The Wild Hunt
On stormy winter nights, Europeans said they heard a great hunt racing through the sky: horns, hooves and baying hounds overhead.
What was reported
Across northern and central Europe, folklore tells of the Wild Hunt: a host of riders and hounds that sweeps through the sky on winter nights, led by a figure such as Odin, a legendary king or a cursed huntsman. People said they heard horns, hoofbeats, shouts and barking passing overhead, and stayed indoors.
In the Odenwald in Germany, the legend of the Rodenstein knight said his phantom army rode out through the sky before a war.
Explanations offered
Folklorists suggest that the sounds behind the legend include winter storms howling through forests, and especially the calls of migrating geese flying over at night, which can sound remarkably like a pack of hounds. The legend has inspired music, paintings and stories for centuries.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Odenwald, Hesse, Germany
- Witnesses
- Villagers across Europe
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.