidst the haze of smoke and thundering cannons. He fought valiantly, but
in a moment of distraction, he was struck by an enemy he did not
see. His fellow soldiers didn't know if he was alive or dead, as
he was completely covered in blood, so they wrapped him and covered him quickly
and carefully. When they got him to the Field hospital, his eyes opened,
shocking everyone, including the doctor who was about to treat him, doctor
Benjamin Brixton Yep, a relative of Edgar. They were a family of doctors.
Well, Gunther looked right at him with total fear on his face,
and the doctor nearly fell over. According to this story that got pasted down.
When Gunther looked at him, the two locked eyes. He and Gunther.
Gunther knew that that was the doctor. But right after Gunther looked at
Benjamin, his head slipped, his eyes closed, and he was instantly dead.
His head was actually severed in battle, it was just still stuck in
place until that moment when Gunther tried to turn his head to the doctor.
It was astonishing and shocking, and no wonder the doctor almost fell over.
So there you have it, Edgar says. The head this horseman is for
real. According to the family's theory, it is Gunther's ghost riding through these
parts searching for the doctor who was going to treat him. He is still
looking to be fixed. Gunther's quest would seem futile with any logic. As
been the doctor, he'd be long gone by now, obviously, But Gunther
keeps riding anyway, hoping against all odds that he'll get there. He is
in a place of eternity, Edgar says, for him, it is the
same quest, every single day, in a place without days. And then
Edgar looked to us and he sadly asked if we thought Gunther could feel his
own torture. Is it a kind of punishment? He asks? Clearly he
felt for the guy. Edgar was being empathetic, empathetic to a spirit that
has tormented his town and his family. There was no way right then to
know or understand what Gunther thought about his headless runs. If he knows his
pain, but if he is stuck, then yeah, this would not be
great. But we leave that alone for the time being. We finish our
tea. Edgar reveals to us the reason why he wants to uncover the truth
about the headless Horseman. He wants to break that chain that has haunted his
family for generations, free those future generations, like I said, from this
curse. He also wants to change the meaning behind his family's mansion, which
is a symbol of the town's history and the Brixton family's place in it.
Saul makes sense. It's time. He basically said he wanted this haunt gone
from his family and for his family in the future. So the task here
is to somehow get a hold of this upset spirit and figure out a way
to let him move on. We get done with our tea and I let
Edgar know that I will take his job. This has been a long time
coming and legend or not, this thing needed to be put to bed.
We had to leave him that day to get back and reconvene at the warehouse
with everyone. But we assured Edgar that we would be back and quickly.
We get back to the warehouse. That's exactly what we do. We meet
with everyone and Ryder was fairly quiet on the way back, and Frankie and
I knew she was just taking it all in. I mean, she has
her experience as an m e which led her into the topic of the afterlife.
She knows a lot about the subject. She ends up categorizing this haunting
and situation. In her opinion, it was her best educated guests that this
possibly falls as a combination of two things and intelligent haunting, and this type
of haunting involves a ghost that can interact with the living, even communicate with
them. The ghost would have a purpose or a message that they're trying to
do or convey, and they may be aware of their surroundings and the people
present. But she said, it's also a residual haunting. And this type
of haunting, it's kind of like a playback of a past event where the
ghost or spirit is not aware of the living. It's like a recording of
energy that just replays over and over again. But she wasn't sure if it
could be one or the other. It had sort of eluded her in a
way. So, Okay, the quest or purpose while this ghost is looking
for its head, that is a reasonable thought, but it's not realistic.
Okay, the headless horseman's head was never found according to folklore. Our only
hope would be to dive into the past facts to find out exactly or where
anyone thought it was. In the overall picture, finding the head seemed unrealistic,
but we still could tackle the ghost and we all came to the same
conclusion. Okay, the ghost is confused. Does he know if he's looking
for his head or the doctor. He might still think the doctor has his
head. Or is the ghost just too confused even realize what it's doing.
Is it just repeating itself without any knowledge of any of it, any awareness.
