Magical House Protection

The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft

Brian Hoggard

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781800730212, 9781789202052
• eBook ISBN: 9781789202069
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: Social Sciences

Belief in magic and particularly the power of witchcraft was once a deep and enduring presence in popular culture.

"Diving into Brian Hoggard's Magical House Protection is a remarkable experience… [It] provides an immersive and fascinating read."—Fortean Times

People created and concealed many objects to protect themselves from harmful magic. Detailed are the principal forms of magical house protection in Britain and beyond from the fourteenth century to the present day. Witch-bottles, dried cats, horse skulls, written charms, protection marks and concealed shoes were all used widely as methods of repelling, diverting or trapping negative energies. Many of these practices and symbols can be found around the globe, demonstrating the universal nature of efforts by people to protect themselves from witchcraft.

From the introduction:
The most popular locations to conceal objects within buildings are usually at portals such as the hearth, the threshold and also voids or dead spaces. This suggests that people believed it was possible for dark forces to travel through the landscape and attack them in their homes. Whether these forces were emanations from a witch in the form of a spell, a witch's familiar pestering their property, an actual witch flying in spirit or a combination of all of those is difficult to tell. Additional sources of danger could be ghosts, fairies and demons. People went to great lengths to ensure their homes and property were protected, highlighting the fact that these beliefs and fears were visceral and, as far as they were concerned, literally terrifying.

PART I

CONTEXT AND DISCUSSION OF PRINCIPAL FIND TYPES

Chapter 1

FOLKLORE, WITCHCRAFT, RELIGION

If we are to understand the reasons behind many of the practices described in this book, it is important to try to imagine some of the ways in which the world was experienced in the past. For example, in pre-Reformation England the experience of church was very different to the one which people might have today. Folklore was much more than just a curiosity written in a book; it could have a tangible effect on one’s interaction with the landscape. The period of the witch trials, although manifesting at slightly different times and in different ways across Europe and America, had a huge impact on people’s sense of vulnerability and awareness of supernatural dangers. It is a simple point but the absence of noise and distractions from vehicles and technology should also be noted, as should the absence of electric light. When considering the meanings of these finds, it is important to attempt to imagine something of the sensory world in which they were used.

The Church

If we imagine a visit to a church service in pre-Reformation England, we are entering a foreign land as far as comparisons to a modern church service are concerned. Firstly, the service would be conducted in Latin, a language which the congregation would not understand (with rare exceptions). In fact, it is likely that the serving priest would not understand the Latin either as many learned their services by rote, although of course some, a minority, were Latin scholars and understood every word.

Services were conducted behind the rood screen which separated the nave from the chancel. This was a large latticed screen which enabled the assembled to see the Catholic ritual being conducted but kept them apart from it. On top of the screen was the rood itself, normally a large figure of Christ on judgement day with images of doom – skulls and other bones – strewn around his feet. Jesus was quite a formidable presence in these churches.

The walls of the church would probably have been far more colourful than the plain and austere décor which we normally see today in English churches. There may have been images of hell with demons devouring human souls, the devil himself would sometimes be portrayed, and the carved corbels often showed grotesque figures. These images reinforced the idea that you would be judged and could go to hell if you did not live according to the rules of the church.

Add to this atmosphere a liberal use of pungent incense and many candles and it could be said that we are witnessing an elaborate and eerie ritual, partially concealed behind a screen with what must have seemed like an ancient magical language being spoken. Little of what happened actually informed those present about what was going on and there was certainly very little attempt to educate. When asked who Jesus was, people had been known to guess that maybe he was God’s uncle, illustrating a very poor understanding of what now seem to be very basic Christian concepts.

Within the church there also may have been shrines for a variety of saints, or possibly a nearby holy well which would also be regarded as a sacred place. There would almost always be a part of the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the most loved and popular of the Christian figures.

When we look at this experience from the outside, this experience could be described as entering a temple full of foreboding images, witnessing a magical ritual which invokes the presence of the temple’s chief deity, having the opportunity to make offerings or pray to a variety of lesser deities, catching up with friends and neighbours. The church appears to have been a place where you could tap into this range of Christian forces, while also reminding you of the vulnerability of your soul in a rather negative way by filling your mind with images of doom, demons and gargoyles.

Throughout the period of the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries in England, many changes occurred in churches but for many people it seems these were changes for the worse: the whitewashing of church walls to cover up images, the stripping out of rood screens, and the installation of plain altar tables. Many shrines for saints were removed, lady chapels torn down, stained glass broken, statuary defaced. Anderson states that ‘The iconoclasts fell with particular fury upon images of the Madonna; carvings were burnt or smashed and a few of the thousands of windows in which she must once have been represented remain intact’ (Anderson 1971: 129). Despite this many people clung on to the reverence of the Virgin Mary in particular. Of the range of Christian figures available, hers was the most kind, nurturing, protecting and forgiving, and although many images of her were no longer present in churches her presence in Bible stories was still very strong.

