The Headless Horseman and Brazil's Headless Mule
Published · text produced with AI under human direction and review; quoted passages were checked word for word against the digitized editions cited.
The short answer
The Mula sem Cabeça, which we translate as mule without a head, is a creature of Brazilian folklore: a headless mule running at night with fire. Pereira da Costa (1908) describes the mule as usually a priest’s concubine transformed; Simões Lopes Neto (1913) describes women linked to priests. Reinke’s testimony printed in 1918 gives an encounter without identifying who became the mule. Irving’s Headless Horseman (1820) and Croker’s Irish headless figures offer comparisons, but no passage checked here connects their origins.
Quick facts
- Name
- Mula sem Cabeça; our translation is mule without a head.
- Pronounced
- MOO-lah seyn kah-BEH-sah.
- Also called
- simply a mula, the mule (Pereira da Costa, 1908).
- Where it is told
- Pernambuco in Pereira da Costa (1908); the southern beliefs collected in Lendas do Sul (1913); country gatherings in Reinke’s testimony (1918), which does not name a state for this episode.
- Oldest written record we checked
- F. A. Pereira da Costa, Folk-lore pernambucano, 1908. It quotes a priest, Lopes Gama, writing in 1842 about a woman who turned into a mule.
- Who becomes the mule
- usually a priest’s concubine in Pereira da Costa; women linked to priests in Simões Lopes Neto. The 1918 crossroads account does not identify a transformed person.
- Closest English-language relative
- our comparison is with Irving’s Headless Horseman and Croker’s Irish Dullahan. The missing head offers a visual resemblance, without establishing a shared origin.
- What has no document
- a fixed night of the week, a rule for breaking the curse, and a demonstrated Iberian origin. The passages we read give none of the three.
The legend, retold
This is our retelling, built only from details the sources give. A man travels from town to a farm on Good Friday night. When he turns at the crossroads by the small hill, beside a roadside cross, he sees a headless mule bucking as it runs, fire coming from its eyes. He says this is the first time in his life he has been afraid. His hat dances on his hair, which stands on end. He makes the sign of the cross with his left hand and says the Creed three times, backwards. The mule vanishes into the field.
In Pereira da Costa’s Pernambuco account, people hear a mad gallop and the clink of dragging chains. The next day the mule has returned to its natural state, with marks from the chains and exhaustion from its long journey.
In Lendas do Sul, among the southern beliefs, the story is a single sentence. Late at night women linked to priests become a headless mule carrying a torch at the tail, which no wind or rain extinguishes before daybreak.
The headless horseman and the headless mule
In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820), set by the Hudson in New York, the ghost is “said by some” to be a Hessian trooper whose head was taken off by a cannon ball during the Revolutionary War. The local story has him seek his head and hurry back to the churchyard before daybreak. In Ichabod’s encounter, the pursuer throws what looks like his head after they cross the bridge. The next day a search finds Ichabod’s hat and a shattered pumpkin. Irving leaves competing explanations: a report says Ichabod is alive, Brom Bones laughs at the pumpkin, and the country wives say he was spirited away.
In Irish lore, Croker groups headless figures under The Dullahan. Larry Dodd, who farms below the Galtee mountains, embraces a woman at a ruined church and discovers she has no head. Charley Culnane, travelling home along the Blackwater, meets a giant rider carrying his head under his right arm, on a horse whose head floats separately. A note describes belief in “headless people and horses” as “widely extended”, giving examples from England, Wales and Scotland.
| Irving's Horseman (1820) | Croker's headless riders (1844 edition) | The Brazilian mule (1908, 1913, 1918) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is | A dead soldier, a man | A headless woman and a rider who says he and his horse died in a fall | Usually a woman linked to a priest in 1908 and 1913; unidentified in the 1918 encounter |
| Why it rides | To find his head | Charley’s rider has sought someone brave enough to ride with him | Penance in 1908; no motive stated in the 1918 encounter |
| Limit | Local lore: return before daybreak; Ichabod expects safety at the bridge | Nighttime encounters; no shared dawn rule asserted | Tail fire lasts until dawn in 1913; natural form returns next day in 1908 |
| The fire | Brom Bones claims the Horseman vanished in a flash of fire; Ichabod expects this but is struck instead | Fiery eyes on the carried head | Tail fire in 1913; fire from eyes in 1918 |
| How the tale ends | Open: a hat and a pumpkin | Larry wakes in daylight; Charley’s neighbours blame whiskey | Vanishes in 1918; returns marked in 1908 |
Our comparison finds a missing head, nighttime encounters and frightening journeys. Fire appears differently: in Brom Bones’s story within Irving’s tale, in Croker’s fiery eyes and in the Brazilian mule accounts. The dawn is a limit in some passages, not a rule for all the stories. Irving’s soldier seeks his head; Pereira da Costa frames the mule’s journey as a woman’s penance. Reinke’s account supplies no such explanation.