It's for sure stuck on the Brixtons, but yet it wants its head
back on. I mean, two different things at this point, okay,
but that's not how it was back then. So the question becomes, can
we satisfy this ghost with only one of those options? I mean, We're
going to have to see we get ourselves organized. I mean, this is
a pretty big mystery. And even though it can sound simple, all right,
I'm going to want most of my team on this. So we all
go back to Edgar's now. Frankie and Jagger they're sort of in charge of
our tools and equipment and gadgets and stuff like that, and they did work
with Rider on what to bring. Harley and Scarlett they're going to be in
charge of our home base, which is going to be Edgar's home. They're
going to be our communication, our observers of our equipment and our data and
things like that. And then Rider and I we're going to be in charge
of the research. We're going to be going through that town, all the
locations, and we're going to take in every detail. And so we all
got to work and everything was great. We were doing our own thing,
but we weren't really getting any satisfaction at first. I won't get into a
lot of our leg work because at the end of the day, we're just
not going to get what we need. We didn't know that, but that's
how it ended up, even though we weren't sure what exactly it was that
we needed. So let me tell you what did happen in researching the legend
with the locals and going around and around, you know, because when we
dig in, we really dig in. There was always the same question and
idea from everyone we talked to, which was where is the dang head?
And if we had the head, this headless ghost would stop terrorizing the place.
I mean, you could tell the locals they were pretty sick of this
whole thing. Although the tourist dollars didn't hurt. I mean, and sure
that doesn't make sense, but there was just something that kept bothering us.
We did a lot of research around that town. We asked a lot of
questions, visited different sights and places, but we were still coming up empty
or blank blank rather, that is a better word. We were blank,
and that would be because something just was not making sense until it hit us
all at once. It was an aha moment, or of course we realized
this body is a body. It cannot think. I mean, how obvious.
Okay, this is the problem. We have a body out there doing
circles in this town in search of something that it has no idea about.
It's running the same path, that's all it knows. It wants its head,
okay, but it can't think this out. It's a body. The
only way to resolve this really is to figure out where that head is.
We thought we were going to avoid that, but we're thinking now we just
have to or at least find out what happened to it. We need access
somehow, and realizing this changed everything. The body was basically running on autopilot.
That's the only way to look at it. But why it's also cerebral
because it's going to keep doing that until it is connected with its consciousness and
can realize that there's no point in doing it anymore. I hope that makes
sense. Okay, it's just going to keep doing what it's doing until it
gets that big slap in the face if you will to stop it. I
mean the body itself. What we're seeing, what the legend talks about,
is not a threat. If actually the head was with the body and then
it was still running around, then sure I would say, hey, we
have a possibly very serious threat. But of course, as the legend would
go, the only explanation would be that the body is looking for its head.
In all reality, though, the only thing that makes sense here is
that the head is calling out to the body, and therefore the body runs.
It's trying to answer the call. It's compelled to run because of that
call, and that's the intelligence behind all of this. The head wants its
home. The head wants its body. This has been the problem, and
because we're always looking at the headless horseman, we don't think about the brains
at all. But now that's exactly the direction we're going to go in,
find the head an answer its need, resolve the problem. Sounds simple,
I know, but believe me, this was no simple task. And you
know, we deal with ghosts, We've dealt with them often, but this
one felt different. It's like the situation was stuck like a record stuck on
a scratch, playing the same thing over and over again. We've gotten all
the information that we can, and it really wasn't much. No one had
any answers or unique ideas. We would have to set up along the route
the Headless Horseman always takes. We're going to have to start there. It
ends up being a Friday night at this point, which is actually not ideal
for our work, because you know, there can be people around. According
to the legend, the Headless Horseman, though, is said to ride a
specific route and sleepy hollow, and the good news is that the ghost isn't
usually seen till the early morning hours, which helps us with that whole people
thing. In the original Washington Irving story, the route is described as the
old road that leads through a dense wooded swamp. If the legend holds true,
and I kind of touched on this earlier, the old route of the
Headless Horseman should still be visible today, or we should at least be able
to track it now. The exact route, according to the legend, would
have been along the Albany Post Road, which is now part of Route nine
in Terrytown, New York. This area has seen a lot of development over
the years. However, there are still some stretches of the road that remain
untouched. And it doesn't mean that we can't track it even if there is
development. Okay, I mean a ghost is a ghost. It doesn't care
what's in its way. We waited until the town had pretty much gone to
sleep before we set up our situation. We would set ourselves up in teams
of two along the Headless Horseman route, each team at a distance just enough
just enough to not get caught in anything with another team, but close enough
to be helpful if need be now. According to the legend, the Headless
Horseman was said to be most active and visible during the late hours of the
night or early morning, specifically around midnight, which is when we are there.
