The Wild Hunt & the ‘Oss

Chris Wood

T oday’s image of the Wild Hunt

is a spectral or otherworldly
phenomenon that occurs on a
stormy night in mid-winter, and
perhaps at other liminal times of
year, the times of seasonal change,
when the veil between the worlds is
at its thinnest. But its origins and
manifestations are varied and
Wodan's Wild Hunt (detail)
constantly evolving.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heine, 1882
Great hosts of ghostly or faery from Wilhelm Wägner (1882) Nordisch-germanische
Götter und Helden, Otto Spamer, Leipzig & Berlin.
riders, with red-eyed or red-eared
hell-hounds baying, sweep all those unfortunate to be in their path before
them, never to be seen again. For those brave enough, it is possible to ride
with them, but this requires preparation and is not to be undertaken lightly.
At the head of the throng is Arthur, Ođinn, Charles the Great, Herne the
Hunter or Welsh psychopomp, Gwynn ap Nydd, or sometimes Hecate or
Diana, gathering up souls to ride in their army of the dead. Traditionally an
omen of death or disaster, the Midwinter Wild Hunt can also be seen as the
untamed forces of Nature bringing in the Cleansing Tide, sweeping out all
that is unwanted or undesirable, clearing the way to allow new life to spring
forth after the Equinox, in the Growing Tide.

Origins and Developments

Ronald Hutton has described the historical development of the myth of the
Wild Hunt.1 It was first named by the German folklorist Jacob Grimm, in his
Deutsche Mythologie of 1835.2 He combined three diverse traditions:
1
Hutton, Ronald (2014) The Wild Hunt and the Witches' Sabbath, Folklore, 125(2), 161-178; (2017) The Witch: A History of
Fear, From Ancient Times to the Present, Yale.
2
Grimm, Jacob (1835) Deutsche Mythologie, Dieterich (English edition, trans. James Steven Stallybrass (1882-8) Teutonic
Mythology, Bell).
1) processions of the wandering dead (sinners or killed in battle), 2) night-
riding entourages of superhuman females (sometimes led by three Ladies),
and 3) spectral hunts and huntsmen. The first and second of these had
already merged in popular belief, to a degree varying around the continent.
1. The wandering dead is a tradition being promulgated by Christian clergy
by the 12th century, initially in the North of France, but becoming
concentrated in German-speaking areas by the 16th century. These were souls
who were doomed to roam the Earth as a penance for their sins, latterly in
mid-winter or during the Ember Days (sets of three fasting days in Advent,
Lent, late Spring and September). They were frequently seen as an army and,
by the 13th century, they had acquired a leader, most often Arthur or a figure
called Herlechin or Hellequinn, which was probably originally the name of
the procession itself.
2. The night-riding entourage of a superhuman female is a tradition that
spread from 9th-century origins in the Rhineland. It involved companies of
spirits riding wild animals, including favoured humans on spirit journeys, led
by a Lady, variously known as Diana, Herodias, Oriente, Satia, Abundia,
Perchte, Holda and others, and feasting at the homes of favoured people (and
then replenishing what they had consumed). The names Diana and Herodias
were regularly given to these Ladies by Churchmen recording the traditions,
as, respectively, the best-known pagan goddess (therefore a demon) and the
most evil woman in the Gospels (Herodias got Salome to ask for the head of
John the Baptist as the reward for her dance). Other names seem to be
personifications: Holda, the name of the procession (as with Herlechin);
Perchte, the occasion of the ride, Twelfth Night; Oriente, the exotic East;
Satia, satisfaction; and Abundia, abundance. Often the favoured humans
invited along were practitioners of folk magic and, from the 14th century,
these night-rides became conflated with the charge of demonic witchcraft
and formed a key part of the idea of the witches’ sabbath.
3. Spectral hunts seem to be a timeless tradition, but with three particular
forms (following Lecouteux): a demon or the Devil chasing sinners; a human
huntsman condemned to hunt for eternity, without rest, as a punishment for
some evil deed; or a wild man chasing livestock or otherworldly prey. 3

3
Lecouteux, Claude (1999) Chasses Fantastiques et Cohorts de la Nuit au Moyen Age, Imago (English edition, trans. Jon E.
Graham (2011) Phantom Armies of the Night, Inner Traditions).
It is easy to see how the Devil in the image of the witches’ sabbath, having
replaced the benign female leader of the night-ride, would be conflated with
the male leader of a band of dead warriors and with a spirit hunting down
sinners, to create the modern idea of the Wild Hunt.

