Fitz

But that still doesn't bring us to disembodied hands, and rather frustratingly, the closest we can get as to how the name of the herbal money-making charm made the leap to a dead man's hand is that according to folklore, mandrake plants were said to grow underneath gallows, which is exactly where you would find the main ingredient for the robbery version of the Hand of Glory charm.

But that still doesn't bring us to disembodied hands, and rather frustratingly, the closest we can get as to how the name of the herbal money-making charm made the leap to a dead man's hand is that according to folklore, mandrake plants were said to grow underneath gallows, which is exactly where you would find the main ingredient for the robbery version of the Hand of Glory charm.

My first thought was that maybe the term had evolved over time and gone from describing a money charm to a criminal's charm as the folklore travelled and took on local flavour. But the money charm referenced by Oxford University Press dates to pretty much the same time as the first editions of Le Petit Albert were printed.

My first thought was that maybe the term had evolved over time and gone from describing a money charm to a criminal's charm as the folklore travelled and took on local flavour. But the money charm referenced by Oxford University Press dates to pretty much the same time as the first editions of Le Petit Albert were printed.

And even more confusingly, this grimoire actually lists both charms, using the term the hand of glory for the disembodied hand in a manner that implies most people will have heard of it before, enlisting the good luck charm for gambling under a chapter titled Mandrakes.

And even more confusingly, this grimoire actually lists both charms, using the term the hand of glory for the disembodied hand in a manner that implies most people will have heard of it before, enlisting the good luck charm for gambling under a chapter titled Mandrakes.

That charm is made from white briony root, also known as English mandrake, and sounds very much like our 1707 Hand of Glory money charm reference. Le Petit Albert doesn't just describe mandrakes as a plant ingredient, though. It also uses the term mandrake to describe small goblin-like creatures who could be tricked into a person's employ, or convinced to assist one in finding roadside treasure.

That charm is made from white briony root, also known as English mandrake, and sounds very much like our 1707 Hand of Glory money charm reference. Le Petit Albert doesn't just describe mandrakes as a plant ingredient, though. It also uses the term mandrake to describe small goblin-like creatures who could be tricked into a person's employ, or convinced to assist one in finding roadside treasure.

It even gives details of one character who claimed to keep a soothsaying mandrake in a jar, but they were discovered to be a fraud. The whole topic is very confusing, could likely fill an entire book itself, and still get me no closer to how the disembodied hand in the small glass case in Panet Park Museum got its name.

It even gives details of one character who claimed to keep a soothsaying mandrake in a jar, but they were discovered to be a fraud. The whole topic is very confusing, could likely fill an entire book itself, and still get me no closer to how the disembodied hand in the small glass case in Panet Park Museum got its name.

Although I have now learned several recipes for charm making that involve watering things at sunrise with bat-infused cow whey, if I were so inclined. So every day's a school day, I guess. But it's time to move on now to other tales and other parts of Whitby, with just one more display of the Panit Park Museum that will take us on to our next destination, and a haunted house.

Although I have now learned several recipes for charm making that involve watering things at sunrise with bat-infused cow whey, if I were so inclined. So every day's a school day, I guess. But it's time to move on now to other tales and other parts of Whitby, with just one more display of the Panit Park Museum that will take us on to our next destination, and a haunted house.

And in fact, it was a display that we've already mentioned, the wonderfully named Cabinet of Miscellaneous Curiosities. But more accurately, we should call it Dr. Ripley's Cabinet of Curiosities.

And in fact, it was a display that we've already mentioned, the wonderfully named Cabinet of Miscellaneous Curiosities. But more accurately, we should call it Dr. Ripley's Cabinet of Curiosities.

Just downhill from Whitby Museum, near the bottom of Westcliffe, between Panit Park and the Swing Bridge and Harbour, an unassuming late Georgian house sits right on the corner at the intersection of Brunswick Street, Baxtergate and Victoria Square.

Just downhill from Whitby Museum, near the bottom of Westcliffe, between Panit Park and the Swing Bridge and Harbour, an unassuming late Georgian house sits right on the corner at the intersection of Brunswick Street, Baxtergate and Victoria Square.

Hemmed in by historic buildings on all sides, with St Hilda's Catholic Church in front of it, the Church of St John the Evangelist to the side of it, the Old George Hotel behind it and Old Bagdale Hall on the opposite side of the road

Hemmed in by historic buildings on all sides, with St Hilda's Catholic Church in front of it, the Church of St John the Evangelist to the side of it, the Old George Hotel behind it and Old Bagdale Hall on the opposite side of the road

Dr Ripley's house, a squarish three-storey brick affair and the fourth house in a terraced row is certainly not the building you might have guessed to be haunted out of all the more obvious looking contenders surrounding it. But look a little bit closer and you might notice something odd.

Dr Ripley's house, a squarish three-storey brick affair and the fourth house in a terraced row is certainly not the building you might have guessed to be haunted out of all the more obvious looking contenders surrounding it. But look a little bit closer and you might notice something odd.