It was believed that he would emerge from the depths of darkness, riding
his black steed and roam the town in search of his lost head. This
is something we wanted to catch in the act because when the Headless Horseman would
run, it thinned that line between the two worlds, a place between the
afterlife and our physical world. This makes it easier for us to reach it,
better than trying to trace the tracks later. And so there we were
out on the road. It's night dark, the giant moon was out.
There was this kind of crazy, eerie glow on everything, you know,
the way the moon was shining down. We could just tell though that we
were entering at spooky time of night when things happen. You know, that's
saying of nothing good happens after midnight. Well, that didn't get started because
of going out to bars. Okay, it's because crazy stuff does happen during
the very early morning hours. The air was still, and we all had
this heavy feeling of anticipation. I mean, it's not that easy to trace
an ancient route that a ghost like the Headless Horseman would take, and even
harder to capture any evidence that this is even really happening at all. But
okay, what are we doing out there? Exactly? Well, our goal
here is to capture the unique energy signature that is coming from the Headless Horseman
ghost, so that we can use that to help track down the energies from
the head The signatures will be the same. It is our direct link between
the two. We need this because at some point here we're going to need
to bring the two together We'd been out there for about forty five minutes or
so when all of a sudden, all of us, even though we're spread
out, start to feel this inexplicable chill in the air. The part of
the road we were on was more dilapidated. There wasn't much there. This
strange light fog started to rise up from the ground, and we started to
hear these ghostly whispers like we were disturbing something. It was as if the
past was reaching out to us. It knew we were there, and everything
started to feel different. And you know, a side note here is that
there can be ghosts and spirits around us all the time. Okay, but
unless were there with the intention of communicating or disturbing anything, usually we're left
alone. Usually not always, but now in this case, we definitely are
there to do something. So it's not surprising to us that the spirits out
there would sense this about us. Okay, Well, we keep going until
we get to this clearing in the road. We're all walking at this point,
we're moving around, but then Rider and I exchange this nodding glance and
I raised my hand to signal to the team to stop. This is where
and Rider and I found this. According to most accounts, the town had
said there were the most sightings, So this is where we were going to
finally set up. Right along that stretch, we start setting up our equipment,
arranging our infrared cameras, our EMF meters and audio recorders, things like
that. We're there to capture any anomalies that might manifest. Anything. As
the night grew darker, the moon seemed to grow brighter. We're all there,
just waiting fixed on the road ahead, until finally, a very distant
sound started to echo in the darkness. We listened carefully, and each one
of us heard the faint clip clop of hoofs on the page. Well,
this got our adrenaline going. And then suddenly, without warning, from the
depths of all the darkness that surrounded us, this figure emerged through the fog
and mist. We couldn't believe it, but there it was, the horseman.
The apparition literally materialized before our eyes. Upon his steed. There was
this ethereal glow that emanated from his neck where the heads should have been.
I mean, we've seen a lot in our jobs and with the work that
we have done, but this vision before us at that time It seemed to
defy any laws of nature. It was spectacular. It was truly the embodiment
of the supernatural. And I wish so much that I could share the images
of video that we captured from that night, but you know, the privacy
in our jobs and the anonymity that we promise it doesn't allow for that.
But I can tell you that it was a very amazing sight. And it
was I mean, there he was and then there he went gone as quick
as everything built up and he flew by, was about as quick as everything
started to settle again. The moon wasn't as bright after at all, the
air wasn't as cold, and everything was quiet. With nothing else really to
do that night, we packed it up and we went back to Edgar's.
