Witch Bottle Analysed

The folk tradition prevalent in Britain during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of burying specially prepared ‘Witch Bottles’, to ward off spells from witches, has rarely left a mark in the archaeological record as the bottles have tended to be discovered and washed out by non-specialists. However this week information was released about a bottle which was discovered intact, and upon whose contents a full scientific study has been carried out. The bulb shaped bottle contained urine, nail clippings, bent nails, hair and possibly sulphur. New Scientist has a quote from chemist Alan Massey explaining the significance of these items: "The idea of the witch bottle was to throw the spell back on the witch…The urine and the bulb of the bottle represented the waterworks of the witch, and the theory was that the nails and the bent pins would aggravate the witch when she passed water and torment her so badly that she would take the spell back off you." Brian Hoggard, a witchcraft expert, also spoke about the bottle’s importance: “Prior to this point, all we really knew about what was in witch bottles was what we read from documents from the 17th century.”