Although I make a garbage human being, I think my personage would be a fine addition to folklore: I either appear as a deity of dark doom or an urchin in pajamas, I offer various odd services which might or might not have to do with food, shelter, witchcraft and harlotry, then come a-knockin’ on your window and demand payment in booze.
A glass bottle filled with rusted nails may not sound like much of an archaeological find. But this Civil War artifact could represent a type of talisman that was popular for warding off evil spirits: a “witch bottle.”
Researchers found the bottle at a site known as Redoubt 9, a fortification built in 1861 by Confederate troops and later occupied by Union forces. Remains of the defensive structure lie on a highway median between exits 238 and 242 on Interstate 64, in York County, Virginia, representatives of the William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR) said in a statement.
The bottle, discovered near a hearth, measures roughly 5 inches (13 centimeters) tall and 3 inches (8 cm) wide, and was made in Pennsylvania. This suggests that it was placed there by a Union soldier, likely at a time when the fort was occupied by the Pennsylvania cavalry, according to the statement. Read more.
