The Wild Hunt is a cavalcade of ghost hunters on horseback and with dogs. The phenomenon comes from Norse and Teutonic mythology. On stormy nights, God Odin, at the head of horsemen, rides across the sky with a pack of barking dogs.
His entourage scamper on the ground, feasting and scattering garbage. Anyone who unfortunately meets them will immediately go to another country. And whoever foolishly speaks is doomed to death.
The Norse Wild Hunt - Aasgaardsreya - is an army made up of the spirits of the dead who did not do enough good to deserve a place in heaven, but did not do enough harm to be sent to hell. It includes drunks, fighters, lovers of obscene songs, skillful deceivers - and those who broke their oaths for money. As a punishment, they were doomed to wander until the end of the world.
The army is led by Guro-Risse or Reis-Rova with a long tail, by which it is easy to distinguish it from the rest. Many people of both sexes are riding behind her. When viewed from the front, these creatures appear tall and handsome - both riders and their horses - but at the end of this procession, nothing can be seen but the long tail of Guro-Rissé.
The horses of this rati are black as coal; their eyes glow in the dark like fire. Horses are controlled with red-hot rods and iron reins. The screams of the riders create such a terrible noise that it can be heard at a great distance. They move on the water surface as easily as on the ground.
The horses' hooves barely touch the surface of the water. If they drop their saddle on the roof of a house, one of its inhabitants must die. Where the army of Aasgaardsrei is attached to the ledge above the door, there will be a fight or murder in a drunken brawl. For the time being, they behave calmly, but one has only to hear a horse neigh or ring a bridle, as a fight begins and a murder occurs.
This host makes a detour mainly after Christmas, when major drunken brawls take place. When a person hears this army approaching, he must make way for him and fall face down, as if asleep, because otherwise he will be seized and either dragged away or left somewhere far away in a distraught state.
The person who takes precautions will get off with the fact that the hunters flying by will spit on him. When they pass him, he must spit in turn; otherwise, he will subsequently suffer some kind of physical injury.
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The Wild Hunt has many leaders, both men and women. In the legends of Northern Germany, their leader is the woman Holda (Holde, Hulda, Holle and Holte) - the goddess of the hearth and motherhood. In southern Germany, she is traditionally called Berta (Berchta, Perchta), under this name the Norse goddess Frigga is known. Berta means shining. She is associated with the moon and guards the souls of unbaptized children.
Bertha's connection with the moon led to her identification with Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, so that Diana could be at the head of the wild hunt. Her night watch punishes the lazy and vicious, but if you leave food in front of the door, they will eat it, and then it will appear again - before they move on.
After the Reformation and the abolition of purgatory by the Protestants, the Wild Hunt became the lot of the unbaptized dead, especially children. The unbaptized could not be buried in consecrated ground, they were buried in the northern part of the church fence, where, it was believed, they remained underground. They became fun for the Wild Hunt dogs, who drove them to hell.
The wild hunt also exists in English legends. They are led by the procession Henry the Hunter, or simply the devil. As Christianity spread, the pagan gods were reduced to the level of demons and the devil.
During the witch hunt in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was believed that the retinue of the Wild Hunt included not only the spirits of the dead, but also witches and that it was headed by Hecate, the Greek goddess of the dark side of the moon, the patroness of witches.
English national heroes such as Sir Francis Drake, accompanied by demons and headless dogs, can also lead the Wild Hunt across the countryside from Tevistock to Plymouth in Devon, not on horseback, but in a ghost carriage or hearse.
The Cornish variant of the Wild Hunt is the Devil's Dandy's dogs, which race on the ground or over the ground and hunt the souls of people. In the documents of the XII century, it is said that the number of hunters is twenty or thirty, that they are riding black horses and black deer. With them are black dogs with terrible shining eyes. From Petersburg to Sam-hein in English monks hear the sounds of the hunt all night - dogs bark, hunting horns blow.
The latest reports about the Wild Hunt date back to the middle of the last century - it swept across the expanses of Samhain on the eve of every church holiday. Witnesses were advised to prostrate themselves on the ground and read prayers to save their souls from the grazing of hellish dogs.