Welcome back, guys. I have a short one for you today, but it's a weird one.
Today I will be talking about an urban legend known as "The Licked Hand," "The Doggy Lick," or "Humans Can Lick Too." This legend is the idea that someone/ something has broken into your house, and you brush it off as your dog. The intruder is then hidden under your bed and licks your hand. There are tons of variations of this story, but they all start about like that. The first story was found in an Englishman named Dearman Birchall's diary. In February of 1871, Dearman wrote about a story he had heard at a party. A man told Dearman that one night his wife woke him up and said she heard something. He told her she was silly and that it was the dog.
(I've decided to take this post to show off my dogs-enjoy) He then let his hand drop off the side of the bed, and something licked it. The man thought it was the dog, but he was wrong. The next morning he discovered that he had been robbed and his dog was gone. Another story popped up in 1919, "The Diary of Mr.Poynter" by M.R. James. The main character is reading the paper while petting his dog. It turns out it's one of his students who's obsessed with him.
This urban legend really hit it off in 1982. This next story has a bunch of variations but is by far the most famous story involving some creep licking someone's hand in the middle of the night. It was February of 1982, and a young girl was home alone with her dog. Some stories say that the dog was a Collie. Two stories like this happening in February, huh? I guess that makes sense with Valentine's day, and you know, perverts be perverts. She watched the news before bed, and apparently, there was a murder loose near her neighborhood. That freaked her out, so she made sure all of the doors and windows were locked. She unfortunately, forgot about the window in the basement. Come on, dude! You forgot the basement window? That's the easiest one to get in. Its ground level. Always make sure your basement doors/ windows are locked, especially if you don't really go down there. Someone could totally be living down there. Anyway, she goes to bed, and the dog curls up next to her bed.
She awakes in the middle of the night to the sound of dripping. Like all of us, she's too lazy to get up, so she just makes sure the dog is still there. She then reaches down to pet the dog, and it begins to lick her. Comforted, she goes back to sleep. The next morning she goes to investigate the dripping sound, and that is where she finds her dog. The dripping sound she was hearing was her dog's blood hitting the tile floor. The dog was hanging, mutilated in the shower, the words, "Humans can lick too" written in blood. Some stories say that the dog was skinned and disemboweled. Some accounts say the writing was on the shower wall; others say the mirror. In some stories, the girl's parents come home and find the creep. In other stories, the girl runs from the house with the intruder chasing her. The girl even dies in some cases. Though there are variations to the story, the main plot stays the same, and regardless- it's creepy as fuck. First of all, someone broke into your house and is just shilling there. I see the home as the safe spot, and if someone breaks that- its unsettling. A line has definitely been crossed, and I'd be paranoid from then on. Second, the creep is hiding under your bed, mimicking your dog by licking your hand. That's so unsanitary and just wrong. Anyway, those are just a few stories surrounding this urban legend, but I thought it was pretty creepy.
Until next time, -Tye
Always Cite Those Sources:
“The Licked Hand.”Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand.
McKinney, Kelsey. “How 'The Licked Hand' and Other Scary Stories Spread.”Thrillist, Thrillist, 12 Oct. 2017, www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/humans-can-lick-too-how-urban-legends-spread.
“How Urban Legends Like 'The Licked Hand' Are Born.”Mental Floss, 16 Oct. 2017, www.mentalfloss.com/article/507300/how-urban-legends-licked-hand-are-born.
Comments