The Baden Journal reports that a mummified hand found in Castleton, North Yorkshire, England is the only known ‘Hand of Glory’, a grotesque artifact meant to aid thieves in their work during the night, still in existence. This mummified hand supposedly has the power to “entrance humans” according to the Experts. Hands of Glory were also a favorite tool for thieves and creative storytellers for over 200 years.
What the newspapers have claimed as the last Hand of Glory was first uncovered in 1935 inside the wall at a thatched cottage in Castleton by a stonemason and local historian named Joseph Ford. Ford is said to have immediately recognized the importance of the hand as a supernatural tool, so he gave it to the Whitby Museum for safekeeping soon after the discovery.
The process to make a Hand of Glory was very specific, according to Sabine Baring-Gould (1873) in his work “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages”:
“The Hand of Glory… is the hand of a man who has been hung, and it is prepared in the following manner: Wrap the hand in a piece of winding-sheet, draw it tight, so as to squeeze out the little blood which may remain; then place it in an earthenware vessel with salt, saltpeter, and long pepper, all carefully powdered. Let it remain a fortnight in this pickle till it is well dried, then expose it to the sun in the dog-days, till it is completely parched, or, if the sun be not powerful enough, dry it in an oven heated with vervain and fern. Next make a candle with the fat of a hanged man, virgin-wax, and Lapland sesame.”
A gallows-style gibbet near Bedford, England. (CC BY NC SA 2.0) After a man was hung some people believed his hand could be cut off to be used for magic, such as to make a Hand of Glory.
The origins of the Hand of Glory could have been varied. One proposition is that folk magic may have been at work. In the past, items of clothing and other objects were concealed behind walls to protect the living from evil spirits. It may be a similar situation with the Hand of Glory.
It is also possible that this was a Hand of Glory hidden as a robbery. Hands of Glory were popular objects in literature from the 1700s to 1900s, and the tales of these morbid objects are said to have spread “across Europe, from Finland to Italy and Western Ireland to Russia.”
The website of the Whitby Museum also states that “at least two (of the legends) were current in North Yorkshire, one relating to the Spital Inn on Stainmore in 1797 and the other to the Oak Tree Inn, Leeming, supposedly in 1824.”
The story of Spital Inn begins with an old woman asking the innkeeper to sleep on a chair downstairs at the inn (with the pretext that she had to leave early the next morning). The innkeeper agreed and then
removed upstairs with his family to sleep. The only person that remained downstairs was a young maid.
Map showing The Spittle (later known as Spital) on Stainmore (1579) (Portsmouth University)
This young woman noticed something odd about the “old woman” and upon closer observation noticed innovation noted odd about the “old woman” and upon closer observation noticed something odd about the “old woman” and upon closer observation noticed that the old woman was really a disguised man. The maid told her employer and quickly woke the family. Unfortunately, the Hand of Glory had done its work, and they all died in their sleep.
At that moment, the girl jumped up and pushed the man outside, closing and barring the door behind him. She hurried upstairs and woke the family. Unfortunately, the Hand of Glory had already done its work, and they all died in their sleep.