The witch’s hand

George notices a strange, crumpled brown thing pinned to the wall in his father’s studio. When he asks what it is, his dad warns him — it’s too scary to tell. Of course, that only makes George more curious. What follows is a story about a midnight visit from a witch, the sound of “slither-slither, pat-pat, cackle-cackle,” and a fierce battle that ends with her severed hand nailed to the wall as proof.

Peter Utton’s The Witch’s Hand is a small masterpiece of tone — spooky and funny at the same time. The watercolor illustrations move between dim, eerie shadows and warm domestic light, balancing tension with humor. The tale plays with the thin line between fear and imagination, showing how a story told just right can make the impossible seem almost real.

The final twist — where the dreadful hand turns out to be something far more ordinary — doesn’t spoil the mood. It reminds us that stories themselves can be both dangerous and safe places, and that sometimes a good scare, told with a wink, is the best kind of comfort.