The Wisht Hounds of Wistman's Wood

The popular version goes like this: on winter nights, particularly around Wistman's Wood, you might hear the Wisht Hounds (also called the Yeth Hounds or Wish Hounds) hunting across the moor. They are phantom dogs, sometimes said to be headless, and the legend warns that to see or hear them is a bad omen. The hunt is often connected to the wider folklore of the Wild Hunt, that shapeshifting European tradition of spectral riders and hounds tearing through the sky.

As for where this actually comes from: the written trail is hazier than you might expect. The name Wistman's Wood itself appears in 17th-century documents, but I cannot find a clear early source that ties the Wisht Hounds specifically to that location with a date attached. The legend exists in various forms across Dartmoor folklore collections, but pinpointing when the connection took root is tricky. It may be that the eerie character of the wood (genuinely ancient, densely overgrown, easy to get lost in) attracted the story over time, or that the tale is older than the written record. The honest answer is: nobody I have found yet knows for certain.