All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
A package arrived at WIRED headquarters recently. This is not unusual; publicists frequently send packages to publications. They often contain press kits and branded merchandise of various types, which seek to curry editorial favor and attention. The recent press kit for the FOX television show *Sleepy Hollow *succeeded. This is because it contained a Sleepy Hollow hoodie that is intended to make you look like the Headless Horseman, but actually makes you look like a British Revolutionary War soldier wearing a bondage mask. In a word, it is terrifying.
The package that contained this nightmare also included a press release that invited us – and by extension, of course, our readers – to watch the new show Sleepy Hollow, which premiered Monday night and pulled in a whopping 10.5 million viewers, rating a 3.4 in its target demographic of adults aged 18-49. (In other words, it did really well, especially for FOX, whose shows rarely break even the 8-million-viewer mark.)
"Enclosed is a Headless Horseman zip-up costume hoodie," the press release read, "to protect you from demons in your sleepy (or not so sleepy) town."
And out came this monstrosity. To be clear, this is not a garment that will protect you. This is a garment that you need to be protected from. The hoodie is designed around the idea that covering your head in black cloth that resembles fetish gear and/or a bee mask will create the optical illusion that your head has disappeared. After blackmailing encouraging our coworker Robbie Baldwin of Gadget Lab to wear it, sealing himself within its fabric shell -- and possibly, sealing his soul to its grim power -- we can confirm that it does not do this at all. It does, however, make you look very, very creepy.
Apart from noting that this particular Headless Horseman appears to be a Revolutionary War soldier with a penchant for Clooney-era Batman villains, we're not quite sure what to do with this wearable dybbuk box, although it does look like it'd lend itself to some creative Photoshopping. So we're leaving it up to you. Your mission:
- Photoshop this horror-show item as to the best of your clever abilities. Keep it classy.
- Post a link to the finished product in the comments of this story.
- Wait.
If enough readers are creative and creeped out enough to contribute, we'll post a gallery of our favorite entries here on Underwire. Hurry, because we don't know how long we have to live with this guy staring at us.
