Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot, and there is perhaps no more shocking evidence of this than a black magick charm called the Hand of Glory. Made from the severed right hand of a murderer as he hung on the gallows, this wicked item was said to paralyze all those who gazed upon it and to hold households in their beds while it was present. And unlike many rituals that were “supposedly” performed by sorcerers and devil worshipers, there are still museums that hold the end results of these ghoulish ceremonies.
So how were Hands of Glory made? Well first the witch or warlock would have to find a convict, some legends say a murderer, who was still hanging from the gallows. Once you found the body you would cut off the right hand during the night, and for extra power you’d sever the hand during a lunar eclipse for full darkness. Then you drain the remaining blood out of the hand and it was wrapped in a specially prepared cloth and pickled in a solution of saltpeter, long peppers and regular salt. After two weeks in this solution you take the hand out and dry it in an oven with the herb vervain. Alternatively it could be dried under the summer sun, ideally during the hot August days.
Once the hand was ritually prepared, candles would be placed between the fingers or the hand itself would be dipped into wax so that the fingers could be lit. Regardless of the method the tallow was to be made from the fat of an executed murderer, and the wicks were made from the dead man’s hair. Some rituals claimed the tallow and hair had to come from different people, others don’t specify. After the wax had dried the Hand of Glory was prepared. All you had to do was light the candles and show it to someone to hold them in place, though the thumb wouldn’t light if you were in a place or near a person that was protected against the magic of the charm.
The Hand of Glory was a popular charm in the 16th and 17th centuries among thieves and burglars. On the flip side, creating a Hand of Glory was an equally popular crime to be accused of during the witch craze by those going down the checklist in the Malleus Maleficarum and looking for witches they could be suffering not to live. But as the witch craze, and the resulting Burning Times drew to a close, there were fewer and fewer accusations of witchcraft among the general populous. Additionally the practice of creating Hands of Glory also went out of practice along with belief in the protection of the supernatural power such a token offered to the one bearing it.
“The Hand of Glory,” by Anonymous at Powell Pressburg
“Hand of Glory,” by Anonymous at Symbol Dictionary
“The Hand of Glory” by D. L. Ashliman at Pitt