In the early 20th-century, a spate of bizarre accidents took place on a lonesome stretch of road in Devon, England which crosses Dartmoor. Those who survived reported seeing a pair of rough, hairy hands grabbing their steering wheel! This is how the ‘Hairy Hands’ ghost legend was built around this sinister stretch of Dartmoor road.
The Hairy Hands Of Dartmoor:
The Hairy Hands is a ghost legend that built up around the road ― now known as the B3212 ― near the Two Bridges in Dartmoor in the English county of Devon, which was purported to have seen an unusually high number of motor vehicle accidents during the decade of 1920s. To this day, it remains one of the most mysterious places in England, and has been the scene for one of the most frightening hauntings in Dartmoor.
The Hauntings Of The Hairy Hands:
Since around 1910, drivers and cyclists have reported suffering unusual accidents along the road between Postbridge and Two Bridges. In many cases, the victims reported that their vehicle had jolted or swerved violently and steered off the side of the road, as if something or someone had taken hold of the wheels and wrenched it out of their control. The hauntings have been named “The Phantom Hairy Hands.”
In most instances, the victims ran into a verge and survived. Their experiences remained a local curiosity, until June 1921, when the first account of bizarre accident and death took place on the road. A medical officer, Dr. E.H. Helby, who worked in Dartmoor Prison, was riding his motorbike along this road with two young girls, children of the prison governor, riding in the sidecar.
As he was coming up to the bridge that passes over the East Dart, he shouted to the girls to jump off the running motorcycle. They somehow managed to get out as the bike went out of control, and soon it crashed. The medical officer met his horrible death, it is said that both his hands were cut off in the accident. The mysterious hauntings of Devon road started following this bizarre event.
Within a year, another man witnessed the same thing and crashed in exactly the same spot where the medical officer died. However, he survived with severe injuries. He claimed that a rough hairy pair of hands had closed around his arms and forced him to drive off the road.
The Hairy Hands And The Young Married Couple:
Since then, several more stories were sprouted about the Hairy Hands of Devon road, but the one that is most often quoted is of the young married couple who were sleeping in a caravan nearby in 1924. At the mid-night, the young woman awoke with the sense of dread and danger only to see a pair of disembodied hairy hands clawing their way up a partly open window. She made a holy sign and prayed and the hands slipped out of view.
Is The Dartmoor Road Cursed?
It seems that locals avoided the area even before cars and motorbikes were common on the road, and there are old legends of supernatural creatures haunting the moorland on both sides of the road. Most of the accidents were caused by people who were outsiders and unfamiliar with the area.
Local legend claims a woman, burned as a witch at the site of the first crash, cursed the site and all who pass through here. A few local versions of the Hairy Hands story attribute the hands to an unnamed man who died in an accident on the road in the late 19th-century.
Haunted Road Of Devon – The Paranormal Tour:
The bleakness of Dartmoor has encouraged the growth of many haunting legends. It’s really a place that could scare anyone, especially its foggy dark evenings make such an atmosphere. It will be a great destination for paranormal lovers and mystery seekers. But before you visit this place, we advise you to go there carefully, and since it’s a lonely area, you should not go there alone. The B3212 runs from Yelverton Northeast across Dartmoor National Park to Moretonhampstead.
