WEBVTT - The Artifact: The Hand of Glory

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. I'd

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<v Speaker 2>like to take a break from all the recent Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact episodes to discuss an artifact, though a monstrous one,

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<v Speaker 2>to be sure, the Hand of Glory. It is, in short,

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<v Speaker 2>a grizzly candle holder made from the mummified, pickled, or

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<v Speaker 2>otherwise preserved hand of an executed criminal, such as one

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<v Speaker 2>left hanging at a crossroads. In Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase

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<v Speaker 2>and Fable, Ivor Evans also describes it as a dead

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<v Speaker 2>man's hand quote, soaked in oil and used as a

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<v Speaker 2>magic torch. When candled depictions vary, sometimes the hand's very

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<v Speaker 2>fingers taper into flaming wicks. This version was more or

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<v Speaker 2>less brought to the screen in nineteen seventy three's The

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<v Speaker 2>wicker Man, while other times a candle is simply inserted

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<v Speaker 2>into the knuckles of the hand's closed fist. The eighteenth

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<v Speaker 2>century French grimoure Petit Albert provides a detailed recipe of

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<v Speaker 2>the hands construction, including how to cure it and how

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<v Speaker 2>to make the candle. But let us turn to the

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<v Speaker 2>alleged power of the Hand of Glory. Once lit. According

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<v Speaker 2>to various nineteenth century stories, it would render those who

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<v Speaker 2>gazed upon it, or all those within a given house,

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<v Speaker 2>completely motionless. In some accounts, it was also said to

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<v Speaker 2>open locks. For the Hand of Glory was the dark

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<v Speaker 2>magical item of choice for thieves, as Richard Blakeburrow discussed

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<v Speaker 2>in the nineteen twenty four book The Hand of Glory

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<v Speaker 2>and further her grandfather's Tales and Legends of Highwaymen and

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<v Speaker 2>others collected by the late R. Blakeburrow. The story often

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<v Speaker 2>concerned a thief disguised as an old woman who attempts

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<v Speaker 2>to light the Hand of Glory in an inn so

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<v Speaker 2>as to rob everyone there, with his fellow thieves, who

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<v Speaker 2>are of course waiting outside. In one version of the story,

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<v Speaker 2>the thief recites the following spell. According to Blake Burrow,

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<v Speaker 2>let those who rest more deeply sleep, Let those awake

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<v Speaker 2>their vigils, keep, oh Hand of Glory, shed thy light,

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<v Speaker 2>direct us to our spoil tonight, flash out thy light,

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<v Speaker 2>oh skeleton hand, and guide the feed of our trusty

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<v Speaker 2>band in Brewers Evan cites historian Robert Graves arguing that

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<v Speaker 2>quote hand of glory is a translation of the french

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<v Speaker 2>Man de gloire, a corruption of mandragore, the plant mandragora

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<v Speaker 2>or mandrake, whose roots had a similar magic value to thieves.

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<v Speaker 2>The mandrakes, often split roots, have long inspired fantastic interpretations,

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<v Speaker 2>as they sometimes resemble human beings. The fact that they

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<v Speaker 2>contained hallucinogenic alkaloids only contributed to their magical reputation. In

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<v Speaker 2>some traditions, to uproot one was to risk death and damnation,

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<v Speaker 2>so it was necessary to have a dog do the

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<v Speaker 2>work for you and suffer death on its master's behalf.

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<v Speaker 2>The mandrake was indeed said to screen when uprooted, and

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<v Speaker 2>in varying dosages and concoctions produced either good or ill effects,

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<v Speaker 2>the key to our consideration of the hand of glory.

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<v Speaker 2>It was also said to stupefy or produce sleep. And finally,

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<v Speaker 2>as Charles Godfrey points out in the eighteen ninety two

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<v Speaker 2>book Etruscan Roman remains in popular tradition, Dutch accounts held

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<v Speaker 2>that mandrake grew from quote the droppings of a thief's

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<v Speaker 2>brain on the gallows. Unquote, he who possessed the root,

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<v Speaker 2>he says, which resembled a demon quote, can enter all houses,

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<v Speaker 2>open all doors, and rob freeley without being detected. The

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<v Speaker 2>Whitby Museum in North Yorkshire has in its collection a

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<v Speaker 2>withered human hand alleged to be a hand of glory,

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<v Speaker 2>gifted to the museum in nineteen thirty five after its

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<v Speaker 2>discovery in a cottage wall. However, the hand apparently features

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<v Speaker 2>no burn marks from a candle or candles, according to

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<v Speaker 2>Wendy Pratt's twenty eighteen Atlas Obscure article on the hand.

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<v Speaker 2>Whitby Museum curator Robert Pickles has suggested that the hand

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<v Speaker 2>in question, the one on display there, might have actually

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<v Speaker 2>been a bad luck charm. As we've discussed on stuff

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<v Speaker 2>to blow your mind in the past see twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 2>two's episode The Archaeology of counter Witchcraft with Brian Hoggard,

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<v Speaker 2>European and Earth. The American colonial history is full of

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<v Speaker 2>protective magic, in which talismans of various make are hidden

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<v Speaker 2>in walls and beneath floorboards. It is not unreasonable at all, then,

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<v Speaker 2>to consider the possibility that such a strange and foul

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<v Speaker 2>hand could have served a similar, if perhaps more diabolical purpose.

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<v Speaker 2>Tune in for additional episodes of The Artifact or The

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Factor Who Knows What each week. As always, you

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<v Speaker 2>can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your

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<v Speaker 2>Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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