Riddles to Ponder

Here are some riddles I've asked a friend at work. Feel free to guess the answer to one or all or post your own riddle.

1. A wooden hull, left unmanned
Anchored firmly to the land.
It's paper sails to one mast linked
It takes on water yet it does not sink.
What is the ship?

2. All the prophecies of mankind have been of me, yet no one in history has been in my presence. In every expression of fear and hope you renew your faith in me, yet you cannot remember me.
What am I?

3. It lives underground and in the sky.
It dances on one leg until the moment it dies.

4. The modern traveler who sets a course
Takes an iron chariot without a horse.
What is the chariot?

5. At the summit of a mountain, there is a forest. The forest is totally dead, yet it continues to grow. The forest is home to a single species of climber who lays its eggs in the branches. It descends only to feed on the rich flowing ground water beneath the soil.
What is the forest, the mountain, and the climber?

6. What must touch you before you can see it?

7. A wounded bird leaves a trail of blood as it stumbles over a barren white field.
(It's an object)

8. What attacks the mind in defense of the flesh, that which the living learned first to dread. For it only attacks those that still draw breath, it's purpose to keep them from joining the dead.

9. By the cover of darkness, a sinister cult of cattle thieves and cut-throats gathers together for midnight mass. Armed to the teeth, they greedily drink the blood of the lamb. Together they recite an ancient chorus to resurrect the lord of night. At the sound of their hymn, he rises again, adorned in silver light.