Episode 49 - Witch Bottles

It had been a trying time for you. You were perfectly healthy and fine. However, one of your friends had been stricken by the oddest ailment. They were besieged by visions of a bird-like creature. It plagued them when they left the house, and kept them awake and prevented them from resting.

When a doctor from town announced their confusion about the condition after their third tincture failed to have any effect on it, your friend became convinced that the thing they were seeing, this bird-creature, was a spirit. They came to believe they were being targeted by a curse.

Dark magic… whether you believed that or not, your friend convinced you to consult with the Hedge Woman. You were reluctant, only because she had a peculiar reputation, working as she did, at the fringe of witch-craft. But at their request, you agreed. You would go to the Hedge Woman and see if she could help break this condition’s hold.

People in western Europe have a massive number of superstitions about dealing with witchcraft, sorcery, and curses. Bred from a deep-seated fear of the misunderstood, and a condemnation of what was deemed witch-craft, people developed what they thought of as protective rituals. Things they could do and objects they could use to block, or even reflect, dark magic from affecting them.

One such tradition, one with a long history going back as early as the 1500s, is the crafting of Witch Bottles. Although they have been found in other parts of Europe, they grew to immense popularity in England where several variations developed and stories flourished.

As long as people have been afraid of dark magic and its practitioners, they have developed ways they believed would protect them. Various talismans, counter-signs, and superstitions grew through the centuries. In the case of witch bottles, they developed a powerful charm that, when constructed properly, not only protected a person from magical assault, but could even reflect dark magic back at the witch who had attempted to cast the spell, often resulting in their death.

These were powerful charms of protection, crafted by people and folk magicians to protect themselves and their loved ones.

I am Andrew Eagle, and I am excited to invite you to join me as I pass Through the Veil and learn something of the protective art of Witch Bottles.

You made your way to the Hedge Woman. To be honest, you were never quite sure where the name came from. Only that it was the only name you’d ever known her by.

Her house was a humble thing. Large enough for comfort, but not anything more. It sat outside of town, in the moors, near a small forest. Outside was a wood-cutting stump, a small stone fence, and an iron lamp-post.

You made your way to the door, and with the brass knocker, you tapped upon the wood three times. A small noise came from inside. The sound of shifting wood, someone standing from an old, oaken chair.

Then the door opened. The Hedge Woman, not nearly as old as the stories made her out to be, stood squinting at you from the dim interior.

She asked what you needed. You explained the situation, and she let you in.

Once you were settled in a chair near the warm hearth, you told the rest of your story. Of your friend who was cursed, or believed they were. She listened through all of it. Then she pulled a glass bottle from a shelf. It was a simple thing, not a mark upon it.

She handed it to you, along with a scrawled note. Instructions for a ritual of sorts. A recipe.

She said this will fix your ailments, it will capture the curse, reverse it.

So, although you thought the whole thing strange, you took the bottle and the instructions, and you began traveling home.

Witch Bottles had a very specific purpose. After they were prepared, they were to be buried or otherwise hidden. There, concealed and protected, they served in turn to protect someone from all manner of magic. Generally, they were prepared by those worried that they had become the target of dark magic or witch-craft. Once placed and prepared, they were said to catch evil spirits and magical attacks, and in many cases, reflect such ill-intent back upon their origin.

They are a powerful countermagic, that could even kill those who had sent magical assault.

You took the instructions home, and you set the bottle aside to read. They were a strange list. Hair and nail clippings, spices and wine, iron needles. A strange list indeed. You gathered the necessary ingredients, loaded them into the bottle, and as the instruction told you to, you began to boil the bottle with its concoction.

The bottle began hopping about in the flames, practically leaping free of the fireplace. You took the iron ember shovel from next to the fireplace and you held the bottle in place. Despite its violent shaking, you held it in place.

But then, the bottle shattered. Exploded, sending glass shards across the hearth and fireplace. You leapt backward, and were lucky to avoid any shards.

The contents spilled into the fire and were burned.

The talisman was ruined. And you would have to try again.

