A Very Spooky Hand...!

According to those that believe in such things, this mummified hand is good for many uses. From the folks at Listverse, there is even a recipe for making your own version.

The Hand Of Glory

Photo credit: www.badobadop.co.uk

Whitby Museum in Yorkshire, England, holds the mummified remains of a human hand, known as a Hand of Glory. The Whitby Hand was discovered in the early 20th century hidden inside the wall of an ancient thatched cottage, and it is thought to be the last example in existence.

Supposedly formed from the pickled right hand of a convicted criminal, cut from the gallows while the body was still fresh, the Hand of Glory can be used as a candle by burglars, with the fingers being dipped in special wax and set alight. If a finger refused to catch fire, it meant that someone in the household was awake. The light cannot be extinguished by water or pinching but only by being doused in blood or blue milk. And where are you going to find blue milk?

The hand was not only a perpetual source of light, but it was also cheaper than paying a lookout, which could be useful.

If you fancy making your own Hand of Glory, and you have the right arm of a recently executed felon at hand, you will need to wrap the hand in a winding sheet, squeeze out the blood, and put it in a clay pot, adding saltpeter, salt, and pepper (for flavor, presumably). Leave it for two weeks, and then expose it to the sun “in the dog-days.” If you are not experiencing dog-days, you could dry it in an oven lined with ferns. Next (and this bit might be tricky), you need to make the candle wax from the fat of a hanged man, virgin wax (not from an actual virgin), and Lapland sesame (an oil from a plant now extinct).

Oh well. You could always use a torch.

I really don't care what you call it, I don't want that thing anywhere close to me, thank you very much! I will simply use a flashlight instead.

Coffee out on the patio again today, where we can catch a little sunshine.