| Revision as of 22:58, 21 May 2003 editVoidstar (talk | contribs)66 edits *First version, following Frazer. | Revision as of 02:38, 18 February 2004 edit undo193.255.207.252 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit → | ||
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| The '''Hand of Glory''' is the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged. | The '''Hand of Glory''' is the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged. | ||
| According to old |
According to old ] beliefs, a candle made of the fat from a malefactor died on the gallows or of the finger of an unborn child, lighted and placed in the Hand of Glory as in a candlestick would have rendered motionless all persons to whom it was presented. Because of this the Hand was sometimes used by burglars to rob houses. During the ] robbers used to murder pregnant women in order to thus extract candles from their wombs. | ||
| of the finger of an unborn child, lighted and placed in the Hand of Glory as in a candlestick would have | |||
| rendered motionless all persons to whom it was presented. Because of this the Hand was sometimes used | |||
| by burglars to rob houses. During the 17th century robbers used to murder pregnant women in order to | |||
| thus extract candles from their wombs. | |||
| ==== References ==== | ==== References ==== | ||
Revision as of 02:38, 18 February 2004
The Hand of Glory is the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged. According to old European beliefs, a candle made of the fat from a malefactor died on the gallows or of the finger of an unborn child, lighted and placed in the Hand of Glory as in a candlestick would have rendered motionless all persons to whom it was presented. Because of this the Hand was sometimes used by burglars to rob houses. During the 17th century robbers used to murder pregnant women in order to thus extract candles from their wombs.
References
- James George Frazer, The Golden Bough.
- The Hand of Glory and other gory legends about human hands, edited by D. L. Ashliman.