Retropolis

A Civil War-era ‘witch bottle’ may have been found on a Virginia highway, archaeologists say


Researchers at the College of William & Mary think a piece of Civil War-era glassware found at the site of an old fort in York County, Va., may have been a “witch bottle” used to ward off evil spirits. (Robert Hunter of the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research)

By Peter Jamison
Jan. 24, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EST

When archaeologists digging between busy lanes of traffic on Virginia’s Interstate 64 unearthed a broken bottle filled with nails, they weren’t sure exactly what they had found.

The glass vessel discovered at an old Civil War fortification east of Williamsburg might simply have been an ad hoc toolbox for troops garrisoned at the site nearly 160 years ago. But researchers at the Center for Archaeological Research at the College of William & Mary advanced a far more intriguing theory this week.

The artifact may in fact be a “witch bottle,” they say, one of only a handful that have been found in the United States.

What’s a witch bottle? For centuries, they were used as occult countermeasures to the mischief of suspected sorceresses in England and America.

The evidence of a superstitious purpose is circumstantial but compelling, according to Joe Jones, the center’s director.
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Peter Jamison
Peter Jamison is a reporter on the Local Enterprise Team. He has worked at The Washington Post since 2016. Follow https://twitter.com/petejamison