In the mid-1800s, a Mexican outlaw named Vidal was captured by Texas Rangers after a string of horse thefts. To warn others, they decapitated him, strapped his body upright to a wild mustang, and sent the riderless horse into the desert. Locals soon began reporting a terrifying headless horseman, galloping through the night with a bloody stump where his head should be. The legend of El Muerto spread across South Texas, with sightings continuing well into the 20th century, often near old cattle trails and borderlands.