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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 who 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. The Hand Of Glory also had the power to unlock any door it came across.

Trivia

• The Hand of Glory also makes an appearance in the the Hellboy graphic novel, The Right Hand of Doom, in the story Box Full of Evil. The Hand in this case was from "a hanged man, dried, dipped into wax, and made into a candle", and could "unlock doors and immobilize everyone in a house".
• The Hand of Glory also appears in the graphic novel series "The Invisibles" by Grant Morrison.
• In the Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Draco Malfoy comes across the Hand of Glory in a pawnshop located in Knockturn Alley.
• The Hand of Glory makes yet another appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Draco uses it to make a quick get-away.

References

• James George Frazer, The Golden Bough.

External Links

• The Hand of Glory and other gory legends about human hands : edited by D. L. Ashliman.
• Hand of Glory : manufacture and use of the Hand of Glory.

• European folklore