CRAGSTAN CREEPING CRAWLING HAND AD

Check out this very cool illustrated ad for the Cragstan Creeping Crawling Hand! This ad came from a pull-out section out of a 1960s Better Homes & Gardens issue. (I only have the pull-out section, so I'm not sure the exact year.) --Update-- Karswell has a very slightly different version of this ad from a 1965 Sunset House catalog. Check it out at the and everything else blog.

This is what you got for $5.98. I'd say that's money well spent!

In 2010, the example above sold for $690.00 at Bertoia Auctions and a slightly different version as seen below sold for $676.00 on ebay earlier this year.

I suspect the Creeping Crawling Hand was inspired by the classic b-movie, The Crawling Hand from 1963. It's a movie about a dismembered astronaut's hand that goes on a killing spree.

The dismembered crawling hand has become a true classic and has had many variations by many different manufactures through the years. I'm sure if you visit your local Halloween store you'll find one for sale. For fun, I put together a mosaic of all the different ones I spotted on ebay.

I'll leave you with a Google link for a newspaper article from 1891 about a mysterious creeping hand. Click here to read.