Dartmoor 'hairy hands' have been terrorising drivers since the 1920s

Dartmoor is a place steeped in chilling tales and legends. Stories of hell hounds and headless horsemen echo from the depths of its valleys and the peaks of its granite tors.

Yet, none are as peculiar as the tale of the hairy hands - rough, calloused hands that mysteriously take control of your steering wheel or bike handlebars, forcing you off the Dartmoor roads and into the harsh, unforgiving ditches.

Folklore suggests that encounters with these eerie hands are most common on the roads between Princetown and Plymouth, situated on the moor's western edges.

These spine-chilling accounts have been circulating since the 1920s and feature prominently in many publications exploring the moor's supernatural side.

Reports suggest that these hands have seized the steering wheels and handlebars of numerous unsuspecting travellers since the first recorded incident in June 1921.

The initial alleged attack is said to have resulted in the death of a Dartmoor Prison worker who lost control of his motorbike. His children, who were in the side car at the time, narrated the horrifying event of their father yelling at them to jump out as he struggled to regain control. They managed to escape just in time to see him wrestling with the handlebars.

In a subsequent incident, a passenger riding pillion at the same location reported witnessing large, hairy hands. The hands made another appearance in 1924 when campers in a caravan just north of Plymouth were startled awake.

A woman claimed she saw a large hairy hand creeping up the window 'with evil intent'. Overcome with fear, she made the sign of the cross and the hand disappeared.

The tale has been recounted time and again following accidents on the road between Plymouth and Princetown, often involving sightings of a pair of large, calloused, hairy hands attempting to force travellers off the road.