Throughout history there are tales that defy explanation. One such enigmatic category in the annals of the supernatural is that of headless ghosts—spirits who roam the earth not just as echoes of their former selves, but as gruesome reminders of lives abruptly and violently ended.
From cowboy spirits jingling their spurs, to headless women haunting the land they once roamed, these eight accounts offer a disconcerting yet fascinating journey through a world that exists in the shadows of our own.
1. Cowboy Ghost
While gathering these old reports of headless ghosts, this one, from 1908, was my favorite find:
“‘They say’ that there is a house in the north part of Dodge City that has a ghost. At frequent intervals this ghost, once a cow boy of these parts, ascends or descends the stairs with jingling spurs. He is all and more than the most approved ghost has ever been able to boast of, if they still boast after becoming ghosts. He, from appearance, has the icy blood and marrowless bones of the ordinary ghost, and according to reports he is headless.
“How would you like to meet on the stairway a ghost, that goes about midnight, jingling his spurs as he walks, looking about for his head that he lost years ago, and with no eyes to aid him in the search. Possibly you may not believe in this ghost, but the report is genuine, whether the ghost is or not.” [Source: The Globe-republican. (Dodge City, Kan.), 03 Sept. 1908.]
2. A Guilty Conscience
From 1885, we learn of a murderer haunted by the headless ghost of his victim:
“Wilson, the man who recently confessed to the murder of Daly ten years ago at Chestnut Hill, Pa., claims that the headless ghost of his victim frequently appears, and marches about him with slow and stately tread.” [Source: The Louisiana Democrat. (Alexandria, La.), 21 Oct. 1885.]
3. Headless Ghost Scares Off Cats
From out of Singapore, 1949, we learn of a headless ghost. The cats want no part in the matter.
“Cats disappear mysteriously in a Singapore bungalow haunted by a headless ghost.
“Within five months nine felines have vanished from the dwelling house. They depart every time the headless apparition comes roaming through the corridors in the wee hours of the morning.” [Source: Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 17 Feb. 1949.]
4. Moved Away From Headless Ghost
Meanwhile, in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town, people began moving away in 1910 due to a headless ghost:
“There are strange doings among about fifteen families in the northwestern part of the town, who declare that an apparition visits their bedside in the early hours of the morning and is driving them nearly frantic. It is supposed to take the shape of a headless man.
“Several of these families are making arrangements to move from the section, while one man has sold his property for considerably less than its real value.” [Source: Evening bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]), 30 Sept. 1910.]
5. Headless Ghost Terrorizing Many
Similar to the Tamaqua situation, a headless ghost in England caused three farmers to leave their land in 1923:
“Datchet, England – Three farmers have abandoned their land near here because they say it is haunted by the ghost of a headless woman.” [Source: The Seattle star. (Seattle, Wash.), 25 May 1923.]
6. Another Headless Woman
From out of Astoria, Oregon, 1906, we get the following report of a headless woman. Reports joke about meeting up with her for an interview.
“For the past week there have been more or less wild rumors floating about the city of a headless woman ghost which parades the latitude west of the federal building and on the block north and west of it. The reporters of the Astorian are a ghost-proof lot and all inquiries and watching for the appearance of the unique apparition have proved fruitless so far, but there are those who cling religiously to the conviction that the dismembered ‘haunt’ is a frequent and active thing and insist upon an investigation. Such a monstrosity would be a disagreeable thing to encounter in that locality, or any other, but the scribes of this paper are under explicit orders to pocket their disinclination if an interview is made possible, and to ‘get the story’ of the spook at all hazards. Once the blood-curdling facts are accessible they will be given in these columns with all the requisite headlines and lurid ink that goes with so effective a tale, but until the ghost with the missing top-knot makes herself more apparent, the thrills and shudders and creepies will have to be imagined and self-imposed by those to whom such details are acceptable. The hideous thing was, according to the story of those most interested, first seen by one of the ex-motormen of the A & C Company.” [Source: The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Oregon), 03 Oct. 1906.]
7. Armed With a Sword
I am amazed by how many headless ghosts were spotted in Pennsylvania. Here’s another one reported in 1897:
“The young people of York, Pa., are all in a flurry over what purports to be a genuine haunted house, with strange noises and a headless ghost armed with a sword.” [Source: The Pacific commercial advertiser. (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands), 09 April 1897.]
8. Indiana Town Haunted
This last headless ghost sighting was reported out of Indiana, 1905:
“Ranked among the impossible spirit stories of tradition and of poetry is the one that keeps the residents in the vicinity of Flaherty in constant fear and trembling. They are not afraid during the day time, but their voices are lowered in a singular manner when they approach the little railroad station where the history of the ghost of Columbus Cole is being made.
“Nightly, after the sun sets, Flaherty station is avoided, because there is no question about the possibility of the ghost’s appearing. Headless and acting for all the world line an animate thing, the apparition occurs intermittently. Sometimes the elements appear to control its action, but more generally it makes its appearance, dinner pail in hand, on the platform and attempts to swing its arms as if it were flagging a passing train. Then it disappears and its subsequent appearances are a matter of chance.
“Hearing so much of the alleged spirit, a company of young men, accompanied by a newspaper correspondent, went to the station the other night and the previous night for the purpose of investigating the matter.
“On the first night they sat near the depot, and amused themselves as best they could until daylight began to break, when they returned home without having their curiosity satisfied, but the next night they had a different experience.
“Reaching the station early in the night, they prepared to take things easy, but had barely made such a disposal of themselves as was satisfactory, when one of the boys raised his hand and cried: ‘Hist.’
“They all looked and saw the ghost – the ghost they had been told about – headless and carrying a dinner pail. It was no delusion of the eyesight. It was the real, clear outline of Columbus Cole as they had known him in life and the same eternal dinner pail. For five minutes or more they watched the apparition as the arms swung as if signaling a train, and then, spurred on by one united impulse, they rushed to the place where they had seen the figure. Nothing but vacancy greeted them when they reached the spot where the figure had been seen. Cole’s spirit had entirely disappeared and they stood and looked at each other in silence, marveling at the supernatural incident and no longer skeptics, but believers.
“Unstrung from the shock of the manifestation – totally unexpected, by the way – they walked home in silence, firm adherents of the ghost story.
“Some of the good people who live in the neighborhood of Flaherty are anxious to do something to set the spirit at rest. They say that something is troubling it. The generally accepted theory is that Cole wanted to do something before he died – that the something remains undone and that the spirit will continue to wander until it comes in contact with a sympathetic spirit clothed in worldly clay to which it can communicate its desires.
“Columbus Coal was a well-known and popular resident of the vicinity of Flaherty, who lost his life years ago in a boiler explosion. The top of his head was completely blown off by the accident. Soon after he died the trouble with the ghost began and the people have come to look at it in a matter-of-fact manner. They do not deny the story. They have got beyond that point and many interesting incidents are related of the ghost’s history.” [Source: Barbour County index. (Medicine Lodge, Kan.), 16 Aug. 1905.]
