The Hairy Hands

The B3212 near Two Bridges has been the scene for one of the most frightening hauntings in Dartmoor, that of the phantom hairy hands, which try to push people of the road.

There was a death on this road in June 1921, a medical officer who worked in Dartmoor Prison was riding his motorcycle along the B3212 with his children in the side car. As he was coming up to the bridge that passes over the East Dart he shouted to his children to jump clear from the motorcycle. They managed to get clear as the bike went out of control and crashed killing the medical officer.

B3212

This may or may not be related to the next incident that was reported when a man crashed in the same spot, he claimed that a rough hairy pair of hands had closed around his and drove him off the road.

There have been several more stories over the years, but the one that is most often quoted is of the young married couple who were sleeping in a caravan nearby in 1924. During the night the young woman awoke with the feeling of terror and danger only to see a pair of hairy hands clawing their way up a partly open window. She made a holy sign and prayed and the hands slipped out of view.

It seems that the area had been avoided even before cars and motorbikes were common on the road, and there is a long tradition of supernatural creatures haunting the moorland.

Directions: The B3212 runs from Yelverton Northeast across Dartmoor to Sloncombe.