D is for Dullahan

Name: Dullahan, 'Gan Ceann' (without a head)
Area of Origin: Ireland

The Dullahan is a headless rider, and being the most famous of its kind, was likely the inspiration for Washington Irving's Headless Horseman character. The rider was usually on a dark horse, carrying his or her own head. The decapitated head was said to have constant hideous grin, and its skin was the consistency and color of moldy cheese. The rider's weapon is a whip fashioned from a human spinal cord. In some variations, the horse was pulling a cart made out of bodyparts, like the spokes of the wheels being made from bones, or its cover being made from dried human skin. When the Dullahan stops riding, that is where a person is doomed to die, after which the rider calls them by name and takes their life. There is seemingly no way to stop a Dullahan, as all locks and gates open to them upon approach, though strangely enough, they are afraid of gold, and can be temporarily driven away by the mere sight of it. They also apparently do not like being watched, often throwing buckets of blood on those who dare to do so.