Horse Head Mask: The Most Fashionable Animal Hat Around

It's latex.  It looks realistic.  You see through eye-holes craftily hidden inside the mouth.  What more is there to know?!

This is one of those must have accessories, which works even when those around you aren't aware of the internet meme.  Simply put, the horse head mask just looks disturbing amusing freaking hilarious!

But on the off-chance that you really don't know your meme.  Here are the highlights.

On October 29th 2012, as Hurricane Sandy lashed the American east coast, most people were hunkering down indoors.

But not Jimmy Kruyne.  He judged that he still had time for his afternoon jog, before the super-storm touched down.  Being an athlete of impeccable taste, he picked his outfit with care.  Swimming trunks, running shoes and, of course, a horse head mask.

Startled reporters were paused in the act of their serious business by his little run by.  Suddenly there was laughter, not 'Frankenstorm', for this Halloween hurricane. 

Yet it wasn't quite 'stir craziness' as the reporter concluded. 

Jimmy had already been out to walk his dogs and he'd seen the news crew there.  The knowledge brought about a certain premonition. Or, as he revealed his thoughts on Reddit later on,  "Self, you're going to be on TV today."

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that he was being filmed until it was too late.  Beneath the mask, his glasses were steaming up.  His nonchalant jog was stopped by a moment of spectacle wiping and mask adjustment before, so he thought, he trotted into view.

Ready to go now, he didn't suss that he'd been on camera all along, until he dashed home and rewound his DVR to watch the relevant footage.

The stunt naturally left JImmy with some regrets, "I should have never taken the mask off. I broke the illusion."

When Dobbin Horsome saw the Google street car approaching, he immediately did the decent thing.

After all, he'd just returned from a wedding in Aberdeen and he had the horse head mask in his bag.  This was an image which the internet needed!

You could see it for yourself, in Crathie Gardens East, but Google have now blurred out Horse Boy's face on long shots.  The relevant standing to attention image has gone entirely in the live version.

Let me just give you a moment to collect your thoughts and ponder upon what you've just seen, before I answer your probable questions.

And yes!  I can divine precisely what the first one will be! 

The mushroom depicted is fly agaric (aka fly amanita).  Believe it or not, it's got hallucinogenic properties and will cause those consuming it to do trippy things.  I know!  Incomprehensible in the circumstances.  Who would have thought it?

The dancing chef is Wotaken, a Nude Camp performance artist from Japan.  He does this a lot.

What do you mean, they weren't your first questions?!

Tom Green didn't start the horse head meme, but he certainly popularized it in this memorable dance routine from 2007.

While Count Smokula and the Radioactive Chicken Heads played, Green pranced about, shaking his head and screaming a lot.  A million horse head masks were bought a day later. 

Their popularity has barely abated ever since, with an appearance in the middle of Hurricane Sandy now propelling ownership of the mask to epic proportions. 

So where will you be wearing yours?