Many travellers in Russia and Germany journeying through the forests at
night have caught the sound of wails,--of moans that, starting from the
far distance, have gradually come nearer and nearer. Then they have
heard the winding of a horn, the shouting and cursing of the huntsman,
and in a biting cold wind have seen the whole cavalcade sweep by. According to various authorities on the subject this spectral chase goes
by different names. In Thuringia and elsewhere, it is "Hakelnberg" or
"Hackelnbarend,"--the story being that Hakelnberg, a German knight, who
had devoted his whole life to the chase, on his death-bed had told the
officiating priest that he cared not a jot for heaven, but only for
hunting; the priest losing patience and exclaiming, "Then hunt till
Doomsday." So, in all weathers, in snow and ice, Hakelnberg, his horse and hounds,
are seen careering after imaginary game. There are similar stories current in the Netherlands, Denmark, Russia,
and practically all over Europe, and not only Europe, but in many of the
states and departments of the New World. This being so, I think there
must be a substantial substratum of truth underlying the beliefs,
phantastic as they may appear, and yet, are no more phantastic than many
of the stories we are asked to give absolute credence to in the Bible. In Old Castile the spirit of a Moorish leader who won many victories
over the Spaniards, and was drowned by reason of his heavy armour in a
swamp of the River Duero, still haunts his burial-place, a piece of
marshy ground, near Burgos. There, weird noises, such as the winding of
a huntsman's horn and the neighing of a horse, are heard, and the
phantasm of the dead Moor is seen mounted on a white horse followed by
twelve huge, black hounds. In Sweden many of the peasants say, when a noise like that of a coach
and horses is heard rumbling past in the dead of night, "It is the White
Rider," whilst in Norway they say of the same sounds, "It is the hunt of
the Devil and his four horses." In Saxony the rider is believed to be
Barbarossa, the celebrated hero of olden days. Near Fontainebleau, Hugh
Capet is stated to ride a gigantic sable horse to the palace, where he
hunted before the assassination of Henry IV; and in the Landes the rider
is thought to be Judas Iscariot. In other parts of France the wild
huntsman is known as Harlequin or Henequin, and in some parts of
Brittany he is "Herod in pursuit of the Holy Innocents." (Alas, that no
such Herod visits London! How welcome would he be, were he only to flout
a few of the brawling brats who, allowed to go anywhere they please,
make an inferno of every road they choose to play in.) Here my notes on horses end; and although the evidence I have offered
may have failed to convince many, I myself am fully satisfied that these
noble and indispensable animals do not terminate their existence in this
world, but pass on to another, and, let us all sincerely hope, far
happier, plane. CHAPTER IV

BULLS, COWS, PIGS, ETC. From the Hebrides there comes to me a case of the phantasm of a black
bull, that, on certain nights in the year, is heard bellowing inside the
shed where it was killed. There are many accounts of ghostly cows heard "mooing" in the moors and
bog-lands of Scotland and Ireland respectively, and not a few cases of
whole herds of phantom cattle seen, gliding along, one behind the other,
with silent, noiseless tread. Though I have never had the opportunity of
experimenting with cows to see if they are sensitive to the
superphysical, I see no reason why they should not be, and I feel quite
certain they will participate in "the future life." Apropos of pigs, Mr. Dyer, in his _Ghost World_, says, "Another form of
spectre animal is the kirk-grim, which is believed to haunt many
churches. Sometimes it is a pig, sometimes a horse, the haunting spectre
being the spirit of an animal buried alive in the churchyard for the
purpose of scaring away the sacrilegious." Mr. Dyer goes on to say that it was the custom of the old Christian
churches to bury a lamb under the altar; and that if anyone entered a
church out of service time and happened to see a little lamb spring
across the choir and vanish, it was a sure prognostication of the death
of some child; and if this apparition was seen by the grave-digger the
death would take place immediately. Mr. Dyer also tells us that the
Danish kirk-grim was thought to hide itself in the tower of a church in
preference to any other place, and that it was thought to protect the
sacred buildings. According to the same writer, in the streets of
Kroskjoberg, a grave sow, or, as it was called, a "gray-sow," was
frequently seen, and it was said to be the apparition of a sow formerly
buried alive; its appearance foretelling death or calamity. _Phantasm of a Goat_

Mrs. Crowe, in her _Night Side of Nature_, relates one case of a house
near Philadelphia, U.S.A., that was haunted by a variety of phenomena,
among others that of a spectre resembling a goat. "Other extraordinary things happened in the house," she writes, "which
had the reputation of being haunted, although the son had not believed
it, and had thereupon not mentioned the report to the father. "One day the children said they had been running after 'such a queer
thing in the cellar; it was like a goat, and not like a goat, but it
seemed to be like a shadow.'" This explanation does not appear to be very satisfactory, but as I have
heard of one or two other cases of premises being haunted by what,
undoubtedly, were the phantasms of goats, I think it highly probable it
was the ghost of a goat in this instance, too. _The Phantom Pigs of the Chiltern Hills_

A good many years ago there was a story current of an extraordinary
haunting by a herd of pigs. The chief authority on the subject was a
farmer, who was an eye-witness of the phenomena. I will call him Mr. B.

Mr. B., as a boy, lived in a small house called the Moat Grange, which
was situated in a very lonely spot near four cross-roads, connecting
four towns. The house, deriving its name from the fact that a moat surrounded it,
stood near the meeting point of the four roads, which was the site of a
gibbet, the bodies of the criminals being buried in the moat. Well, the B----s had not been living long on the farm, before they were
awakened one night by hearing the most dreadful noises, partly human and
partly animal, seemingly proceeding from a neighbouring spinney, and on
going to a long front window overlooking the cross-roads, they saw a
number of spotted creatures like pigs, screaming, fighting and tearing
up the soil on the site of the criminals' cemetery. The sight was so unexpected and alarming that the B----s were appalled,
and Mr. B. was about to strike a light on the tinder-box, when the most
diabolical white face was pressed against the outside of the window-pane
and stared in at them.