The Texas Headless Horseman is a folktale known as El Muerto, the story of a headless bandit, Vidal, who was tied to a horse and left to roam the South Texas plains after being killed by Texas Rangers led by Creed Taylor. Legend says his ghost, or the corpse on the horse, is still seen riding through the region, sometimes accompanied by the sounds of thunderous hooves. The legend claims crossing his path brings misfortune.  

• Origin: The legend stems from the mid-1800s after a Mexican bandit named Vidal stole horses from Texas Ranger Creed Taylor. 
• The Execution: Taylor and his men caught Vidal and, as punishment, decapitated him, strapped his body upright onto his horse, and secured his head to the saddle horn. 
• The Legend’s Spreading: The horse, with its headless rider, escaped and began to gallop through the area. Other riders and ranchers reported seeing the terrifying sight and began to call it El Muerto, or “the dead one”. 
• The Aftermath: A posse eventually captured the horse, finding the corpse riddled with bullets and arrows. They buried the body in an unmarked grave, but the legend persisted, with sightings continuing for years. 
• Literary and Cultural Impact: The story has inspired other works, including Mayne Reid’s novel,The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas. 
• Connection to Sleepy Hollow: The Texas legend of El Muerto is often compared to the more widely known “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and is considered by some to be an inspiration for the later story. 

The “man from the snowy Rio Grande river and Devil’s River” is likely a misremembered reference to Victor Valdez, a beloved singer from the Mexican town of Boquillas, located across from Big Bend National Park. He was known for singing “Cielito Lindo” to tourists who arrived by boat on the Rio Grande river and was sometimes called the “Singing Man of Boquillas”. There is no prominent Spanish-language song or well-known legend about a “man from the snowy Rio Grande river and Devil’s River” that combines these two locations.
Victor Valdez: A popular singer from Boquillas, Mexico, known as the “Singing Man of Boquillas”.
Rio Grande: Valdez sang to tourists as they rowed across the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park.
Devils River: There is no known connection between the “Devils River” and the “man from the Rio Grande”.

@highlight David Michael Ramsey @surfman374

The phrase “the man from the snowy Rio Grande river and Devils river Spanish” does not refer to a single, specific individual in history or legend based on the search results. Instead, it seems to be a poetic or descriptive phrase that alludes to the various people and historical events associated with these significant Texas rivers

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Here are the key historical associations with these rivers:

• Spanish Explorers and the Naming of the Rivers: Spanish explorers were the first Europeans in the area. Gaspar Castaño de Sosa traveled along the river in 1590, calling it “Laxas” (slack or feeble). Later, Texas Ranger Captain John Coffee (Jack) Hays is famously reported to have renamed the river when he reached a rugged canyon in the 1840s, stating it looked more like the “Devil’s river” than the previously used “San Pedro” (Saint Peter).
• “The Robin Hood of the Rio Grande”: Juan Cortina, a Mexican rancher and bandit, became a folk hero in the mid-1800s, known as “The Robin Hood of the Rio Grande,” for leading attacks to defend Tejano rights against Anglo settlers.
• “El Muerto” (The Headless Horseman): A local legend along the Rio Grande tells of a headless outlaw named Vidal from the early 1800s, whose body was tied to a horse by Texas Rangers as a warning to other outlaws. The “headless bandit” is a figure of local folklore.
• Early Inhabitants and Surveyors: Prehistoric people lived in caves along the Devils River as early as 11,000 years ago. Geologist Robert T. Hillled a significant expedition in 1899 to survey the canyons of the Rio Grande, a place he described as “the longest and least known”. 

The phrase you are using likely evokes the rugged, wild history of the region and the diverse people—from Spanish explorers to outlaws and pioneers—who traveled through it.