Tales of a headless horseman who prowls the forests at night in a horse-drawn carriage, looking for his decapitated head and taking victims along the way, have persisted and spooked people since the Middle Ages.
But what about the sight of a carriage being pulled down the street with nobody steering the buggy?
Well, that’s the sight a few people caught Tuesday in downtown Durango.
According to Durango Police Cmdr. Ray Shupe, reports came to police about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday that a horse was pulling a carriage, apparently with no driver at the helm.
The first call spotted the horse-drawn carriage sans coachman in the east 100 block of Fifth Street.
Then a few minutes later, another person called in to report the carriage running stop signs on East Third Avenue, near Eighth Street.
“It sounds to me like the horse was running his route,” Shupe said.
Indeed, according to Dean Mize, owner of San Juan Sky Outfitters, that’s exactly what the horse, whose name is Pie à la Mode, was doing.
“The horse, I’ve trained him, went right to where he was supposed to go,” Mize said. “He knows the rules better than my drivers.”
San Juan Sky Outfitters offers horse-drawn carriage rides through the historic district of downtown Durango. Passengers are picked up in front of the Strater Hotel, taken up Fifth Street, north on East Third Avenue to Eighth Street, and back to Main Avenue, ending up back at the Strater Hotel.
Mize said just south of the Strater Hotel, a driver got distracted, and the horse slipped away. Mize said the driver was unable to catch up with the carriage, which had no passengers in it.
“Boom, it was gone,” Mize said.
The horse then took off as if it were a normal stroll through town before it was caught near East Third Avenue and Eighth Street. Mize said that Pie, who has been running the route for eight years, even knows when to stop at streetlights.
“I think it knew the driver wasn’t there and wanted to go out on its own,” Mize said. “My driver should have known better. He has egg on his face and he’s not happy about it.”
At least it was a relief to those who may have thought a new legend was haunting the streets of Durango.
“I guess this is part of living in a cowboy town,” Shupe said.
jromeo@durangoherald.com