Did you know:
People used to hide a pair of children’s shoes somewhere in their home to keep ghosts and witches away.
What do you do if you make a witch angry? We all know that witches can do terrible things to us, so we should always try and keep away from them. People have worried about witches for hundreds of years and a recent discovery on a building site has shown one way that was used 250 years ago to keep those nasty witches away.
Historians know that people used to bury a special wine bottle outside their front door that was supposed to stop witches casting their evil spells on the people living in the house. They are called ‘Witch Bottles’ and many have been found over the years. However, because they were so old and usually cracked or broken, no one knew what was kept in these witch bottles.
However, a 250-year-old bottle was recently found on an English building site. It was not cracked or broken and the cork that sealed the bottle had not been damaged. Scientists spent over one year examining the bottle. They X-rayed the bottle first to see what was inside it. This is what they found:
- a handful of iron nails.
- eight brass pins.
- human hair.
- nail clippings.
- a piece of leather in the shape of a heart that had been pierced.
- some navel fluff
The scientists knew that there was a liquid inside the bottle. They used a syringe to extract some of the liquid. The liquid was found to be man’s urine.
Once the bottle was opened, the nail clippings were examined under a microscope. The nails had been cut properly so they probably belonged to a rich man. On closer examination, the urine was found to contain nicotine, so whoever provided that was a smoker.
People thought that the witch bottles would make a witches’ spell bounce back and kill the witch. They also thought that when a witch died, the witch bottle would explode. Does this explain why so many witches’ bottles that have been found have been broken?
Young archaeologists discover the remains of a witch bottle:
QUESTION:
VOCABULARY:
