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The Civil War Witch Bottle

The city of Williamsburg is one awash in history, spanning from the colonial era to the Civil War. It’s easy to forget the visages of the past when winding down its twisting streets and modern highways. Yet oftentimes, an untold history lies just beneath our feet.A seldom-seen relic was uncovered while widening one of Williamsburg’s interstates, stirring up much notoriety and attention. This peculiar rarity was soon rumored to be a Civil War witch bottle — a curious find outside of Europe. 

 

Who might this witch’s bottle have belonged to, and how does it connect to Virginia’s Civil War history? Most unusual, it seems. Read on to lay bare the mysterious tale of the Williamsburg witch bottle and the intent that may have been behind its making. 

 

Ready to stretch your legs and encounter some of The Burg’s spookiest tales? Enlist yourself in one of our Williamsburg Ghost Tours with Colonial Ghosts

 

What Is a Witch Bottle? 

Witch bottles are incredibly rare discoveries in the United States. The tradition of these curious vessels originated in Northern Europe, where glass bottles or ceramic jugs were once filled with bizarre contents and buried near the hearth to repel evil forces. Less than 12 of these talismans have been uncovered in the U.S., making the Williamsburg witch bottle quite an extraordinary find.

 

Where The Civil War Witch Bottle Was Found

When the Virginia Department of Transportation sought to widen Interstate 64 in 2016, it’s unlikely that they ever imagined unearthing a witch bottle from the soil. The bottle uncovered held a shade of greenish-blue, but within, its contents were even stranger. Inside the glass container was a collection of rusty, broken iron nails. 

 

At first, excavators weren’t sure what they were looking at, but they collected it nonetheless. It wasn’t until later that William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research founder Robert Hunter and group member Oliver Mueller-Heubach began to speculate that the artifact might have been a ritual item.

 

Archaeologists from WMCAR inspected the site before the VDOT began their work widening the road. As is standard practice for historic areas such as these, these digs often occur before any road work is undertaken, lest something significant be overlooked.

 

Ghosts of Civil War Soldiers
Copyright US Ghost Adventures

And this site was known to be quite significant. This expanse of I64 between exits 238 and 242, where the bottle was uncovered, was known to be a previous Civil War site — a fortification known as Redoubt 9, to be precise. Built by the Confederates, this fortification of the past was held by Union forces after the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862. 

 

Redoubt 9 existed as part of a system of 14 mini forts dotting the James and York rivers, the goal of which was to hinder any Federal attacks that might fall on Richmond. 

 

Why might they have needed a witch bottle? Markings visible on the bottle reveal that it was produced in Pennsylvania. Periodically, the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry occupied Redoubt 9 throughout May 1862 and August 1863 while Confederate forces endeavored to reclaim the area. 

 

Fashioning a talisman such as this may have been one soldier’s otherworldly attempt at protection from their ongoing attacks. 

 

The Importance of The Hearth

When the old vessel was first unearthed, no one was entirely sure what they were examining. They assumed it had simply been a vessel for storing nails. Luckily, they noted the bottle’s location, found near a brick-lined hearth of the former encampment. This has led many to believe the bottle isn’t just a random container but rather a witch bottle. 

 

For centuries, hearths have been important places throughout folklore practices. Many traditions stretching as far back as the 16th century in Northern Europe and Britain involved sealing artifacts in walls — especially near hearths and fireplaces, as many thought witches might fly down the chimney. 

 

As affirmed by the director of the WMCAR, Joe Jones, witch bottles, in particular, were often buried near or underneath the hearth. Makers believed that the heat from the fire would galvanize the nails, helping them to break the witch’s spell and free the afflicted sufferer from the oppressive force. 

 

Still, witch bottles aren’t the only strange artifacts early settlers once used to ward off ill intent. In Alexandria, Virginia, an even more disturbing antique was unearthed near the hearth in the Carlyle House: a mummified cat corpse. 

 

Found during renovations in the 1970s, the dried cat was adorned with herbs and set in a stone alcove inside the chimney, a tradition once enacted to defend a home’s residents from witches and other evil spirits. Shoes have also sometimes been found buried in walls or floorboards near chimneys and hearths, also as totems of good luck. 

 

Old World Folk Remedies to Ward Off Evil

Oddly enough, witch bottles are a much rarer find in this part of the world. While close to 200 have been recorded in Great Britain, fewer than 12 have been discovered across the pond. 

 

Historians believe the practice of making and burying witch bottles began in the late Middle Ages in England’s East Anglia area. It was then likely brought to North America by colonial immigrants who imported their traditions.

 

Although the one found in Williamsburg contained only nails, other witch bottles have held far stranger contents. Oftentimes, these objects included very personal traces of their makers inside. The person burying the bottle would add their nail clippings, hair, or sometimes even urine mixed in with pins, nails, needles, or cloth. 

 

Ghost with bottles
Copyright US Ghost Adventures

These were then placed in a glass bottle or jug and sealed. Why this unusual mixture? The goal of the witch bottle is to return the ill will to the sender. Pins and nails are thought to symbolize the afflicted person’s pain. Sometimes, these bottles are found inverted in an attempt to reverse the curse or malicious intent and inflict it back to the source.

 

Other theorists have said these personal items lured witches into the bottle, where they would become entangled in the sharp objects. 

 

The Williamsburg witch bottle was found broken at the top, so we may never know what other contents it held or what exactly it intended to protect the owner from. Although they were commonly made as talismans intended to thwart evil spirits, the soldier who assembled this item might have done so to ward off attacks and bad intentions by opposing forces during Confederate raids. That — or they either feared a witch to be in their midst. 

 

Haunted Williamsburg

Ultimately, you never know what might be sitting in the walls of old homes, be it dead cats, old shoes, or a rare witch bottle. But don’t go tearing up your home’s hearth anytime soon — after all, it’s the best place to read ghost stories. 

 

To continue exploring more haunting tales of Williamsburg history, keep reading our blog, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok for other dark and curious content. And remember, Williamsburg’s history stretches back a good 400 years. Come and experience Thrilliamsburg’s spooky and spirited history on a haunting tour with Colonial Ghosts to join a party of other like-minded souls. 

 

Sources:

  1. https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/rare-civil-war-witch-bottle-discovered-in-virginia

 

  1. https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2020/civil-war-era-jug-found-on-highway-median-may-be-rare-witch-bottle.php

 

  1. https://www.wtvr.com/2020/01/22/witch-bottle-virginia

 

  1. https://archaeology.org/news/2020/01/22/200123-virginia-witch-bottle/ 

 

  1. https://www.history.com/news/colonial-superstition-why-witch-bottles-dead-cats-were-stuffed-into-walls

 

  1. https://jefpat.maryland.gov/Pages/mac-lab/curators-choice/2009-curators-choice/2009-08-witch-bottle.aspx

 

  1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/witch-bottle-full-teeth-pins-and-possibly-urine-discovered-chimney-180973448/ 
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