Hairy hands

The Hairy Hands is a ghost story/legend that built up around a stretch of road in Dartmoor, United Kingdom, which was purported to have seen an unusually high number of motor vehicle accidents during the early 20th century.

Location

The legend of the Hairy Hands takes place on the road between Postbridge and Two Bridges, Dartmoor. The road is now known as the B3212.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Location of the Hairy hands myth
work =
publisher = Google Maps
date =
url = http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=two+bridges+dartmoor&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=14&ll=50.563722,-3.939371&spn=0.024044,0.083771
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-11-20 ]

Hairy hands

According to the story surrounding them, the Hairy Hands are a pair of disembodied hands that appear suddenly, grab at the steering wheel of a moving car or the handlebars of a motorcycle, and then force the victim off the road.cite book
last = Fort
first = Charles Hoy
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Wild Talents
publisher =
date = 1932
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1-59605-029-2 ] In some cases the hands are described as being invisible.cite news
last = Gifford
first = T
coauthors =
title = The Unseen Hands
work = London Daily Mail
pages = 5
language =
publisher =
date = 1921-10-14
url =
accessdate = ]

Incidents

Since around 1910, drivers and cyclists have reported suffering unusual accidents between Postbridge and Two Bridges. In many cases, the victims reported that their vehicle had jolted or swerved violently and steered off the side of the road, as if something had taken hold of the wheels and wrenched it out of their control.

In most instances, the victims ran into a verge and survived. Their experiences remained a local curiosity, until June 1921, when Dr. E.H. Helby, the medical officer for Dartmoor Prison was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle combination. Two young girls, children of the prison governor, who had been riding in the sidecar, survived.cite news
last = Gifford
first = T
coauthors =
title = The Unseen Hands
work = London Daily Mail
pages = 9
language =
publisher =
date = 1921-10-17
url =
accessdate = ] Several weeks after Dr Helby's death, there was another incident in which a coach driver lost control, injuring several passengers who were thrown out of their seats. Then, on August 26 1921, an army Captain reported that a pair of invisible hands had taken hold of him and forced his motorcycle off the road. After which the story was picked up by newspapers in London and the story became known nationwide.

In "Supernatural Dartmoor" by Michael Williams, there is a story told by journalist and author Rufus Endle. He claimed that, while driving near Postbridge on an unstated date, "a pair of hands gripped the driving wheel and I had to fight for control." He managed to avoid a crash and the hands disappeared as inexplicably as they had come. He requested that Williams not publish the story until after his death, for fear of ridicule.

Not all reported incidents occurred in moving vehicles. In one incident, in 1924, a woman camping on the moor with her husband reported seeing a hairy hand attempting to gain access to her caravan during the night. She reported that the hand retreated after she made a religious sign.

Explanations

Official findings

After the story of the Hairy Hands appeared in the national press several investigations were carried out into the road, and it was eventually determined that the accidents were most likely due to the of the road's surface, which reached dangerous levels in placescite web
last = Gilbert
first = Jane
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Letterboxing on Dartmoor: An Addictive Pastime... for the Brave!
work =
publisher = Time Travel-Britain
date = May 2006
url = http://www.timetravel-britain.com/06/May/dartmoor.shtml
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-11-20 ] cite web
last = Blewitt
first = D.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Folklore On Dartmoor
work =
publisher = Walking Dartmoor
date = August 2000
url = http://www.walkingdartmoor.co.uk/hairyhand.asp
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-11-20 ] and was duly altered. More recently, local authorities introduced a 40 mph speed limit on the road,cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Local Legends
work =
publisher = Moretonhampstead Development Trust
date =
url = http://www.moretonhampstead.com/legends.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-11-20 ] though this was primarily to prevent motor accidents involving livestock.

Local scepticism

According to local sceptics, most of the accidents were caused by people who were unfamiliar with the area driving too fast down narrow country roads with high walled sides, resulting in them either losing control or misjudging the road and running off its edges.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Discovering Devon Index: Definitely not a helping hand...
work =
publisher = BBC - Devon
date =
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/discovering/legends/hairy_hands.shtml
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-11-20 ]

upernatural

Most variations of the legend of the Hairy Hands do not specify the origins of the hands or attribute to them any specific purpose, other than driving motorists off the road. A few local versions of the story attribute the hands to an unnamed man who died in an accident on the road.

References

Further reading

* St. Ledger-Gordon, R.E. "The Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor" (Peninsula Press, 2001), pp120-4.
* Williams, M. "Supernatural Dartmoor" (Bossiney Books, 2003), p18.