1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact, 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 2: focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. I'd 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 2: like to take a break from all the recent Monster 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 2: Fact episodes to discuss an artifact, though a monstrous one, 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 2: to be sure, the Hand of Glory. It is, in short, 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 2: a grizzly candle holder made from the mummified, pickled, or 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 2: otherwise preserved hand of an executed criminal, such as one 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 2: left hanging at a crossroads. In Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase 11 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 2: and Fable, Ivor Evans also describes it as a dead 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 2: man's hand quote, soaked in oil and used as a 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 2: magic torch. When candled depictions vary, sometimes the hand's very 14 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 2: fingers taper into flaming wicks. This version was more or 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 2: less brought to the screen in nineteen seventy three's The 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:14,479 Speaker 2: wicker Man, while other times a candle is simply inserted 17 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 2: into the knuckles of the hand's closed fist. The eighteenth 18 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: century French grimoure Petit Albert provides a detailed recipe of 19 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: the hands construction, including how to cure it and how 20 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 2: to make the candle. But let us turn to the 21 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 2: alleged power of the Hand of Glory. Once lit. According 22 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 2: to various nineteenth century stories, it would render those who 23 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,479 Speaker 2: gazed upon it, or all those within a given house, 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 2: completely motionless. In some accounts, it was also said to 25 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 2: open locks. For the Hand of Glory was the dark 26 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 2: magical item of choice for thieves, as Richard Blakeburrow discussed 27 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 2: in the nineteen twenty four book The Hand of Glory 28 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 2: and further her grandfather's Tales and Legends of Highwaymen and 29 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 2: others collected by the late R. Blakeburrow. The story often 30 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 2: concerned a thief disguised as an old woman who attempts 31 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 2: to light the Hand of Glory in an inn so 32 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: as to rob everyone there, with his fellow thieves, who 33 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 2: are of course waiting outside. In one version of the story, 34 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 2: the thief recites the following spell. According to Blake Burrow, 35 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 2: let those who rest more deeply sleep, Let those awake 36 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 2: their vigils, keep, oh Hand of Glory, shed thy light, 37 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 2: direct us to our spoil tonight, flash out thy light, 38 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 2: oh skeleton hand, and guide the feed of our trusty 39 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: band in Brewers Evan cites historian Robert Graves arguing that 40 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 2: quote hand of glory is a translation of the french 41 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 2: Man de gloire, a corruption of mandragore, the plant mandragora 42 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 2: or mandrake, whose roots had a similar magic value to thieves. 43 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 2: The mandrakes, often split roots, have long inspired fantastic interpretations, 44 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 2: as they sometimes resemble human beings. The fact that they 45 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 2: contained hallucinogenic alkaloids only contributed to their magical reputation. In 46 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 2: some traditions, to uproot one was to risk death and damnation, 47 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 2: so it was necessary to have a dog do the 48 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 2: work for you and suffer death on its master's behalf. 49 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 2: The mandrake was indeed said to screen when uprooted, and 50 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 2: in varying dosages and concoctions produced either good or ill effects, 51 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 2: the key to our consideration of the hand of glory. 52 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 2: It was also said to stupefy or produce sleep. And finally, 53 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 2: as Charles Godfrey points out in the eighteen ninety two 54 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 2: book Etruscan Roman remains in popular tradition, Dutch accounts held 55 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 2: that mandrake grew from quote the droppings of a thief's 56 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 2: brain on the gallows. Unquote, he who possessed the root, 57 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 2: he says, which resembled a demon quote, can enter all houses, 58 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 2: open all doors, and rob freeley without being detected. The 59 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 2: Whitby Museum in North Yorkshire has in its collection a 60 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 2: withered human hand alleged to be a hand of glory, 61 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 2: gifted to the museum in nineteen thirty five after its 62 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 2: discovery in a cottage wall. However, the hand apparently features 63 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 2: no burn marks from a candle or candles, according to 64 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 2: Wendy Pratt's twenty eighteen Atlas Obscure article on the hand. 65 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 2: Whitby Museum curator Robert Pickles has suggested that the hand 66 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 2: in question, the one on display there, might have actually 67 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,679 Speaker 2: been a bad luck charm. As we've discussed on stuff 68 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 2: to blow your mind in the past see twenty twenty 69 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 2: two's episode The Archaeology of counter Witchcraft with Brian Hoggard, 70 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 2: European and Earth. The American colonial history is full of 71 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 2: protective magic, in which talismans of various make are hidden 72 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 2: in walls and beneath floorboards. It is not unreasonable at all, then, 73 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 2: to consider the possibility that such a strange and foul 74 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 2: hand could have served a similar, if perhaps more diabolical purpose. 75 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodes of The Artifact or The 76 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 2: Monster Factor Who Knows What each week. As always, you 77 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 78 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 2: Mind dot com. 79 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 80 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 81 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.