Most people have been to a museum or two in their lifetime.

Whether it's the small, local building that houses artifacts from the early days of

our own community, or the massive metropolitan collections that have dinosaur skeletons

in their lobby, museums are a wonderful gathering place of important objects, and yet, some

things tend to get lost in the clutter.

One such item is housed in the small museum located in the northern English seaside village

of Whitby.

There, hidden among old maps, Victorian clothing and bronze age weapons, is something

that few people have seen.

A mummified human hand.

Now, you might expect that sort of thing to be Egyptian or Peruvian, but this hand is

most likely local in origin.

It was found about a century ago by a local historian and donated to the museum to keep

it safe, because it is one of the only surviving examples of an ancient tradition, known

as the Hand of Glory.

We know where these hands come from, of course.

They were most commonly removed from the arms of criminals.

It was seen as a practical punishment for the crime of theft, both as a way to prevent

the thief from doing it again and to warn others of the consequences if they were to

do the same.

But these severed hands also carried a secondary meaning.

They were magical objects of great power.

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