The Wild Hunt: A Pan-European Myth of Spectral Riders

Key facts

• The Wild Hunt is a myth of ghostly hunters across the night sky, found in Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, and Latin cultures.
• Jacob Grimm popularized the term in his 1835 'Deutsche Mythologie', linking the hunt to the god Wodan/Odin.
• Historian Claude Leconteux argues there is no evidence of Odin's association with the Wild Hunt before the early modern period.
• In England, the hunt is associated with Herne the Hunter and 'Herlaþing'.
• In Scandinavia, it is known as 'Åsgårdsrei' (Norway) and 'Odens Jakt' (Sweden).
• In Wales, the hunt is led by Arawn or Gwyn ap Nudd, accompanied by red-eared hounds.
• In Spain, the 'Santa Compaña' involves tormented souls in hooded white cloaks.
• The Wild Hunt appears in The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski and may have influenced Santa Claus imagery.