Professional dancer Cheryl Burke has been part of Dancing with the Stars since the very beginning.

26 seasons of the Samba, the Rumba and the Cha Cha,

24 partners, six finals and two mirror ball trophies.

She knows all the secrets, the behind the scenes arguments,

and the affairs, the flings, the flirting and the fighting.

Listen to Sex, Lies and Spray Hands on the I-HeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I Heart Radio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Monster Monster Fact a short form series from stuff to blow your mind

focusing in on mythical creatures ideas and monsters in time for festive foods by the fire, a time for the giving of gifts and of course a time for

festive foods by the fire, a time for the giving of gifts, and of course a time for parading through the streets with the head of a dead horse.

I speak of the Houden horse, or Houden a tradition from Kent in Southeast England that dates back to at least

the 1800s, but with likely roots to much older pre-Christian traditions. I first read about this practice in the 1987 enchanted world volume, The Book of Christmas,

which features a beautiful illustration by visual artist Matt Mahruin that depicts a ghostly humanoid horse

stamping and prancing down a misty street. The book describes the Christmas Eve

tradition in which a man in a sheet or horse blanket

brandishes a wooden horsehead or an actual horse skull and proceeds down the street.

Children might cower inside their homes at the

Hodons approach, but the braver kids might run out and try to mount the horse.

Adults would come out and watch, or perhaps throw sweets or money before the creature or into

its mouth for good luck.

Jeff and Fran Dole explored the tradition in depth in their excellent 2009 book, Folklore of Kent.

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