BEWARE THE HAIRY HANDS!

The legend of the Hairy Hands can be seen on a roof beam at Spirit of Adventure, Powder Mills (Martin Hibbs)

Set within our modern, highly technological world Dartmoor’s dramatic landscape and the many antiquities it contains evoke a land full of atmosphere and mystery, a natural habitat for the multitude of myths and legends to be found here.

Most of these wonderful stories are ancient, their origins lost in the mists of time. Some contain a kernel of truth but have been flavoured with the customs and imagination of a bygone era. More frightening, perhaps because of their modern origin, are the inexplicable accidents which began to occur around 1910 between Two Bridges and Postbridge (B3212) beside the Bellever plantations close to the entrance to Archerton. Horses shied or bolted, overturning carriages, and cars and motorcycles crashed into the ditch. Victims have stated quite categorically that a pair of disembodied hairy hands appeared from nowhere to grip steering wheels and handlebars, pulling them out of control, or that some strong force seemed to be forcing them to the side of the road.

Not all can be credited to over-imbibing at the local hostelry. In June 1921 a Dr Helby, Medical Officer at Dartmoor Prison, was travelling on his motorbike with his two children in the sidecar when he left the road and crashed. He died but his children survived and related that he had ordered them to jump before the motorbike crashed. A short while later a similar accident happened to an army officer who survived but stated that hands covered in hair had gripped the handlebars of his motorbike and caused him to crash. As the incidences continued, the camber of the road was suggested as a possible reason but renovation work made no difference. Sightings of disembodied hands persisted too, such as that related by a lady parked in a lay-by who felt a deep chill and saw a pair of hands at the window. A couple in their caravan were also terrified by two large hairy hands climbing to an open window.