Dartmoor folklore · John Haslett · 31 October 2026

The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor: A Ghost Story from the B3212

Dartmoor’s open landscapes, ancient stones and lonely roads provide quite a setting for a ghost story. With Halloween here, it seems the perfect time to share one of the moor’s strangest legends: the Hairy Hands.

Most of my Dartmoor adventures involve walking boots, tors and a well-earned break. This story, however, takes us onto the road.

A sinister travelling companion

The legend centres on the B3212 between Postbridge and Two Bridges, around Cherrybrook.

In familiar versions of the tale, drivers and motorcyclists find themselves struggling against a mysterious force. Sometimes it is described as invisible; in other accounts, a pair of large, hairy hands appears over their own, gripping the controls and trying to steer them off the road.

It is an unsettling idea: travelling across the moor, only to discover that something else seems determined to choose your direction.

How the story spread

The tale attracted national newspaper attention in October 1921, when the Daily Mail published an account titled “The Unseen Hands”.

Over the following decades, retellings and folklore collections helped turn it into an enduring Dartmoor ghost story. Details vary, which is part of the fascination—and a reason to be cautious about treating every version as historical fact.

Folklore and fact

Real road accidents became woven into the legend. However, research into contemporary newspaper reports found mechanical failures described in incidents later associated with the hands.

There is no reliable evidence that supernatural hands caused these crashes. Newspaper coverage shows that the story circulated; it does not establish that the haunting was real.

A different side of Dartmoor

For me, Dartmoor’s appeal includes the stories attached to its landscape as well as the scenery itself. A familiar road or lonely bridge can take on a different character when you discover the folklore surrounding it.

The Hairy Hands belong to that storytelling tradition: eerie, memorable and still capable of starting a conversation more than a century later.

Whether you believe the tale or simply enjoy a good ghost story, it makes an atmospheric addition to Dartmoor’s history and folklore.

Explore more of the moor in my Dartmoor hike reports, or return to the Blog.