It's about three thirty or four in the morning at this point. When we
get back, we were anything but tired, though. I mean, after
all of that, we wanted to see what we got. Harley and Jagger
go to the kitchen, you know, they get some snacks and water.
I remember we were all so thirsty for some reason. But anyway, we
break out our equipment. We hook everything up to see what our readings can
show us. The cameras that we had captured these slight little wisps of ectoplasmic
energy that was swirling around the horseman. If you don't know ectoplasmic energy,
it refers to a type of spirit energy or substance, even associated with paranormal
phenomena, often found surrounding spirits or supernatural entities. This energy is a manifestation
of the spiritual essence or life force of a ghost or entity here of the
headless horseman. Either way, it is thought to be a medium through which
spirits interact with the physical world. This is what would enable them to move
objects in our world, or create manifestations, or even communicate with the living
us. Now. According to Rider, ectoplasmic energy is believed to contain the
essence, yes, but also the emotions and intentions of the spirit and that
yes, it can leave behind traces of the paranormal activity or manifestations that have
occurred. So okay, that's that now. Then for us, this energy
serves as a tangible sign that the headless horse was actually present. Okay,
it was clearly captured by our equipment. We saw fluctuations in our electromagnetic fields.
We had anomalies and then, of course, we had the visual representations
from our cameras. Rider and Harley start to analyze the ectoplasmic energy. We
want to understand the nature of this haunting, to see if we're on the
right track. Frankie was in charge of the audio recorders, and they too
took in some information. They captured the whispers and faint cries carried in the
wind, some of which we could hear with our own ears, but some
we could not. So overall, being there with the actual ghost was short
lived. We were successful in gathering information that we needed to help us move
forward. The hours clicked by. Jagger ended up falling asleep on the leather
couch that's there Scarlet and Harley while they finally took up the offer that Edgar
had given us earlier to take a room, and then Frankie actually dozed off
as well. By the time Edgar woke up the next morning, it was
only Rider and I that were still going. We had come up with some
good stuff though, in those last couple of hours, and we were ready
to start going over it all with Edgar. It wasn't long though, before
the whole team was up and listening. Sylvie brought out coffee and things,
and together we all went over the findings and we talked about what to do
next. The challenge here was to lock in on the energy signature of the
body right, then somehow find and locate the energies from the head and merge
them together, like I said, at just the right moment, so that
the two sides could talk in this lost spirit can finally be put to rest.
That's our goal. We look over all the data gathered from our equipment,
and although it provided valuable insights, what we realized was that that one
time capture of this energy, this picture, it's not going to suffice.
One time was not enough to lock into the actual unique signature. We needed
more. But now we knew that. Ryder explained that although the night before
was not enough, we can work to establish a pattern that going back would
help. We need to return to the old route multiple times, she said,
capturing the energy fluctuations and finding the common threads that bind them together.
We devised a detailed strategy, physically mapping out the old route and marking the
spots where it would be best to set up our equipment for future captures.
We all had specific roles for this too, ensure that no fluctuation and energy
went unnoticed. We all understood and agreed Edgar is even on board, as
skeptical as that old man could be. This whole headless Horseman haunting, remember,
was a complex fusion of residual and intelligent energy, and we needed to
comprehend its intricacies to solve the mystery. It was a very complex and delicate
situation. But okay, even if we get to the patterns, that wouldn't
be the whole answer either. While we tracked the energy signatures, we also
had to identify what Writer called the sweet spot. It's the precise location along
the route where the barrier between our world and the afterlife is its weakest.
This is where we will inject the energy that we will capture from the head
at the perfect moment when the veils align. It would only be during that
exact weak moment that this would take. It was risky, and we would
only have one shot to do it. Writer's words held a heavy weight for
all of us. This plan required precise timing, a delicate dance, if
you will, between realms. As we discuss the logistics, we also discuss
the final phase. To all of this and what would that be. Well,
once we have the energy signatures and have pinpointed thus sweet spot, we
would be ready to inject the energy of the head into that sweet spot.
