Sunday 1 June 2014

H is for Headless Horseman, Haunted Houses and Hallowe'en



H is for Headless Horseman from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

The Headless Horseman has appeared in many forms of literature throughout history and throughout the world. Many countries have their own unique version of the headless horseman.  We find versions in Texas, Ireland, Germany, India.... the most known version is probably that of Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, based on a German folktale, first written down by  Karl Musäus.  It later was used as the basis of a story by Washington Irving. 

Becky researched the various stories of the Headless Horseman in this post here

Marcy stitched a great version of this monster in May, this one is by Primitive Hare:

Wicked Night by Primitive Hare


Sleepy Hollow by Glendon Place
This features the following spooky poem:
In a grave lies the horseman
His head is at his side
Be brave enough to take it
And again by night he will ride

The next H's are for Haunted Houses, every town, village and area has a house rumoured to be haunted, whether by a grey lady or monk or just because of creepy happenings.  Some ghosts seem to be quite friendly and people are rather proud of their haunting inhabitant but others are less welcome, causing people to flee screaming in the night never to return.

While searching for information on Haunted Houses, I found a great website www.hauntedrooms.co.uk which lists their Top 21 of Haunted Places and also gives details of Haunted Hotels where you can spend the night - ghosts not guaranteed!  There's one page for the UK and another for America.  Why not have a look and let me know if you've stayed in any of those hotels?

And here is some stitching:

Widow Black's B&B by Praiseworthy Stitches
This is the fourth in a series of four different Haunted Houses!

Beware of Hallowe'en - Bobbie G Designs

When Skeletons Dance by Drawn Thread

This was such an easy topic to find designs for, just Google "Haunted House Cross Stitch" and you will find many beautiful charts and designs for you to buy.

The final H just has to be Hallowe'en, which needs no description from me!  In fact, I covered the origins in this post here

Simply Hallowe'en by Waxing Moon

Hallowe'en Party by Just Nan





8 comments:

cucki said...

Wow they all so beautiful xxxx

Lili said...

The haunted site looks nice!So many places... hahaha...

The Praiseworthy Stitches design is gorgeous!!

Nice post!!Thanks ;)

Marcy said...

I love haunted houses and the headless horseman -- such spooky good fun 😲

Stitching Noni said...

I love this post :o) Haunted Houses sound like so much fun... but I don't think I really want to spend a night in one :o)
The designs you found are great :o)
BTW I didn't get my May design stitched... but have one picked out for June. Hopefully I will get 2 finished this month... but no guarantees :o)
Hugs x

Kaisievic said...

All fantastic designs, Jo, thanks for doing the research for us.

SoCal Debbie said...

I love reading and learning about all these stories! Thanks for the research! These are such fun designs to stitch all year long!

Tiffany said...

Love the stitching.

SoCal Debbie said...

I have stayed at the Queen Mary Hotel on the ship in Long Beach TWICE! They have many different tours where you can go all over the ship, from the engine room down below to the indoor and outdoor pools to the galley and everywhere in between. I never saw a ghost! All the Halloween designs are great and I keep adding more to my stash!