In Germany, headless-horseman stories come mostly from the Rhineland. Rather than using decapitation, the headless horsemen killed their victims simply by touching them. They were revenants who had to wander the earth until they had atoned for their sins, sometimes by doing a good deed for a stranger, but instead of showing their gratitude by shaking hands, the stranger and the horseman held a tree branch between them and the branch would wither and die rather than the stranger.[10] Another version of the legend spoke of Der Kopflose Reiter (the headless horseman), who would warn the living of impending danger and chase down and punish the wicked.[11]
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A notgeld note from the town of Berga, 1921, depicting the German headless horseman