15 Oct 2011
by representingthemambo
in Strangely Strange
Shitaker’s Almanack
The first in a series of occasional ramblings by esoteric egg head and fortean fruitcake Keith Allcock.
” Every night in the dorm, Keith would invariably have the runes “
Rod Hull.
1.The Hand of Glory
Legend has it ( lucky old legend ! ) that the severed hands of hanged criminals, once had magical properties. Folklorist William Henderson gave an account of a story in 1866 attached to the Old Spital Inn, formerly in Yorkshire, now Durham.
Its seems a robber disguised as a beggar, was allowed to sleep for the night, in the kitchen of a house in ‘ High Spital ‘ , and used a Hand of Glory to rob the joint. This consisted of a dried human hand, whose fingers could burn as a candle, and which would prevent anyone currently asleep from waking. However, it seems the cook was suspicious, and only pretending to sleep. Consequently the spell did not affect her. Leaving the burning hand in the kitchen, the robber began ransacking the house, but the cook proceeded to quench it with milk, and locked the kitchen door with the robber trapped inside. The rest of the household then awoke, and overpowered the robber.
In a similar tale from Denton in Kent, Tappington Hall was supposedly the scene of an attempted robbery by 3 men, who had cut a hand from a hanged man on a gibbet.They had taken it to the local witch, together with 5 locks of the dead mans hair, which she then twisted into 5 candle wicks, one for each finger, using the fat of an old tom cat. She then told them to use the following incantation.
” Now open lock to the dead mans knock!, sleep all who sleep, wake all who wake, but be as dead for the dead mans sake! “.
The 3 men broke into the hall, cast everyone in the house into magical sleep, or if awake into frozen immobility. The miserly owner they proceeded to murder, and then made off with his gold. It seems a page-boy saw everything though, through a crack in a door, and whilst unable to do anything at the time due to the magic spell, was later able to identify the men, and they themselves were hanged in due course.
Not a fat lot of good then these Hands of Glory you might think?. ( That would be the cat fat ). Well, whatever the case, even in these less magical times that we live in today, just think of the wow factor in owning one. Picture the scene, a crowded bar, an attractive young lady, you sidle up to her and say
” Good evening you ravishing creature, would you care to become acquainted with my Hand of Glory?.”.
Suggested further reading:
The Ingoldsby Legends by RH Barham 1840
Womans Own
The Beano
Further listening:
You Need Hands-The Best of Max Bygraves
KA
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