The Legend of the Hounds

Patron Episode 10

This episode is a bit different. I stumbled upon a poem which relates a wonderful bit of folklore on Cornwall Furnace in Lebanon County, PA. It's a wonderful poem by George H. Boker. The entire text is rather difficult to find - portions of the poem are printed in some local ghost story books, but I was finally able to source the entire poem while doing some research this summer past.

"The Legend of the Hounds" tells the tale of a cruel ironmaster (the Squire in the poem) who dooms his hounds, and thus himself to terrible fates. This ironmaster is said, by many, to be the Eternal Hunter - that wonderful ghostly hunter that roams the PA hills - cursed to roam in death by his horrid sins in life.

We will, at some point do a full episode on the Eternal Hunter in his (and her!) various forms (the Eternal Hunter is possibly the only representation of Woden in New World folklore) -  but The Legend of the Hounds is far too long to present as part of that episode so... here it is.  

My favorite wintertime stories are the ghost tales often associated with Christmas (Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" being the most popular, of course) and, while not related to the winter holidays exactly, this tale certainly fits the mood.

I hope you all like it. I very much enjoyed putting it together so there may be more like it somewhere down the line.

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