ADJ.
all, malevolent, touched
VERB + HANT
see, understand
HANT + NOUN
gentleman, ghost
ADV.
ever
noun
Alternative form of haunt, haint (“ghost”)
“[…] Say, Mister, did you ever see a hant?” The gentleman did not understand. “A hant, a ghost, some calls ’em,” explained Jed.
[…] he shivered as though a hant had touched him with its ghostly fingers, for night was near and he was alone in a depth of the swamp where he had never been before.
verb
To haunt.
contraction
Pronunciation spelling of hadn’t.
“[…] Say, Mister, did you ever see a hant?” The gentleman did not understand. “A hant, a ghost, some calls ’em,” explained Jed.
Wiktionary[…] he shivered as though a hant had touched him with its ghostly fingers, for night was near and he was alone in a depth of the swamp where he had never been before.
WiktionaryThe term “hant” covers all malevolent and inexplicable sights and sounds. Primarily hants protect buried treasure and linger about ghoulish death spots.
Wiktionaryi Register
In some senses, hant is marked as US, colloquial. Watch for register when choosing this word.