This will create a bridge between the realms and hopefully the fragmented spirit pieces could
merge together to find peace. And so that was the plan for the next
five nights. We were on that road, capturing anything and everything that we
could. After gathering up a lot more intel, we all gathered around a
large table filled with our maps and charts and recordings. It was a lot.
We marked and highlighted specific areas of the maps where the energy readings were
the most concentrated, and we were able to lay all that out perfectly.
But there was still something missing. I mean, you know how you can
just look at something sometimes and you know something's wrong with it. Well,
that's what we were feeling. Scarlett was there. She was tracing her finger
along the ancient route that the headless Horseman always took. She was running her
finger along every twist and turn. And then it hit me as I watched
her, and I quickly stood up, and then so did Jagger. It
hit him too. The headless Horseman is bound to this path for a reason.
Why does the body ride this path over and over again, never looking
anywhere new. If your brain wants to connect with you, you try everything
you can, right you would You kind of need your brain, So that
makes sense, But not here. Gunther's brain energies must know about the sweet
spot as well, that weak point, and so it keeps calling the body
over and through it over and over again, hoping over all this time that
it will make a connection. What this means to us is that Gunther's brain
energies are one step ahead of us, and this gives us a boost of
hope that we might actually be able to pull this off. So we mapped
out the route with every detail available to us, where, what what things
mean the energies and we studied it. We needed to understand the significance of
each point along the way, and so we meticulously documented the ghost appearances as
they had been recorded. We noticed specific locations and the environmental conditions where this
entity manifested with a greater intensity. These are the spots that were the most
interested in. We were able to discern a definite pattern and identify the certain
areas along the route that exhibited heightened paranormal activity, and it would be these
locations that would become our focus. This was a lot of detailed work,
looking things over again and again and again. It was basically a giant brain
drain. But at the end of it all we were able to match things
up. Now, Edgar with his doctor background, had some of those lighted
boxes you know for looking at X rays and things. When we laid a
few of those out on the table, and we started stacking our maps and
that we had been going over and marking up things like that. If you
took the image of the route, overlaid that with the mapped out energy bursts
and fluctuations and temperature readings, and then overlay that with the standout points in
our electromagnetic readings, we could see consistencies. Okay, then match all of
that with our recorded audio sounds and visual phenomena, and we were able to
pinpoint what Rider was calling the sweet spot. We had found it. So
almost a week later we were finally able to look at something that made sense
to us and something that we thought we could work with, that specific point
along the route where the supernatural energies converged and the barrier between realms was the
weakest. You know, all spirits have doors they go through to get back
to our physical world, and although this is a little bit different, it
might help you to visualize what's going on here. This is the point that
matters to us. This is the end. This would be the spot that
would bridge the gap between the ghostly spirit and its lost consciousness. Now,
all we need to do is find that lost consciousness, and so that is
what we dive into. Next, we look into the history surrounding Gunther a
little bit deeper, and we go through a ton of different documents and things
and spend endless hours looking through all the information that was available, until finally
we stumble upon a very chilling account, one that we had not seen before,
one that sent shivers down our spines. According to this one find which
was this was in the form of it was kind of like a poem in
this journal, and so it's kind of We realized it would be kind of
hard for someone to find something like this and to think it had anything to
do with the legend. You just might not think that right away. So
here it was. It's been buried all this time, and it even took
us a bit to decipher it. But here is what we figured out.
After doctor Benjamin Brixton witnessed the head separate from Gunther's body, he was so
shocked that he succumbed to a sudden and fatal heart attack. The guy hadn't
just fallen over, he too had died. Now, back then, people
were a lot more superstitious overall, and that was how it was in this
town, same as everywhere. The people feared the malevolent influence of that head
so much. They believed it had some kind of powers, and that that
is what killed doctor Brixton, and fearing that its influence would spread you could
spread to others, the people decided to bury the head along with the doctor.
