In Search of Herne the Hunter

In Search Of Herne The Hunter by Eric Fitch, looks at the mythology and history of the legend of Herne The Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest who was a said to have been a gamekeeper there in the Middle Ages but hanged himself and returned as a spectral hunter with deer antlers and leads the Wild

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Hunt with spectral hounds, the Yell Hounds (there was more to the story than that, but I'll not go into it just now). This hunt would usually appear around midwinter, but has more recently been observed in times of national crisis.

It was sort of written in an academic style, but the author was obviously not an academic, merely an interested layperson who has done a lot of research. The amount of links and comparisions and research generally is huge, and as a result, there is a lot that could perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt - some of his links and theories are pretty loose, but others are more than likely, or indeed correct. He links the legend back to a folk memory of a pre-christian horned god, and there is much evidence to support the idea - in fact so much, you loose track a little of where he was going with a point! He looks at folk customs, history, mythology and anthropology relating to horned gods, shamans, horns in general, ghosts, green men, pre-Christian myth, primitive societies, etc.

I'd say, in conclusion, that this is a good book if you want a very in depth look at possible origins of the Herne myth, and it seems mostly sensible and reliable. He doesn't go too far out on a limb at any point, although some links are tenuous. It is however, an excellent look at a folk myth and related customs and ideas. My biggest complaint is that, although he has an extensive list of sources at the back, none are cited directly in the text, so you don't know what information came from which source.

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