The Artifact Redux: The Hand of Glory

left hanging at a crossroads. In Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Ivor Evans also describes it as a dead man's hand quote soaked in oil and used as a magic torch. When candled depictions vary, sometimes the hand's very fingers taper into flaming wicks. This version was more or less brought to the screen in nineteen seventy threes The wicker Man, while other times a candle is simply inserted

into the knuckles of the hand's closed fist. The eighteenth century French grimoure Petit Albert provides a detailed recipe of the hands construction, including how to cure it and how to make the candle. But let us turn to the alleged power of the Hand of Glory. Once lit, According to various nineteenth century stories, it would render those who gazed upon it, or all those within a given house, completely motionless. In some accounts, it was also said to

open locks. For the Hand of Glory was the dark magical item of choice for thieves, as Richard Blakeburrow discussed in the nineteen twenty four book The Hand of Glory and further Grandfather's Tales and Legends of Highwaymen and others collected by the late R. Blakeburrow. The story often concerned a thief disguised as an old woman who attempts to light the Hand of Glory in an inn so as to rob everyone there, with his fellow thieves, who are,

of course waiting outside. In one version of the story,

the thief recites the following spell. According to blake Burrow, let those who rest more deeply sleep, Let those awake their vigils, keep, oh Hand of Glory, shed thy light, direct us to our spoil tonight, Flash out thy light, oh skeleton hand, and guide the feed of our trusty band in Brewers Evan cites historian Robert Graves arguing that quote hand of glory is a translation of the french Man de gloire, a corruption of mandragore, the plant mandragora

or mandrake, whose roots had a similar magic value to thieves. The mandrakes, often split roots, have long inspired fantastic interpretations, as they sometimes resemble human beings. The fact that they contained hallucinogenic alkaloids only contributed to their magical reputation. In some traditions, to uproot one was to risk death and damnation, so it was necessary to have a dog do the work for you and suffer death on its master's behalf.

The mandrake was indeed said to screen when uprooted, and in varying dosages and concoctions produced either good or ill effects, the key to our consideration of the hand of glory. It was also said to stupefy or produce sleep. And finally, as Charles Godfrey points out in the eighteen ninety two book Etruscan Roman remains in popular tradition, Dutch accounts held that mandrake grew from quote the droppings of a thief's

brain on the gallows unquote. He who possessed the root, he says, which resembled a demon quote, can enter all houses, open all doors, and rob freeley without being detected. The Whitby Museum in North Yorkshire has in its collection a withered human hand alleged to be a hand of glory, gifted to the museum in nineteen thirty five after its

discovery in a cottage wall. However, the hand apparently features no burn marks from a candle or candles, according to Wendy Pratt's twenty eighteen Atlas Obscure article on the hand. Whitby Museum curator Robert Pickles has suggested that the hand in question, the one on display there, might have actually been a bad luck charm. As we've discussed on stuff to blow your mind in the past see twenty twenty two's episode the Archaeology of counter Witchcraft with Brian Hoggard.

European and early the American colonial history is full of protective magic, in which talismans of various make are hidden in walls and beneath floorboards. It is not unreasonable at all, then, to consider the possibility that such a strange and foul hand could have served a similar if perhaps more diabolical purpose. Tune in for additional episodes of The Artifact or The Monster Factor Who Knows What each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.