It was believed that by keeping the head and body together in death,
the potential evil or cursed nature of Gunther's severed head would be contained and so
not bring harm to anyone else. Some might say that truth is ironic,
but okay. Armed with this new found knowledge, we set out in search
of the final resting place of doctor Benjamin Brixton, and with Edgar's help,
we do find his grave. After an arduous journey through the town's oldest cemetery,
we are finally able to find the moss covered tombstone that marked the resting
place of doctor Benjamin Brixton. We have to wait until the town is asleep
again, but with Edgar right there, Frankie and Jagger dig down until they
hit an old and weathered coffin of the doctor. It was a surprise,
but then again not a surprise to find that inside and nestled in the coffin
beside doctor Brixton's lifeless body of bones was a skull, presumably mister Gunther's,
the soldier the head that's been separated from its body four centuries there was,
and the sight sent down our spines. There was only one account of this
that we could find. No one else found it. There were no other
notes about it. It was so hard to notice, so hard to decipher.
But here it was true. We had to really dive into what this
situation was before we could figure it out. So it really was no shock
to us that nobody dove in that deep before. This was a legend.
It wasn't true. I mean, when something becomes a legend, you know,
because then although you joke around and pretend to believe it, most of
the times people don't believe them, so there's really nothing to worry about.
Simple. But this was real. This find was real and a very big
representation of the town's haunted past. This head in there just waiting for someone
or something, and that time was now, right now. There was this
sense of trepidation that hung in the air as we looked down onto our situation.
You know, the musty scent of decay in the air. It wasn't
exactly pleasant. As we carefully lifted Gunther's skull from the coffin and slipped it
into a bag, there was this kind of soft, eerie glow that followed
came from the tombstone, and then it sort of followed the skull right into
that bag. It lit up again, and then it went away again.
It was fast, but right then we knew, okay, that we were
in the right place. We hit the jackpot. It was speaking to us
literally from the grave. Now that we had the skull, it was time
to return to the route where the headless horseman made his haunted run. It
was there, amidst the convergence of the past and the present that we were
certain was the sweet spot, the fragile veil between realms. It would reveal
itself and open welcoming what has been missing for all of this time. At
least that's what we hoped. We now get back to the darkened path of
the haunted ride. We got to our spot, and although we had some
equipment, there really wasn't a need for much. The video cameras were set
up. We hoped we could maybe catch some of what was going on.
We'd already been through everything. We knew exactly what should happen. We knew
where our designated spot should be, and so that is where we gently lay
Gunther's skull. Now so you can picture this. We didn't take Edgar with
us that night, and Harley stayed back with him at the house. So
on site was me, Jagger, Frankie, Rider and Scarlet. We set
ourselves up so that we were in the road, but we were off to
the sides a little bit. Frankie and Rider and I were on one side,
Scarlet and Jagger took the other side. There's nothing that we could do
but wait, and time seemed to kind of stand still until it all started,
and once it started didn't stop until it was done. First off,
we hear a sound and we weren't quite sure what it was, but then,
sure enough it was just a car. We heard it in time,
though, so Scarlett ran out and got the skull. We couldn't let anything
get in the way of this, you know, a car running over the
skull, this could end all things, so we let the car pass.
Sure enough, it's just a bunch of teenagers. They're loud, blasting music
and we could hear him laughing. You know, pretty sure a lot of
young people go on this route hoping to see a glimpse of the headless horseman.
But okay, they blow through the place and Scarlet gets the skull back.
We are now time wise, in the window of when this ride has
been documented the most I mean, this guy could come at any time.
We get settled in again, and again we wait. Now, after a
bit we hear something else. The thunderous galloping. It echoed in the distance,
growing louder with each passing moment. The ground beneath us trembled like it
did when we had been there before. As the headless horseman emerged from the
shadows and missed once again, his spectral form took shape in the moonlight.
As the horseman ethereal Steed ran forward until it thundered over the spot where Gunther's
skull lay, and then there was this blinding flash of white that engulfed the
entire area. This was the moment, and it was as if time and
reality for that matter, had just stopped. The veil between the realms had
cracked open, creating a gateway to the mystical realm that lay beyond, exactly
how we figured it should go. Rider called out that it's happening, and
in an instant we were also engulfed by the light and into the heart of
the sweet Spot. It was as if the road disappeared and instead we were
just in this space, a space not like anything else, certainly not like
anything that we know here in our world. It just was what it was.
