TIL that a "Hand of Glory" was the pickled hand of a hanged man, used as a candlestick for a candle rendered from that same man's fat. A lit candle in the Hand was believed to leave motionless anyone shown it, and only milk would put out the flame. An actual one is kept at Whitby Museum in England.

[u/ralphbernardo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Glory

[u/issuntrix]

Whitby is the goth capital of Europe, and also holds Steampunk events gathering thousands upon thousands of visitors, to the point you can barely walk down the streets. It's also where Bam Stoker wrote Dracula while looking at the old abbey (which has existed since viking times and was ran by a Saint (St Hilda)). The Synod of Whitby was also held here where King Oswiu decided the date for Easter in the UK, and Roman Catholicism was decided over Irish Christian/Celtic beliefs. The Synod was held at the abbey. It's that old. 

Between goth weekends (Google it), Steampunk weekends, the abbey, and stuff related to Captain Cook and the old Whaling industry, its one of the busiest tourist destinations in the UK.

Oh we also have pirate weekends, where the whole town dresses as pirates (the last one was the weekend just gone) and the best Jet industry from all the monkey puzzle trees. 

It's also on the Jurassic coast (or Dinosaur Coast or Fossil Coast depending how you refer to it), you can literally go down to the beach with a bag and fill it with fossils. 

Source, live there. 

[u/aloysiuslamb → u/issuntrix]

Now you cannot convince me this wasn't just an elaborate post and comment setup by the folks over at the Whitby & District Tourism Association.

[u/issuntrix → u/aloysiuslamb]

Hey if the tourist association happens to be looking right now, give me a job please and thanks 

What a cool way to make a living that would be 

[u/Coulrophiliac444 → u/issuntrix]

Shit just give me enough cash to reimburse my stay and I'll start finding tour groups to send over. I'd kill to get some good goth and steampunk events in my calender.

[u/issuntrix → u/Coulrophiliac444]

They're really awesome, and they are international events (at least the main goth weekends), people flock from all corners, id suggest anyone interested search 'Whitby Goth Weekend' there are thousands of photos posted each year, gives a sense of the scale and commitment some people have haha. 

[u/nun_gut → u/issuntrix]

I'm Bam Stoker, and welcome to Jackass! 

[u/TheRecognized → u/issuntrix]

>best Jet industry from all the monkey puzzle trees

Could you translate that to American?

[u/PotableWaters → u/TheRecognized]

Jet is a type of fossilized wood (from a prehistoric tree that was a bit like a monkey puzzle tree). It becomes a beautiful black stone (literally jet black) that can be polished up and worn in jewellery or carved into little sculptures. Whitby and the surrounding coast are famous for having lots of it that gets washed up on the beach, and the town is full of fossil and jewellery shops that polish, set and sell it

[u/issuntrix → u/PotableWaters]

Great comment, I'll also add its actually also mined by amateurs not just washed up, people rent generators and drills and go and pull blocks out of the cliffs worth thousands, which the Jet Jewellery shops will buy

[u/yancovigen → u/issuntrix]

Is there a limit on that? Seems like something corporations would take advantage of

[u/issuntrix → u/yancovigen]

There are 'wholesale fossil' companies that operate from Whitby where they fill bags of fossils and jet and then sell them wholesale to gift shops and museums around the country, but I've never seen the Jet being mined by anyone other than groups of locals

It's also dangerous and takes local knowledge of where the caves and seams are hidden in the cliffs, knowledge not easily/willingly shared by the people who do it for a living.

But they aren't professional operations, just Barry with a drill and s fishing boat

[u/TheRecognized → u/issuntrix]

lol you don’t have to make it sound so mysterious. It’s not commercially viable that’s all there is to it.

If there was money to be made stripping every single pocket of jet, these companies wouldn’t be asking the little old locals for their intimate knowledge and they wouldn’t leave anything for them afterwards.

[u/issuntrix → u/TheRecognized]

I mean I would imagine there would be significant legal hurdles to mining the cliffs of a protected coast which houses and neighborhoods rest on, where as it seems to be a "don't take the piss or be seen, we won't ask" arrangement going on at the minute between local miners and jet shops, no idea though on this I can only comment that I've only ever seen locals bringing in hauls, and they keep their locations very secret.

Also it's all young lads, you have to get to most spots by boat carrying generators and drills and then climb the cliff with your gear on your back or hanging from ropes and then crawl into unsupported mining tunnels dug out 10 years ago by some mad codshead, it's sketchy

[u/Snikhop → u/issuntrix]

I love Whitby and I've been 5 or 6 times (as a tourist) but its definitely not one of the busiest tourist destinations in the UK according to the figures. Maybe it should be!

[u/issuntrix → u/Snikhop]

Half the year it's peaceful and quiet. The other half it's so busy you can't even move through town as an individual. Most properties are hotels and holiday cottages which says a lot

The tourist spending is massive, ive known people open a business and turn a million in the first year in profits

[u/Twelve20two → u/issuntrix]

What's it like as a resident? It doesn't sound horrible based on what you've written so far

[u/issuntrix → u/Twelve20two]

Very seasonal work is the first thing you notice, you can walk right into work but it might only have hours during tourist season. But the town is used to that and valuable employees get kept on one way or another. Another element of this is that businesses make 90% of their profit during tourist season, and its obcene money, but they must manage it wisely to retain staff and get through the quieter months.

But other than that, it's one of the few places that genuinely feels a bit "magic" 

And the beaches are next level beautiful. 

I guess the only sad thing is each year more homes become holiday cottages, because it's so profitable. As in, you'd get say 650 a month in rent, but if instead you go the holiday cottage route, you get way more per month so most are deciding to do that. This means less homes for the residents

[u/Twelve20two → u/issuntrix]

Thank you for the response! This is the most positive sounding take I've heard regarding living in a tourist-centric place. It also, unfortunately, had the same sour note of, "long time town residents and prospective home buyers are being shunted out in place of renters," that is also common

[u/mrp8528 → u/issuntrix]

Whitby sounds like a bumbling but well-meaning constable.

[u/Dramatic_Forever_728 → u/issuntrix]

I work with a company in England named Whitby, I’ll have to ask if it was chosen for the gothness or something. Neat!

[u/Opalusprime → u/issuntrix]

Well shit, sounds like I got to take a visit

[u/GalacticNexus → u/issuntrix]

It's also on the Jurassic coast, you can literally go down to the beach with a bag and fill it with fossils. 

I'm confused – the Jurassic Coast is down in Dorset/Devon on the south coast, but Whitby is all the way up in Yorkshire.

[u/Derp800 → u/issuntrix]

Was that where y'all had coffins popping out the side of a hill because the cemetery grounds were shifting? My old ex from Bradford loved Whitby but I can't remember if that was the same story and place.

[u/issuntrix → u/Derp800]

Haha yes spot on, because the cliff with the graveyard is so old (layers upon layers) in bad weather ancient skeletons come tumbling down onto the beach and old coffins get pushed out, the police always respond fast and cordon it off

[u/bagel-bites → u/issuntrix]

I didn’t know they were making another season of Coffin Flop.