The truth behind grisly severed arm
Jul 26 2006
Hands of Glory were popular in 17th and 18th Century Britain. They were the hands that had been cut off a hanged felon and dried and then used as a magical candle holder.
A severed arm, on display at Walsall Museum, is not that of a child hanged in the 17th century, historians can now categorically state.
It was, in fact, a medical specimen, severed from the dead infant by medics. An examination uncovered traces of formalin, injected to preserve the 'specimen'.
The conclusion puts to rest a welter of myths surrounding the grisly museum exhibit, discovered in a former town pub.
The White Hart, on Caldmore Green, has been restored and is now in the ownership of Caldmore Housing Association.
The pub was thought to date back to the second half of the 17th century and was probably built by George Hawe.
At the end of the 19th century, work was carried out at the White Hart and the child's arm discovered in an attic chimney.
The arm has become known as the 'Hand of Glory' --traditionally a hand cut from a hanged felon and dried. Then, either by lighting the fingers themselves or using the hand as a candle holder, it is supposed to place anyone seeing it in a trance. This enables a burglar to ransack a property without being caught.
Folklore has it the flames could not be blown out by any ordinary person and milk was the only liquid capable of extinguishing the candle.
Research, however, has thrown cold water on the mystical claims.
A spokesman for Walsall Local History Centre said: "It seems to be a medical specimen, dissected by a surgeon and injected with formalin to preserve it.
"It certainly does not date from the time when the house was first built. However, popular legend refuses to accept such a dull solution."
http://icwalsall.icnetwork.co.uk/ne...uth-behind-grisly-severed-arm--name_page.html
Jul 26 2006
Hands of Glory were popular in 17th and 18th Century Britain. They were the hands that had been cut off a hanged felon and dried and then used as a magical candle holder.
A severed arm, on display at Walsall Museum, is not that of a child hanged in the 17th century, historians can now categorically state.
It was, in fact, a medical specimen, severed from the dead infant by medics. An examination uncovered traces of formalin, injected to preserve the 'specimen'.
The conclusion puts to rest a welter of myths surrounding the grisly museum exhibit, discovered in a former town pub.
The White Hart, on Caldmore Green, has been restored and is now in the ownership of Caldmore Housing Association.
The pub was thought to date back to the second half of the 17th century and was probably built by George Hawe.
At the end of the 19th century, work was carried out at the White Hart and the child's arm discovered in an attic chimney.
The arm has become known as the 'Hand of Glory' --traditionally a hand cut from a hanged felon and dried. Then, either by lighting the fingers themselves or using the hand as a candle holder, it is supposed to place anyone seeing it in a trance. This enables a burglar to ransack a property without being caught.
Folklore has it the flames could not be blown out by any ordinary person and milk was the only liquid capable of extinguishing the candle.
Research, however, has thrown cold water on the mystical claims.
A spokesman for Walsall Local History Centre said: "It seems to be a medical specimen, dissected by a surgeon and injected with formalin to preserve it.
"It certainly does not date from the time when the house was first built. However, popular legend refuses to accept such a dull solution."
http://icwalsall.icnetwork.co.uk/ne...uth-behind-grisly-severed-arm--name_page.html