By Shauntia Mettlin
As I was researching the legend of the wild huntsman, I kept being led down different rabbit holes. Today’s rabbit hole consists of the dark, evil side of the wild huntsman stories. Often referred to as the “wild hunt”, this term was used to describe the apparitions of mounted huntsman or a group of huntsmen followed by a pack of hounds. The Wild Hunt was most often seen riding across the night sky over woods and trees. Whenever the Wild Hunt appeared, it was often associated with death and disaster.
In Scandinavia, the Wild Hunt is believed to be Odin, a Norse god. An encounter with Odin could mean death.
Odin would blast through the sky riding his magical eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, gathering the souls of the dead. The arrival of Odin’s Hunt was signaled by the baying of hounds, the hoof beats of horses, roars of thunder, crashes of lighting and furious winds. Odin, charging across the night sky followed by the spirits of the dead, presaged catastrophes such as war, plague and the death of all who witnessed the terrifying scene.
English folklore believes the Wild Hunt to be Herne the Hunter, which many believed was a real person, though the true identity is still unknown. Shakespeare mentions Herne in The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1602.
There is an old tale goes that Herne the Hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood,k and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.
You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Receiv’d, and did deliver to your age,
This take of Herne the Hunter for a truth.
One of the most tragic stories of the Wild Hunt comes from England in the Wistman’s Woods. The woods were allegedly haunted by a pack of spectral hounds known as the Wish Hounds. One night, a farmer was riding home when a phantom pack of hounds lead by a ghostly huntsman flew by. The farmer called out, asking the huntsman to share his game. The huntsman replied, “Take that!” and threw down a mysterious bundle as he passed overhead. The farmer waited until he arrived home to open the package only to discover that it was the body of his own child.
Whether you believe these stories to be true or just great fiction writing, Washington Irving has some great inspiration for creating the iconic Headless Horseman. With all the myths and legends of huntsman being passed down from generation to generation, it makes Irving’s version of this horse riding character that much more terrifying
1 Haughton, Brian. Famous Ghost Stories: Legends and Lore. Rosen Pub., 2012
2 Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, 4.4.28-38