HERNE THE HUNTER,

phantom hunter who haunts Windsor Great Park, impersonated by Falstaff in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Though Herne may have been an actual keeper of the forest, he is probably a local manifestation of the Wild Huntsman myth known throughout the world. The usual story associated with the Wild Hunt involves someone excessively fond of the chase who makes a rash pledge or compact with a stranger (the devil) and is thus doomed to hunt forever. Herne is said to ride at night, especially during storms; he wears horns, rattles chains, blasts trees and cattle, and occasionally appears to mortals. Herne's oak, in his favourite haunt, was supposedly almost 700 years old when it was blown down in 1863; it was replaced with a young oak given by Queen Victoria.