 An artistic representation of the Headless Mule | |
| Grouping | Mythical creature |
|---|---|
| Sub grouping | Shapeshifter,Ghostly entity |
| Similar entities | Headless Horseman,Muladona,Sihuanaba |
| Folklore | Brazilian folklore |
| First attested | 1940s |
| Other name(s) | Mula sem cabeça (Portuguese) |
| Country |  Brazil |
| Region | Goiás,Minas Gerais,Mato Grosso, and otherBrazilian states |
| Habitat | Crossroads,Parishes, open fields |
| Details | Acursed woman transformed into a headless, fierymule due to a gravesin, oftenadultery with apriest. Known for loudneighing, sulfuric odor, and fiery manifestations. |
TheHeadless Mule (Portuguese:mula sem cabeça,pronounced[ˈmulɐˈsẽjkɐˈbesɐ]) is amythical character inBrazilian folklore.
The term "Headless Mule" was first recorded in the 1940s.[1] Though the myth is believed to have amedieval origin (around the 12th century), and to have been brought toBrazil in the earlycolonial era (16th century or later).[2]
The tale is most popular in the states ofGoiás,Minas Gerais, andMato Grosso but is well known throughout the country. Similarmyths (theMuladona and the Almamula) occur in the surroundingHispanic countries.
The Mule's appearance varies greatly from region to region. Its color is most commonly described as brown, sometimes as black. It has silver (or iron) horseshoes that produce a hideous trotting, louder than any horse is capable of producing.
Despite being headless, the Mule still neighs (usually very loudly), and sometimes it moans like a crying woman. It also has abridle tied to its non-existent mouth, and spews fire through its non-existentnostrils (or, in some versions, from its severed neck).
According to most reports, the Mule is condemned to gallop over the territory of seven parishes each night (just as the Brazilian version of thewerewolf[3]). By some accounts, its trip begins and ends at the parish where the sin was committed.
Transformation usually occurs at acrossroads. Depending on the source the headless mule may have a placeholder head and mane, made of the fire it spews, to which a red-hot iron bridle is tied.
The curse of the Headless Mule cannot be transmitted (unlike thevampiric curse), because it is acquired as a result of a sin committed willfully by the accursed woman.
The transformation can be reversed temporarily by spilling the mule's blood with the prick of aneedle or by tying her to a cross. In the first case, transformation will be prevented while the benefactor is alive and lives in the same parish in which his feat was accomplished. In the second case the woman will remain in human form until the sun dawns, but will transform again the next time.
A more stable removal of the curse can be achieved by removing the bridle, in which case the woman will not shape shift again while the benefactor is alive. Tying the bridle back to the woman's mouth will return the curse.
Removal of the curse is a great relief for the woman because the curse includes many trials, so the grateful woman will usually repent her sins and marry the benefactor. In any case, when the mule changes back to human form the accursed woman will be completely naked, sweated, and smelling of sulfur.
A person who encounters the mule should not cross its path, or the mule will follow the offender and trample him down. Instead, one should either be brave enough to remove the bridle or spill its blood, or else just lay face down on the ground, covering teeth and nails (as well as anything that shines), and the mule will hopefully fail to notice the stranger's presence and trot away (because it has poor vision).
There is also a similar, though much less known, folk tale where the curse fell on the sinning priest.[4] In this story, the priest's headless ghost rides through the night on a normal horse, much like theHeadless Horseman inWashington Irving's storyThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Indeed, this variant of the myth may well be just a modern import of that 19th-century tale.
