The Wild Hunt
A ghostly chase of European folklore, said to foretell catastrophe.
The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif found across northern, western and eastern Europe, among Germanic, Celtic and Slavic peoples. It is a chase led by a mythological figure with a ghostly or supernatural company of hunters.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Folklore motif
- Popularised by
- Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1835)
Reader's Guide
The leader is often a figure associated with Odin in Germanic legend, but may also be a historical or legendary figure such as Theodoric the Great or Gwyn ap Nudd, a biblical figure, or an unknown lost soul. The hunters are usually the souls of the dead or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairies, valkyries or elves.
Seeing the Hunt was thought to foretell a catastrophe such as war or plague, or the death of the witness, and those who met it might be carried off to the underworld or the fairy kingdom. Jacob Grimm developed the concept in his Deutsche Mythologie (1835) and popularised the German term Wilde Jagd.
More in Themes & Legacy
Elsewhere in Halloween
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced