EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — Videos of a headless horseman trotting down Utah streets went viral this Halloween. Now, the woman behind the mask is sharing how the lore of Eagle Mountain came to be.
You can hear it coming. The sound of metal horseshoes against the pavement, growing louder by the second.
In scary movies, the sound is enough to make hearts race. But the sight is what will catch your eye and turn your head, if you have one.
“The headless horseman!” one person shouts.
What was once nothing more than a terrifying story has been brought to life in Eagle Mountain.
For years, residents have caught glimpses of the headless horse rider trotting down city streets.
But, no, it isn’t the Legend of Sleepy Hollow — this is the lore of Eagle Mountain and the tale of the costumed horse rider, better known as Tiffany Ulmer.
“I have a lot of people pull off [the road] and pull aside and say, ‘Thank you,’ and ‘You’ve made my day,’” she said with a smile.
Three years ago, Ulmer decided she wanted to dress as the headless horseman, so she found a costume, found a horse she could borrow from a local grooming shop, and headed downtown.
“[Community members] really ate it up and enjoyed it, so I’m like, ‘You know what? Let’s keep doing more!” she said.
Soon after, she started adding more costumes and making appearances for even more occasions.
“I do Santa Claus, I do Elsa, I do Easter Bunny, we’ve done Avengers,” Ulmer listed, adding in a team of riders that dress as superheroes and Disney villains.
“It’s about just helping people that are having a bad day. You wave at them, you smile at them, and they immediately… it turns their day around,” she continued.
Since her headless debut, she has been spotted trotting all over town. Videos of her have gone viral online and her costumes have gained a following of their own.
“I have people who stalk me around because they want to see what the latest costume is,” she laughed.
She’s not paid, she rides on her own time and she buys her own costumes. But for Tiffany, it’s worth it.
“This is just to give back to the community, to help people have a little bit of joy when they’re having a hard time,” she said. “It really has been a blessing for us, for me and the community.”
Tiffany borrows the same horse from La Petite grooming multiple times a month. The 22-year-old Belgian steed, named Annie, was retired from Thanksgiving Point some years ago and is now used as a community horse in Eagle Mountain.
This Halloween, you can catch Tiffany and Annie trotting around town as the Headless Horseman, Jack Skelington from Disney’s Nightmare Before Christmas and even a large inflatable T-Rex.
