Planning a trip onto the moors to get some needed imagery for my project idea. I am incorporating my own ideas and interests to develop traditional narratives into the contemporary world.
Hairy Hands
Postbridge B3212 (up to two bridges)
The Hairy Hands is a ghost story/legend that built up around a stretch of road on a remote area of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon, which was purported to have seen an unusually high number of motor vehicle accidents during the early 20th century.
The legend of the Hairy Hands is set in Postbridge, Dartmoor. The road is now known as the B3212.[1]
According to the story surrounding them, the Hairy Hands are a pair of disembodied hands that appear suddenly, grab at the steering wheel of a moving car or the handlebars of a motorcycle, and then force the victim off the road.[2] In some cases, the hands are described as being invisible.[3]
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 had taken hold of the wheels and wrenched it out of their control.
In most instances, the victims ran into a verge and survived. Their experiences remained a local curiosity, until June 1921, when E.H. Helby, the medical officer for Dartmoor Prison, was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle combination. Two young girls, children of the prison governor, who had been riding in the sidecar, survived.[2][3][4] Several weeks after Helby's death, there was another incident in which a coach driver lost control, injuring several passengers who were thrown out of their seats. Then, on 26 August 1921, an army captain reported that a pair of invisible hands had taken hold of him and forced his motorcycle off the road,[2] after which the story was picked up by newspapers in London and the story became known nationwide.
In Supernatural Dartmoor by Michael Williams, there is a story told by journalist and author Rufus Endle. He claimed that, while driving near Postbridge on an unstated date, "a pair of hands gripped the driving wheel and I had to fight for control." He managed to avoid a crash and the hands disappeared as inexplicably as they had come. He requested that Williams not publish the story until after his death, for fear of ridicule.
Not all reported incidents occurred in moving vehicles. In one incident, in 1924, a woman camping on the moor with her husband reported seeing a hairy hand attempting to gain access to her caravan during the night. She reported that the hand retreated after she made the sign of the Cross.[5
Hound Tor
"To the south-east of the tor, on a north-eastern-facing slope are the remains of Hundatorra, a deserted medieval village. This was built on land farmed originally in the Bronze Age and which may have been used for grazing in the Roman period. The village was excavated between 1961 and 1975. It has four Dartmoor longhouses, many with a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns. These buildings date from the 13th century. The three grain storage barns appear to have been adapted to include corn dryers, indicative of the deteriorating climate. Pollen evidence indicates that farming had stopped by 1350, but recent analysis of pottery suggests that the village was probably occupied until the late 14th or early 15th century.[2]
The medieval village at Hound Tor
The settlement is first mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to Tavistock Abbey:
Land for 4 ploughs. In Lordship 1 plough; 2 slaves; 1 virgate, 2 villages and 4 smallholders with 1 plough and 1 virgate. Meadow, 9 acres; woodland 2 acres; pasture, 1 league. 1 cattle; 28 sheep; 18 goats. Value 20 s.
The villagers apparently left little behind when they left, though the acidic soil would have destroyed much evidence; the excavations unearthed a single coin from the time of Henry III, and some broken pottery originating from Crockerton in Wiltshire.[3]"
"One version of the local legend relates that a huntsman called Bowerman lived on the moor about a thousand years ago. When chasing a hare he and his pack of dogs unwittingly ran into a coven of witches, overturned their cauldron and disrupted their ceremony. They decided to punish him, and the next time he was hunting, one of the witches turned herself into a hare, and led both Bowerman and his hounds into a mire. As a final punishment, she turned them to stone - the dogs can be seen as a jagged chain of rocks on top of Hound Tor, while the huntsman himself became the rock formation now known as Bowerman's Nose.[8"
Jay's Grave
Love Heart Light, taken in different positions, some close and some far away
Ghostly figure placing flowers on grave
The Legend of Jay's Grave
Back in the less civilised past, suicides were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground and, as a result, their spirits were believed to remain earthbound. The superstitious country people believed that, if the body was buried at the parish limits, preferably at crossroads, the spirit would be unable to find its way back to its former haunts and so would not be able to bother anyone. Jay's Grave is the grave of just such a suicide.
Kitty Jay is said to have been a young unmarried housemaid who was betrayed by her lover. In desperation she hanged herself in the outbuilding of a nearby farm and the body was disposed of in the usual barbarous manner of that time. The body was later dug up by a Mr James Bryan who re-interred it and set up the stones which now mark the spot. What is unusual about the grave is that there are always fresh flowers on it.
No matter what time of the year, whenever you pass Jay’s Grave you will always see fresh flowers, sometimes wild flowers, sometimes garden flowers. No one knows who puts them there or why, but poor Kitty Jay has been remembered for far longer than the superstitious country folk who originally buried her.
Sleeping Giants (Haytor)
I want to portray the rocks coming alive at night, like giants or titans. I imagine using lights along the rocks to portray arms and giants waking.
GIANT WIGGLY ARMS
Right off the top
Checklist:
Risk Assessment?!
Storyboards
Travel Route
Climbing Buddies
Equipment List:
Microphone (/headphones)
Camera
Tripod
Batteries
Phone Tripod
Wiggly arm lights
Power bank
Neon tubing lights
Love Heart Light
Torches
Blankets
Hot Drinks
Snacks
Hats and Gloves
Extra coats
Flowers?
Telescope
Route:
Shared route
From Home (Torquay) to Home (Torquay) via A380 and A382.
2 hr 21 min (63 mi)
For the best route in current traffic visit https://maps.app.goo.gl/T1hzn3w57ffSvYYD9
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