The Hexham Courant's Tynedale Halloween feature, drawing on Rob Kirkup's Ghostly Northumberland, says it is not wise to cross the moors around Haltwhistle alone at night because a haunted hunt is reputed to roam there. The hounds are described as baying with burning eyes, led by the devil himself with a company of dark riders on black steeds.
The story attached is that a farmer who had drunk too much on market day met the hunt on his way home. As the lead huntsman rode up, the farmer called out and asked if they had had a good hunt. The huntsman answered that they had had good sport, laughed horribly, dropped a bundle of rags and rode off. In the bundle the farmer found the body of his baby son.
This follows the pattern of wild hunt and Gabriel Hounds tales found across the north of England and carries no names or dates in the source. It is kept as a traditional local legend. The pin is a general spot on the moors near the town.
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