The Hairy Hands

The popular version goes like this: somewhere on the B3212 between Postbridge and Two Bridges, drivers in the early 1900s began reporting attacks by a pair of disembodied hairy hands that would grab the steering wheel or throttle, forcing vehicles off the road. The story has accumulated details over time (phantom hands scratching car paint, a monk's curse, a murder victim, take your pick), and it has become one of Dartmoor's best-known modern legends.

As for where it actually came from: the written trail is surprisingly short. The tale seems to have consolidated in print chiefly through 20th-century folklore collections, including references in Legendary Dartmoor and other regional sources. Whether the legend grew from a cluster of genuine accidents, from a single sensational retelling, or simply from the moor's reputation and the road's reputation for being lonely and difficult, I cannot say with confidence. The sources do not always agree on dates or details. Like most legends, this one has mutated in the telling.