Note: This is the first version of the story, initially published in 1875 in L'Almanach lorrain de Pont-à-Mousson. Maupassant completely re-wrote it in 1883 under the title La main, and had it published in Le Gaulois, December 23rd 1883 issue.

Synopsis: Pierre acquires the hand of a murderer who was executed a century earlier, and displays it in his lodgings. Shortly thereafter, he is found in a terrible state with the marks of five fingers on his neck; the hand has disappeared. Seven months later, he dies in an insane asylum, crying out "He's strangling me!"