No passage we checked establishes descent between these traditions. Irving’s literary tale is set in New York; Croker prints Irish stories; the Brazilian passages above mention neither. We treat the resemblance as a comparison, not a family tree.
What the sources say
F. A. Pereira da Costa, Folk-lore pernambucano (1908)
Pereira da Costa describes the mule just after the werewolf and compares their kinds. He says the mule is usually a transformation of the priest’s barregã, which we translate here as concubine:
Our translation
metamorphosis of the priest's concubineOriginal (Portuguese)
metamorphose da barregã do padre
Our translation
the mournful clinking of the chains she dragsOriginal (Portuguese)
o lugubre tilintar das cadeias que arrasta
He adds that the priest, to cleanse his own sins, curses the woman during Mass, before consecrating the host.
Our translation
curses the concubine in the act of celebrating MassOriginal (Portuguese)
amaldiçoa a barregã no acto da celebração da missa
Whose story is this: popular belief in Pernambuco recorded by Pereira da Costa. The judgment about a sinful life is his text's, not ours. He then quotes the priest Lopes Gama, writing in 1842, who mocks the people who swear to such things: one of them claims to have known a vicar's mistress whose mouth was always green, because she turned into a mule and went grazing.
João Simões Lopes Neto, Lendas do Sul (1913)
Near the end of Lendas do Sul, a numbered list includes the mule as item 14:
Our translation
turned, late at night, into a mule, without a head, carrying at the tail a torch of fire that no wind or rain put out before the bars of day brokeOriginal (Portuguese)
se transformavam, tarde da noite, em mula, sem cabeça, e conduzindo na cauda um facho de fogo, que nenhum vento ou chuva apagava antes de romperem as barras do dia
Whose story is this: a southern belief presented in one sentence. The description “mulheres de má vida, relacionadas com padres” is the 1913 text’s judgment. In our paraphrase, it describes women linked to priests.
O Sacy-Perêrê, organized by Monteiro Lobato (1918)
On 25 January 1917 the evening edition of O Estado de S. Paulo opened an inquiry into the Saci; the answers became a book in 1918. A. Reinke says he grew up in the interior and describes stories told around bonfires on festive nights. His testimony includes the crossroads mule:
Our translation
bucking, shooting fire from her eyesOriginal (Portuguese)
aos pinotes soltando fogo pelos olhos
Our translation
said the Creed three timesOriginal (Portuguese)
rezou o Crédo tres vezes
Whose story is this: Reinke places the account among stories told at country gatherings. It is a report of a tale, not a checked event. He later calls the material crendice popular, which we gloss as popular superstition.
Versions side by side
| Version | Record | Fire or sign | How it ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mule of Pernambuco | Pereira da Costa, 1908 | A mad gallop and clinking chains | Next day she is a woman again, with marks and exhaustion |
| The green mouth | Lopes Gama, 1842, quoted in 1908 | A mouth always green from grazing | Told as gossip that Lopes Gama mocks |
| The mule of the south | Simões Lopes Neto, 1913 | A torch of fire at the tail | The fire lasts until daybreak |
| The mule at the crossroads | A. Reinke's testimony, 1918 | Fire from the eyes, at a roadside cross, on Good Friday | Sign of the cross with the left hand, the Creed backwards three times; she vanishes |
Why this story exists
The records frame the creature differently. Pereira da Costa places it next to the werewolf in Pernambuco; Simões includes it among southern beliefs. Reinke includes the crossroads mule and the pig in boots in one testimony about country storytelling, without naming a state for these episodes. Our interpretation of the 1908 and 1913 passages is that the mule offers an indirect way to talk about relationships with priests. The documents do not themselves establish that social function.
