Geller. “The Wild Hunt - European Folk Myth.”

An example of some notes I have taken and simplified from reading this document.

[Geller. 2017. “The Wild Hunt”].

Geller. “The Wild Hunt - European Folk Myth.” Mythology.net, 14 Jan. 2017, https://mythology.net/norse/norse-concepts/the-wild-hunt/. 

• Across most of Europe, the Wild Hunt is a well known folk myth “of a ghostly leader and his group of hunters and hounds flying through the cold night sky, accompanied by the sounds of the howling wind.”

• The ghost like hunters are either spirits of the dead, elves, or fairies.

• In Northern Europe, the Wild Hunt was associated with large snow storms or the changing of the season.

• 1127 AD - In The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles mentions the Wild Hunt for the first time

• 1673 AD – Johannes Scheffer, wrote a book, Lapponia, in which he recounts stories told by the Laplanders (Sami) people regarding the Wild Hunt

• 1835 AD – Jacob Grimm writes Deutsche Mythologie. He accounted the Wild Hunt, mixing both folklore with textual evidence from medieval to early modern period.

• 1895 AD - Author Hélène Adeline Guerber wrote of Odin and Sleipnir in her work, Myths of the Northern Lands. “She tells her readers of the souls of the dead being carried off on the stormy winds of the hunt”

• Points in Grimms story

• The hunt happens in the coldest, stormiest time of the year

• The supernatural party of hunters travels through the forests

• Anyone found outdoors would be involuntarily swept up into the party, then dropped far from their original location

• Actual practitioners were believed to join via spirit while their body remained at home

• Refers to the group as berserkers
  

• Grimm believed

• The story had obviously changed from pre-Christian to modern times

• The myth was originally led by a god and goddess who visited during the holiday, bringing blessings and accepting offerings

• They could be heard in the winds

• Later this was changed to “ghouls with malicious intent”. The Germanic leader of the party goes by many names Other story variations 
  

• Berta

• Foste

• Heme

• Holle

• Holt

• Jauloherra “Master of Yule”

• Jólnir “Master of Yule”

• Master of Yule was a festival celebrating the change of the seasons

• Odin

• Woden

12th century AD, Britain

• Clerics claimed to have witnessed the Wild Hunt

• 20 – 30 hunters in the party

• The hunt lasted for 9 weeks

• In Germany the icon of a hunter may be associated with an evil being

• Such as a devil or dragon

• Rides a horse accompanied by numerous hounds

• The prey is either an innocent or guilty young woman

• Someone comes across the hunt

• If they interfere and try to stop the hunt, they are punished

• If they aid the hunters, they are rewarded.

• Usually with money or the leg of a slain animal.

• The slain leg of an animal usually means it is a cursed object, which the protagonist cannot get rid of, without the aid of a priest or magic user.

• Somehow, standing in the middle of the road protects the individual from the hunting procession.
  

• In Scandinavian variations of the myth, the hunt itself is never physically seen. Only heard. The forest becomes deathly silent, warning of the supernatural imminent arrival. Followed by the barking of Odin’s dogs. It was used as a common folklore motif to signify a change of season or onset of war

• Scotland

• Linked to the fairy world

• Sluagh, or Unseelie Court, the noble fairy court, would cast out evil fairies or fey.

• The Sluagh then flew into areas from the west to capture dying souls

• Resulting in a tradition up until the 20th centuries where if someone was ill inside the house, all of the doors and windows on the west side would be closed.

• Orkney Island was said to be home to trows/trolls. The belief was that they tried to eat mortals and hated sunlight. A human could escape by crossing over a stream.