Johann Geiler von Kaiserberg, writing in Strassburg in 1516, says that "those who die before the time which god has set for them as those, who enlist in the army and were stabbed or hanged and drowned, they must therefore walk long after their death, till that end comes, which god has set for them, and then god works so with them, as his godly will is”

The Huntsmen are shadowy beings, of varied race and gender, who follow the Master. They wear black, gray, or white cloaks, and ride horses the same colour as their clothes. They are a variety of classes, but all can attack with spear or short bow.  

In France they were called Hellequin's Hunt, and consisted of not only hunters but an entire parade of the damned, first commoners and tradesmen, then monks and clerics, then knights, all suffering various tortures according to their sins on earth.