In the 1908 and 1913 passages the transformation falls on women; the 1918 encounter does not identify a woman or explain a curse. In Pernambuco the priest curses the concubine during Mass to cleanse himself. We report the text’s judgment without adopting it. In the 1918 story, the man’s response uses the sign of the cross and the Creed said backwards.
What is documented, and what is not
Documented: Pereira da Costa’s description (1908), including Lopes Gama’s 1842 remark; Simões Lopes Neto’s sentence (1913); and the crossroads account within A. Reinke’s testimony (1918). These passages do not establish one fixed night of the week or a general procedure for breaking the curse: in Reinke the man prays and the mule vanishes, without any account of a curse being lifted. They also establish no route from Portugal or Spain to Brazil and no link to Irving or Croker.
The film: 12 creatures
Our film about twelve Brazilian creatures premieres on 30 October 2026 at 8 p.m. (Brasília time) on YouTube (narrated in Brazilian Portuguese; an English audio track is planned). Details and sources are on the film page for the 12 creatures.
Frequently asked questions
Is the headless mule related to the Headless Horseman? No passage we checked connects their origins. Our comparison notes the missing head and nighttime encounters; fire occurs in Brom Bones’s story within Irving’s tale as well as in Brazilian versions. Irving’s soldier seeks his head. The 1908 and 1913 Brazilian passages describe women’s transformations, while Reinke’s 1918 encounter leaves the creature’s identity unexplained.
What does Mula sem Cabeça mean? Our translation is mule without a head: mula is mule, sem is without, and cabeça is head.
How do you pronounce Mula sem Cabeça? Roughly MOO-lah seyn kah-BEH-sah, with a nasal "seyn".
Why does a woman turn into a mule? Pereira da Costa says the mule is usually a priest’s concubine transformed. Simões Lopes Neto describes women linked to priests, using the judgmental phrase “mulheres de má vida, relacionadas com padres”. Those are the historical texts’ descriptions. Reinke’s 1918 encounter does not identify a transformed person.
How do you escape the headless mule? The passages do not establish a general rule. In Reinke’s 1918 account, a man makes the sign of the cross with his left hand and says the Creed three times backwards, and the mule vanishes.
Is the headless mule real? The sources record it as a belief and as told stories. None of the passages we checked presents proof of an actual case.
One account at a time
Further reading
Lendas do Sul
João Simões Lopes Neto (1913)
In Portuguese. Item 14 of its list of southern beliefs is the one-sentence Mula sem cabeça with the torch of fire at the tail.
O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito
Monteiro Lobato (org.) (1918)
In Portuguese. A. Reinke's testimony has the man at the crossroads on Good Friday; the 1918 text is public domain, the modern introduction of the reprint is not.
Folk-lore pernambucano
F. A. Pereira da Costa (1908)
In Portuguese. The mule of Pernambuco, with the gallop, the chains and the marks on the body the next day, set right after the werewolf.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving (1820)
The Hessian trooper, the church bridge and the pumpkin, in a short literary tale that never says who chased Ichabod.
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland
Thomas Crofton Croker (1844)
The section "The Dullahan": Larry Dodd's headless woman, Charley Culnane's headless horseman, and a note on headless horses in England, Wales and Scotland.
Cite this page
Vigil Page. "The Headless Horseman and Brazil's Headless Mule." Published 25 October 2026. https://vigilpage.com/legends/headless-mule/
Revision history
- : First publication.
Read next
- The Saci: the same 1917 newspaper inquiry that recorded the crossroads mule.
- The werewolf in Brazil and Portugal: Pereira da Costa puts the mule right after it.
- Curupira and Boitatá: two more creatures of the Brazilian night.
- The 12 creatures film.
- All legends, with sources
- In Portuguese: our longer guide
Sources
- F. A. Pereira da Costa, Folk-lore pernambucano (1908), the passage on the mule after the werewolf, including the quotation from Lopes Gama (1842). Public-domain digitized edition.
- João Simões Lopes Neto, Lendas do Sul (1913), item 14, "A Mula sem cabeça": Project Gutenberg.
- Monteiro Lobato (org.), O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito (1918), testimony of A. Reinke: digital reprint. Only the 1918 text was used.
- Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820): the Hessian, the church bridge and the morning after: Project Gutenberg.
- Thomas Crofton Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1844 edition), section "The Dullahan": "The Good Woman", "The Headless Horseman" and the note that follows: Project Gutenberg.