There was nothing else. It's like a dream. We no longer could
see the road or the bushes and trees alongside it. There was no moon,
there were no stars, just the light and the large, headless figure.
The light and energy swirled around us in this place where all was connected.
It all was happening very fast. We were all on the side of
this road, but in that moment we were lifted just to tat above the
ground and into this circle, although we kind of felt like we were still
standing on the ground. It was very weird. Everything was super bright,
and we all felt this indescribable connection with the energies that were surrounding us.
In talking about it later, we all agreed that it almost felt like we
had transcended the boundaries of our physical form. It was more like we had
become conduits for the supernatural forces that were at work there. We were unable
to move really because the energy that almost felt electric it was shooting through us
and you could see it happening too, just the energy radiating out of Gunther's
skull surging through each of us. You could really feel the profound unity being
created as the currents they flowed seamlessly, forming this link between the skull and
our headless specter. And there he was, the headless horseman, right in
the center of it all. He was a towering presence that exuded this aura
you could send both an ancient sorrow and a restless longing. Maybe we could
all feel it. We couldn't help it, and we could see the pain
too. It was awful. I mean, as the figure moved, he
appeared to squirm, almost like he was uncomfortable as this ultimate reunion was about
to take place. It's kind of like, you know, and you get
your feet go cold or something. You know, when you're a kid and
you get frostbit on your feet you're ice skating, and then you come in
and as the warmth comes back, everything starts to hurt. We were guessing
that maybe that's how it felt for the headless horseman. And as for us,
I mean, these energies were strong. We were all basically just frozen
in that moment. The light all around us opened up at the top like
ane, and it was swirling all around us. It kind of felt like
we were in the middle of this giant tornado. Dark started to mix in
with the swirling light, and looking up we could see the moon again and
it was extra bright among the dark sky and clouds that we could now also
see something was happening. We could see lightning starting above us, and there
was this swirling wind that was going around now inside the funnel. The force
was rising up in the funnel and through us. Eventually it started to pull
away from us, though, and it was forming a stronger cell just in
the middle. It was creating a direct line of light and energy between the
skull, which was now floating just above the ground like we were, and
the headless horseman wasn't going through us anymore. That felt a lot better to
us. The whole thing was very draining. I mean, it was kind
of the theme of this job, because a lot of it was mentally draining
and physical as well. Well. We lost sight of the horse in that
light, but looking up, the headless man was big and bold, getting
darker against the white light. We could feel the immense power of its presence,
transcending the boundaries of space and time, and in that transformative moment,
we could see the last bit of energy from Gunther's skull flow up and into
the headless form, reuniting the fragmented pieces of his essence. The dark figure
of the man flickered and pulsed with a renewed vigor, and we watched it
fill with Gunther's consciousness. It was like the light was beating and breathing.
Stuck in that light tunnel, though, all we could do was watch as
the horseman transformed before our eyes, and we could feel that, We could
feel the relief. No longer a torment and rustless apparition, the headless horseman
exuded an ethereal radiance, his form imbued with a sense of peace and resolution.
It was almost cartoon like how he seemed to come to life, well,
come to full form. Really, I mean, this is not a
person, it's only an apparition, but it had definitely been missing something,
something that it has now found. Sky rose up and he busted out of
that light and we were gently put back on the ground. And in that
moment there was this profound silence that settled in. We all shared in that
moment where the boundaries between the physical and spiritual, you know, the living
and the departed, seemed to blur as the energies of both realms were intertwined.