An East Anglian Example

These spectral hunts seem in turn to merge with otherworldly beasts, like
East Anglia’s Black Shuck, and with ghostly riders and carriages, usually
with both humans and the horses headless. One case from Norwich (amongst
several Norfolk spectral carriages) is interesting in this regard, “the
Blennerhassett Curse”. 4
In the 16th century, the Blennerhassett family, which originated in Cumbria,
acquired land from the Church following the Dissolution of the Monasteries
and based itself either at Frenze, near Diss, or at Barsham, near Beccles 5 –
there is more than one version of the tale. One of their number became
known in legend as “Old Hassett” or “Old Blunderhazard”, as the driver of a
spectral coach which headed for Norwich every Christmas Eve.
The specific destination was Hassett’s Hall in Pockthorpe, in the angle of
Barrack Street and Gurney Road, immediately north-east of the city centre.
The Hall had been associated with the Cathedral Priory and formed part of
the Church property this speculative family had acquired. (It was demolished
in 1792 to make way for, interestingly, cavalry barracks, that in turn became
a housing estate and open space in 1963.)
Old Blunderhazard’s coach was pulled by headless horses, who still
somehow managed to have fire flashing from their nostrils! It was
traditionally seen crossing Bishop Bridge, then the main route out of the city
to the east, and heading north to the Hall or onto Mousehold Heath (still an
extensive green space in the city).
Sometimes it flew, with flashes of fire coming from the coachman’s whip
sufficient to illuminate the whole city. The image of a carriage riding across
the sky with fiery flashes suggests a link to that of the Thunder God riding
His wagon at the head of the storm, followed by the dark hosts of clouds,

4
Tolhurst, Peter (2018) This Hollow Land: Aspects of Norfolk Folklore, Black Dog.
5
Dutt, William (1903) The Norfolk Broads, Methuen.
striking bolts of lightning and creating thunder with its wheels, an image
never far away from people’s minds, even in Christian society.

A Vibrant Modern Myth

The Norwich example shows how stories tend to mingle with each other,
where they have things in common. Grimm believed that modern folklore
was automatically a survival of ancient traditions and back-projected what he
saw in that folklore to create a homogenous ancient fiction, although by so
doing, he may simply have accelerated the mingling of popular traditions
that was occurring anyway.
To challenge the idea of an ancient Wild Hunt, together with other popular
beliefs, such as a universal ancient Mother Goddess or that early-modern
witches were following a pre-Christian, pagan religion, can be
uncomfortable. More importantly, however, to assume that traditions and
folklore are but fragments of an ancient Golden Age is to be blind to the
dynamic mythic creativity of people in all ages, today included.

Of Horses and Dragons

Just as we can see the Wild Hunt as a dynamic, modern phenomenon, tracing
its history allows us to understand both the diversity of stories related to it
and its spiritual nature. As stated at the beginning, the Midwinter Wild Hunt
can be seen as the untamed forces of Nature bringing in the Cleansing Tide.
This is an essential energy, but one that we need to keep away from us and
from the places where we live, because it is dangerous. It is not evil, just, like
the power of the gale, the fire, the tides or the Earth itself, it is impersonal
and much, much bigger than us.
We need that energy in our lives, in our homes, workplaces, towns and cities,
but in a controlled form. That is why we drive out the dark forces at
Midwinter, letting them howl around the heaths and wild places, but
welcome them in the Spring and Summer. They are like the storms and the
sea surges, the wild winds and wild fires, the dragons and wolves of the
imagination, which all come together in the horse.
Why after all, is Saint George usually pictured on horseback, pinning the
dragon down (rather than triumphantly standing over its dead body like Saint
Michael)? The dragon in Western myths is associated with wild and
powerful nature: rivers, the sea or deserts. Perhaps the horse represents the
tamed dragon?
It is not without reason that Saint George, for all his military pomp, is also
Green George, who brings agricultural prosperity across Eastern Europe, and
linked to the Islamic ‘Green Knight’, al-Khiḍr, who becomes an immortal
saint, trickster and initiator through contact with the Water of Life. Green
George rides between the worlds of civilization and wild nature, in touch
with the exhilarating power of the source, but reining in its destructiveness.
The horse is a powerful being that has been tied to humanity for millennia,
for better or worse: raw energy literally bridled in. It is no surprise that the
Wild Hunt should feature wild spectral horses. But what happened to the
heads of the horses pulling Old Blunderhazard’s coach?

To Mousehold with the ‘Oss’s Head…

The horse has always been important in Britain and is celebrated on ‘Celtic’
coins and in the great Uffington White Horse. It appears in many folk
customs and processions. The tourney-style hobby horse is perhaps most
widespread, and seems to blur the boundaries between horse and dragon.6
Sometimes it can be quite stylized, as with the Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss.
But there is also a darker ‘Oss: a tall, mysterious figure with a horse’s skull
(carried on a pole or mast), most famous from the Welsh Mari Lwyd
traditions and the Montol Festival in Penzance.
In Norwich, we have borrowed the idea of the ‘Oss from our friends in
Cornwall. Our ‘Oss, the Ickeny, is named after the Norfolk dialect word for
anything unruly, but particularly difficult horses. He may look scary, but He
is a focus for the image of those untamed forces of Nature that we need to
keep at bay. So He enters the circle we form on Mousehold Heath at Twelfth
Night and our Champion drives Him out to gallop across the heath safely,
leaving just enough of His energy for us to set about our tasks for the year.

6
As a comparison of Salisbury’s horse, Hob-Nob, and Norwich’s dragon, Snap, bears out; see Shortt, Hugh (2007) The
Giant and Hob Nob, 4th edition, Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, as well as my article, ‘The Hidden Charms of
Salisbury’, in Quest 194 (June 2018).