According to Chris Manning, 8 possible witch bottles have been identified in the US. How many have been discarded as trash over the years? How many still need to be found? Are there examples outside of England? A customer ordered it but never collected it (1958: 121).Īccording to Granny’s Grimoire, over 200 witch bottles rest in museum collections. Porter relates the tale of a man who’d seen an iron bottle in a blacksmith’s shed in around 1901. It wasn’t just Murrell who mentioned cast iron witch bottles. This implied “that the individual was not a manual labourer, but likely a member of at least the upper middle class” (2013: 1). Meanwhile, ten fingernail clippings were manicured. It revealed the urine came from a smoker. McCarthy discuss the chemical analysis conducted on this intact witch bottle. You can read more about it from New Scientist.īellarmine jug, 8″ tall, c. The Cardinal was not a popular man, but his face on the bottles tricked evil spells into thinking they’d found their target.Īn intact example was actually discovered in Greenwich in 2004, filled with urine, brimstone, iron nails and fingernails. Bearing the likeness of Cardinal Robert Bellarmino, these ‘bellarmine bottles’ often came from Germany or the Netherlands. Bellarmine BottlesĪccording to Mama C, a very particular type of bottle became popular between the late 1500s and the mid-1600s. Hoggard suggests the bottle acted “as a kind of counter-witchcraft revenge when the individual died” (2004: 174). Researchers found copper pins inside, and others stuck in the cork. The bottle lay “between the left humerus and upper chest”, implying the body cradled it (Hoggard 2004: 174). Some bottles have been found buried in churchyards but only one has been found inside a coffin. Keeping it out of the witch’s grasp stopped her interfering with your counter-magic. Apparently, only uncorking the bottle broke the counter-spell, which explains why they were buried under hearthstones. The Real Reason for Hiding Witch BottlesĪccording to Merrifield, a witch would “be doomed to a slow and painful death” if the witch bottle was hidden (1955: 195). One stoneware bottle found on a building site in Suffolk contained human hair, 6 brass pins, broken glass, 40 rusted nails and a piece of felt in a rough heart shape. Image courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Ralph Merrifield claims Murrell died after someone used a witch bottle against him in 1860 (1955: 195).Įarly 19th-century witch bottle from Lincolnshire, England. The next day, locals found the witch burned to death and the girl recovered (1960a: 39). The cunning man held the bottle in the fire until the witch arrived, begging him to stop. According to Eric Maple, Murrell used one of these bottles to repel a witch after she cursed a young woman. Someone spoke, breaking the spell – so I can only assume this act of counter-witchcraft didn’t work.Ī cunning man named James Murrell in Essex even had a local blacksmith cast iron witch bottles (Maple 1960a: 38). The witch bottle was heated in the fire until “a scratching of finger-nails was heard on the outside of the door” (1960b: 245). Heating the bottle sped up the process and caused the witch to break the spell.Įric Maple relates a story told to him by an old woman about the use of a witch bottle to break a spell. The nails, thorn or pins were intended to cause pain to the witch (1999: xiii). Urine and hair or nail clippings from the bewitched person ‘linked’ the bottle to them. Owen Davies cites the witch bottle as a tool for counteracting witchcraft. Plus, doorways act as the most likely point of entry for any negative spirits. By burying them beneath the doorstep, you’re not likely to disturb the bottles. Witch bottles attracted negative energies and trapped them – much like leaving out a bottle of beer to attract wasps. Some people think the witch bottle protected the whole property if buried outside. By Malcolm Lidbury (aka Pinkpasty) (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
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