Looking out around us, nothing was in focus. Everything around us was
a blur. The only thing that mattered was that moment that we were in,
just for that moment, because soon it all changed, with the transformative
process complete, Everything settled down. The light around us started to fade,
the stars above started to brighten. The now horsemen with ahead was next to
us, but still floating above the ground a little bit. He was whole
and complete. The connection to consciousness restored, The figure seemed to swell it
was bigger than what we had seen before. Horse and all we weren't sure
it was going to happen next. But the guy let's go of the reins,
and he puts his arms out to the side, lifts his head,
opens his mouth, and out of it came this whale. It was unlike
anything I had ever heard before. It was like an animal. It was
like he was letting out all the echoes of his tormented past and his relentless
quest for this reunion. As the convergence reached its apex, Gunther's spirit started
to materialize a little bit more in front of us. The hollow sockets of
his skulls seemed to peer right into our souls, filling us up with this
mixture of longing and gratitude. Again, it was overwhelming. I mean,
can you imagine wandering aimlessly all of this time only to get your senses back?
And the horse too, this guy, I mean, this resounding sound
grew and echoed through the air. It was this deep, reverberating neigh that
seemed to originate from the deepest depths of this horse's being. It was a
sound of release and triumph, a proclamation of the reunion that had taken place.
I mean, this horse knew exactly what was going on. The horseman's
steed then reared up on its hind legs, its massive hoofs, striking the
ground with nothing less than other worldly force. It had a glow from within
that was pulsating with a brilliance that popped everything that was going on. It
was just intense, like the explosive burst of energy that came next. The
burst came, and then the horseman he turned his horse to face away from
us, and we just stood there and it was like we were waiting for
the skies to open or something. But what happened was even better. There
he was, the moonlight was still bright, and it was casting this eerie
glow on his form, and in that moment he was like some kind of
mysterious guardian of forgotten tales or something. The horseman then slowly turned his body
to face us. Our eyes fully locked on the guy, and in that
moment, time stood still again. The horseman's gaze, though lacking physical eyes,
pierced through that veil of the supernatural. He met the eyes of each
of us directly with an intensity that just riffled through you. This was him
acknowledging our presence and recognizing the significance of our mission. Did I say this
was intense? I mean, after being there and going through that, it
can give you a lump in your throat just thinking about it. A profound
connection was formed between us and the headless horseman. It was an unspoken understanding,
a silent exchange filled with a sense of mutual respect and purpose. Again,
like so much of this job, it was amazing. And then,
breaking the stillness, the horseman turned his gaze back to the road ahead with
a subtle nod, bidding us a final farewell, He urged his steed forward,
resuming his haunting journey. All you could hear were the heavy sounds of
the hoofs as he galloped down the road, his form gradually ascending into the
vast expanse of the night sky. So off he went, and up he
went. In that final moment before he completely disappeared into the darkness, we
all felt this mixture of complete wonder at what just happened and the satisfaction of
completing this mission and sending him on his way. We all took a few
steps, you know, we're kind of walking around, just sort of realizing
that we were here on earth with the living, and we had to take
in all that just happened. We encountered not just a legend, but a
being of extraordinary presence and resilience. And as the horseman vanished from sight,
Jagger pointed out that he was no longer the headless Horseman. He was whole,
and he needed a new name. Scarlet blurted out the name, the
Vanishing Sentinel, and it was fitting in the moment, the Headless Horseman,
the guardian of the past, forever destined to roam the old route, only
to vanish into the depths of the night, leaving behind whispers of his timeless
tail. And so it was fitting the Vanishing Sentinel, fading into the night,
a legend in his own right, forever etched in supernatural lore. I
have to admit we did feel good. It was the completion of a timeless
journey and freedom for this very tormented soul. This was something real. Yet
we used his story for our own amusement, as entertainment, and so it
goes, And that was our job, solving the mystery of the real Headless
Horseman. The man existed and then had to live in the middle in nothing
for all of this time tormented, but he's no longer in torment. Edgar
and his family can try to put things back together for themselves and the town
they live in. And the tourist thing, well, that's going to live
on forever because why people love it, and hey, there's no harm in
it now. May the Tale of the Headless Horseman never be forgotten. I
hope you enjoy listening today. This story is just another piece of everything.
I have more jobs and more stories to share, so check back and thank
you for listening today. I always appreciate the time that you take to be
here with me. Until next time, guys, and I will talk to
you all soon