The Wild Hunt

 

ALT

On this day in 1948, songwriter Stan Jones released Ghost Riders in the Sky, which tells a version of the Wild Hunt legend.

As the riders loped on by him

He heard one call his name

‘If you wanna save your soul

From hell a-riding on our range

Then, cowboy, change your ways today

Or with us you will ride

Trying to catch the devil’s herd

Across these endless skies

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post on the Wild Hunt for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

Doomed riders. You could focus on the sadder figures here— the poor souls (literally) who are already in the hunt for eternity. Sometimes these are people who committed the usual infractions: murder, theft, drinking, and so on. Or sometimes, these folks have done a Very Specific Thing that they may have be warned not to do, like hunting on the sabbath, or some other odd thing like don’t get off your horse until your dog jumps down. Fairies (and the devil) love this sort of warning! You can make it as absurd as you want, that’s the point. And if you fail in this one strange thing, you are doomed to the hunt forever.

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