Folklore and Fairies

Folklore also played a very important role in the everyday interactions with the landscape, people and things. People made predictions about the weather and other outcomes based on the movements or appearances of certain creatures such as birds and fish. Failure to observe tiny rites in everyday contacts with people could be seen as harbingers of bad luck. There was and is a huge range of superstitions which helped people to understand the at times haphazard and random nature of human life. Many of these practices and observations are detailed in Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas (Thomas 1971).

One of the more full-bodied areas of folklore was the belief in the fairy folk. Firstly, we must put aside Victorian notions of fairies and images such as those presented in the Cottingley Fairies photographs and in Disney movies like Peter Pan. In those depictions fairies are very small winged magical creatures capable, in some cases, of granting wishes.

The fairies of old were believed to be another race of beings, not too dissimilar to us, who existed in a parallel world which intersected with ours at certain points in the landscape. These points were usually fairy hills which, from the descriptions, appear to be ancient barrows. A famous account of fairy lore was written by the seventeenth-century Scottish priest Robert Kirk. He tells of some very convoluted methods for seeing fairies, including the following: ‘put his foot on the Seer’s foot, and [then] the Seer’s hand is put on the inquirer’s head, who is [then] to look over the wizard’s [seer’s] right shoulder’. Other much more detailed methods, such as looking backwards between your legs, are also explained (Stewart 1990: 33).

If you accidentally built across a fairy path or damaged one of their hills, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble and possibly end up being ‘elf shot’. This is where the fairies shoot you with their magical arrows causing you to become lame, or worse. Evidence of elf-shot could be found in the shape of prehistoric flint arrowheads which occasionally turn up on the ground thanks to our Neolithic ancestors. Fairy beliefs are still very strong in some countries, notably Iceland and Ireland.

There is such a huge range of folkloric practices that it is very difficult to summarise. Some customs relate to particular days or dates, some are in response to events in nature, and others concern birth, marriage and death. Often these end up becoming incorporated into church practice which can create confusion. Some customs, such as ancient threshold customs which can be seen all around the ancient world, appear to be born out of a basic human instinct to protect and mark out zones for different kinds of behaviour. This instinct feeds directly into the content of this book.

Witchcraft

Of course, one of the most prevalent fears in the past was of witchcraft. This in part stemmed from the reliance of communities on the cunning folk, or wise men and women. These individuals provided many different services which could not be found elsewhere. They often had herbal or other healing knowledge and in addition could provide more arcane services. These cunning folk are really the ‘white witches’ of our past, although many were actually slightly ‘grey’.

The services they provided included thief detection, love magic, help in identifying future partners, fortune telling and in the case of some, more nefarious services. They also tended to be expert in all matters of folklore. One of their roles – which came from their diagnosis of the cause of people’s problems – was witch detection. If someone had become lame or unwell, this may be due to a known and treatable condition, or it may be due to witchcraft. If the latter was the cause, then a range of cures were on offer, including many of the objects detailed in this book, but most notably witch-bottles.

Cunning folk generally charged for their services or bartered for them. They also tended to have specialisms, so people sometimes travelled quite far to benefit from a specific skill. The role they provided in their communities was pivotal and they held high status. George Gifford, writing in 1597, complained that his parishioners went to the cunning man ‘as if they were his god’.

It is clear then that these cunning folk were a tremendously important part of society and were generally regarded as a force for good. It follows, however, that if people could use magic for good then they could also use it to cause harm, or ‘maleficium’ as it was known. There was a general belief in the existence of harmful witches, and suspicion could fall upon anyone whose behaviour transgressed ‘normal’ thresholds. People could be accused of witchcraft by children who may have misinterpreted their actions, or because someone witnessed them performing an act of witchcraft. From trial records, it would seem that acts of witchcraft included anything from wishing someone ill, with a harsh stare and a mumbled curse, to ritual acts performed with a coven on a hilltop.

In order to accuse someone of witchcraft, it was normally necessary to have a reason, rather than just a vague suspicion. If someone became unexpectedly unwell, experienced sudden pain in a limb, or was troubled with livestock deaths or crops repeatedly failing, then this might be diagnosed as having been caused by witchcraft. The diagnosis may have come from the general consensus of the victim’s neighbours, or be the outcome of a consultation with the local cunning person. People commissioned written charms from their local cunning folk for exactly this reason and were often also advised to boil up or bury witch-bottles.

These fears were widespread and were made even more so by the advent of popular printed material during the seventeenth century. A large number of pamphlets told terrifying tales of witchcraft and the Devil. Although literacy levels were fairly low during that period, people would often gather together to hear someone read them aloud. Those present could then tell others what they had heard and the contents of these pamphlets thus found a wide circulation. In this way, what had been fairly straightforward, popular notions of the supernatural became intermingled with ideas from the elite regarding theology and cosmology.

