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A peck o’ trouble

I read the old lady’s words – and they do say there be a witch in it, and if you let un out there’ll be a peck o’ trouble – in the correct regional accent. Which probably means I’ve been here too long. Or I talk to too many spooky old ladies.

I’m pretty sure her granny gave her this and told her it was a witch bottle, and she assumed a witch bottle is a bottle with a witch in it.

It’s not. It’s a bottle made by a witch to ward off evil. It was a big Elizabethan thing here, though spells in jars go way, way back.

I still wouldn’t open it. It’s most likely full of rusty pins and pee.

Amazon, Etsy and Ebay all claim to sell witch bottles. Sadly, they’re little pill bottles full of oregano with a pentagram tied on. Show a little creativity, Ebay witches!

A better picture of this particular witch bottle here. Object is from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

Comments


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: August 16, 2021, 10:28 pm

“My coven-mate Hazel’s been searching for that bottle of hers for more than 100 years,” exclaimed Witch Waizup.


Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: August 17, 2021, 2:35 am

“… Bottle, said to contain a witch…”

Reminds me of I Married A Witch (1942).


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: August 17, 2021, 10:46 am

There are ways of telling if that bottle contains a witch!
Do you, by chance, happen to have a duck handy?


Comment from Carl
Time: August 17, 2021, 8:53 pm

@durnedyankee. I think you mean DUCK POND.

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