Ruling the list of popular internet trends like planking, owling and leisure diving is a most awkward theme: Horsemaning.

Also known as fake beheading, the technique involves two people; one with only the head exposed and the other the rest of the body.

Presumably named after the legendary Headless Horseman from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Horsemaning has replaced all other Facebook sensations and has assumed a cult status across the world.

Below is Irving's description of the spooky rider from the point of view of his protagonist, Ichabod Crane. How does the internet sensation compare to the writer's original character?

Such was one of the favorite haunts of the Headless Horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered. The tale was told of old Brouwer, a most heretical disbeliever in ghosts, how he met the Horseman returning from his foray into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him; how they galloped over bush and brake, over hill and swamp, until they reached the bridge; when the Horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over the tree-tops with a clap of thunder.

When he finally meets the apparition, Crane describes him as such: He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black horse of powerful frame. He made no offer of molestation or sociability, but kept aloof on one side of the road, jogging along on the blind side of old Gunpowder, who had now got over his fright and waywardness.

The trend is actually a revival of a photography fad popular in the 1920s. Check out the most awkward and recent images of Horsemaning in the slideshow given:

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