WITCH BOTTLES

/ The Coastal Crone

From the Museum of London: 17th century stoneware jug used a witch bottle found containing a heart-shaped piece of felt pierced with pins and 11 nails.

Witch bottles originated in the late-Middle Ages in  England and were used as protection against witchcraft or to cure an illness.  It was believed that a witch or evil spirit could be lured into a bottle and the spell could be broken.  A bottle sealed with a cork would commonly contain the victim’s hair, nails, body fluids and even twine; some would contain red wine, rosemary,  feathers and whatever talismans seemed to work at the time.  Then they were buried or hidden, often under a fireplace or inside a wall; they could also be tossed into a stream or river.  The one cursed would be safe as long as the witch bottle was hidden and unopened.  Superstitions and belief in witches and evil spirits helped explain the world around them.  Belief in the power of witch bottles was carried over to Colonial America; a small number have been found in the U.S.

The Museum of London’s website had an article titled “Sorcery on Display:  Witch Bottles” that presented an authoritative history if one is interested in further reading.

Jace Tunnell, Director of Community Engagement for the Harte Research Institute at Texas A & M, Corpus Christi, has found eight modern day glass witch bottles on our local beaches.   He has not opened them and keeps them on a fence in his back yard as he wife will not let him bring them into the house.

The HarteResearch Institute Facebook page describes them this way:

“Folks in certain cultures around the world put vegetation or other objects in a bottle, They are counter magical devices whose purpose is to draw in and trap harmful intentions directed at their owners.”

Tunnel speculates that they come from South America or the Caribbean.

If I find one on the beach, I don’t think I will open it or bring it into the house either.

Witch bottle found by Jace Tunnell, Director of Community Engagement, Hart Research Institute at Texas A & M University, Corpus Christi

43 thoughts on “WITCH BOTTLES”

  2. very interesting! JoNell is the book you have an article in about cemeteries available in paper copy copy or just digital? thanks…have a great day…stay cool!

    Like

    Reply

      • They are very common around here. Allegedly, the bottle poked onto bare branches entice the spirit to enter and they are trapped. Blue is a favorite color, I guess related to the tradition of painting your porch ceiling Haint Blue. My cousin had one in her New Orleans home, but I do not think she has done one since she moved back to Texas. They are pretty and artistic.

        Like

  10. I’ve found some bottles on the beach, but never one with something inside. Occasionally one has barnacles on the outside, but everything has barnacles. I did find a carved wax human figure on a Galveston beach once, with words inscribed on its back. I wondered if the currents might have carried it from the Caribbean, since it seemed voodoo-ish. I showed it to a man I knew who had grown up in Haiti. He took one look, refused to touch it, and said I should throw it back into the ocean. I did.

    Your title made me laugh for quite a different reason. It reminded me of the Abbott and Costello “who’s on first” baseball skit. Our bottle skit could be similar: “Have you seen the witch bottle?” “Which bottle?” and so on.

    Like

    Reply

    • I would imagine that you would have seen a lot of things floating in the sea or washing up on shore. Now that wax figure is rather spooky. Best to toss it back! Anything is better than oil washing up on shore or tar balls on the sand.

      “Which bottle did you mean?” You made me laugh. Those guys made the absurd funny.

      Like

      Reply

  12. I’ve never heard of a witch bottle, but given the beliefs in witches at that time, it makes sense. It must have been seen as a way to control the “evil spirits” and protect your family. Fascinating!

    Like

    Reply

  14. Absolutely fascinating.

    I’m with you, though. Best to let sleeping witch bottles lie.

    Still, the opening of a witch bottle could make an interesting premise for a novel.

    Thanks, Jo!

    Like

    Reply

Comments are always welcome!