The stories of Witch Bottles go back to the late 1500s. Among the first documented examples is in Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions, a treatise by Joseph Glanvill. He described a story in which a man’s wife was believed cursed, and, after crafting a Witch Bottle at the advice of an traveling old man, his wife was cured. Later however, the couple was accosted by a woman, claiming they’d killed her husband.

In Glanvill’s account, it was discovered the woman’s husband who had died was a Wizard, and the witch bottle had not only stopped the curse, but reflected a killing blow back upon the one who had sourced it.

Witch Bottles became one of the common hidden objects, a tradition which began in earnest sometime during the 1500s. They were prepared by witches, folk healers, or common folk. Consisting of a container, often called a Bellarmine or Greybeard after the infamous Catholic Inquisitor Robert Bellermine; a collection of ingredients, and then either a ritual by fire or burial.

The most common ingredients including in a Witch Bottle were the victim’s urine, hair or nail clippings, along with rosemary, red wine, needles and pins.

After it was concocted, and sometimes boiled, it would be hidden. Buried at the corner of the property, under the hearth, or placed somewhere inconspicuous.

Evil that targeted the person again would be drawn in by the samples of hair, urine, and nails; impaled on the pins and needles, drowned by the wine, and driven away by the rosemary. All in all, a potent counter-magical device.

You practically ran back to the Hedge Woman. Her scrawled note in tow. You were saddened and embarrassed that the first attempt had failed, and you needed another bottle.

When you got there, she listened calmly to your story, shook her head slightly and commented that it must be a potent curse. She then gathered up a stone jug. Hardier and sturdier than the glass jar had been, she handed it to you with a topper and made a few adjustments to her instructions.

You returned to attempt the thing again. Collecting the necessary ingredients, filling the jug and capping it. Then you prepared the jug according to the new instructions, first heating it for a short time in the fire and then heading out, to the farthest corner of the property and digging a hole several feet deep. There you placed the jug in a wooden box and buried it.

By far the most witch bottles have been found in England, they appear, alongside a variety of other hidden objects, buried and concealed within homes and farmsteads.

They are most commonly found dating back to the Elizabethan era, ranging from the 15-1600s; and most commonly discovered in the region of East Anglia.

Additionally, Witch Bottles have been found in the United States, primarily in the east. Eight such bottles have been discovered, though not all of those have been verified. Two in particular have risen to some note during excavations. The first known as the Essington Witch bottle, waas found on Great Tinicum Island in Pennsylvania. The second goes un-named, but was discovered in Maryland and came complete with a cork stopper completely covered in outward facing pins.

Within a few days, your friend’s condition improved. It was nearly ridiculous, but you couldn’t help but believe that the burial of the bottle had helped somehow. Some time later, perhaps a week or two. You and your friend were in town, browsing a street market. When a crowd approached the market, shouting that a man from the town had turned up dead. His dying words named you his killer. Confused, you denied everything, but the crowd insisted that on his death bed he called you his killer.

Then the Hedge Woman showed up. She explained the man had been a wizard, and his curse had been the thing plaguing your friend. The bottle you had crafted had captured the curse, and reflected it, apparently powerful enough to kill the man who had sent it.

At this, the people of the town seemed to agree it was accidental, and self-defense at that, and they left you and your friend alone. Later, just to be safe, you made yourself a witch bottle as well, hiding it beneath the hearth as per the first ritual. And you slept soundly, knowing that you were protected from dark magics that might be meant for you.

Witch Bottles became exceedingly popular in regions where the belief in, and fear of, witches was very prevalent.

They are markers of protection, of counteracting evil magic. Used by the people to feel safer in the face of forces that they feared and did not understand.

These bottles are still occasionally found today during excavations, revealing just how common the practice was throughout England and spreading to its colonies across the Atlantic.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Through the Veil. I hope you enjoyed. I encourage you to subscribe to receive new episodes weekly wherever you listen as we continue our exploration of folklore, myth, and magic.

Music this week was: World of Magic by Scott Buckley

If you are enjoying the show, and have subjects you would like to hear covered, please email me at throughtheveilpodcast@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter, you can find me @ThroughVeil.

As always, thank you, for listening.