The way in which the law dealt with witchcraft varied, depending on the country. In England the law placed the onus on the accuser to prove that a witch had caused harm using witchcraft. There were stiff penalties for false accusations and providing proof that you had suffered harm through witchcraft was not a simple thing to do. The legal elite at this time were, however, inclined to believe in witchcraft and had their own theories concerning witchcraft and the agency of the Devil, so it was necessary only for the accuser to provide proof that some harm had been caused in a way which accorded with these notions. If someone was convicted of causing harm using witchcraft in England, they could be sent to the gallows. They would only be burned in England if they were found guilty of an additional offence for which burning was normally the punishment. For example, if a woman was convicted of killing her husband using witchcraft, this would be regarded as petty treason, the punishment for which was burning.

Elsewhere the law simply required evidence that the witch had some sort of pact with the Devil. This could be in the form of an actual written pact, which were somewhat dubiously produced to convict witches in France, or in the form of witness testimony. From our modern perspective, it is tragic that so many were burned, lynched and hanged for witchcraft, a crime which most people today would think is actually impossible to commit.

All these factors contributed to an environment where supernatural forces were considered real and ever present. There was a strong belief that certain people could mediate these forces. Priests could channel something of the power of God, cunning folk could harness magical forces (mostly) for good, and, it was felt, dark witches could utilise these forces to cause harm, or ‘maleficium’.

In Britain beliefs such as these persisted in rural areas until well into the twentieth century. William Paynter wrote extensively about witchcraft beliefs in Cornwall during his own lifetime in his book, published posthumously by Jason Semmens who recognised the value of his testimony. In it he described sticking a pig’s heart with pins to remove witchcraft, and discussed the power of the evil eye, fairies, written charms and herbal remedies (Paynter 2016). It is clear from this work that these practices continued in an unbroken thread from the earliest examples to almost the present day. It would not be surprising to find these beliefs and practices surviving in pockets in various parts of the world.

For these reasons it was necessary to be aware of the measures which could be taken to repel, trap, divert or confuse these harmful energies which may seek one out. Some of these measures would be undertaken by carpenters, builders and thatchers as part of the construction process, not unlike installing a burglar alarm or top-of-the-range locks. People would often take advantage of changes to buildings to add new layers of protection, and the construction methods sometimes left certain voids open as a receptacle for further measures. The home’s occupants also took action. For example, shoes and other objects were often deposited on ledges within the chimney breast or behind the fireback. If it was believed that someone had been bewitched, a visit the local cunning man or woman may be deemed necessary to take specific action such as commissioning a written charm or creating a witch-bottle. It was also possible to scratch or engrave marks onto the surfaces inside a building.

When we consider the objects and marks found in buildings today, as described in this book, it is important that we keep in mind the environment in which they were created.

Chapter 2

WITCH-BOTTLES

Witch-bottles are unusual in the context of counter-witchcraft objects in that they were written about in pamphlets and books during the seventeenth century and later. Other practices and objects which we have substantial evidence for, such as concealed shoes, animal remains and protection marks, are curiously absent from the literature of the period, suggesting a level of secrecy about those practices.

This chapter will begin by looking at the seventeenth-century written evidence about witch-bottles, before discussing the different types of bottles, and providing some case studies. It will also explore the contents and locations of the bottles and finish with an exploration of their usage and what this might tell us about past perceptions of the supernatural.

Before launching into the chapter proper, some points about the general difficulties involved in this topic should be made. Witch-bottles, like other apotropaic objects, were deliberately concealed so it is only when buildings are demolished or repaired, or when archaeologists excavate building sites that they come to light. In the case of demolitions and repairs, the likely finders are builders who often dispose of these objects because they do not know what they are. Sometimes the opposite is true, and they are destroyed for superstitious reasons. This means that only very few get reported to www.apotropaios.co.uk or to a local museum or archaeology unit. The amount that could be found is also limited by the number of buildings that survive from any given period. Suffice to say, the number dealt with in this chapter is likely to be only a tiny portion of the total number which were concealed.

Some questions have been raised about the terminology applied to these finds. At the Hidden Charms conference in April 2016 in Norwich, Annie Thwaite delivered a paper called ‘The Urinary Experiment’. In this paper the term ‘witch-bottles’ was questioned as not being an accurate name for these bottles; Thwaite argued instead that at the time the creation of one of these bottles was considered a scientific cure for illness caused by witchcraft. She had conducted meticulous background research and uncovered references to these bottles not previously noted in the field. Even if we ignore the archaeological evidence and restrict ourselves to the contemporary literature, we can see that these bottles were created as a specific remedy to being bewitched and this remedy worked with the perceived magical forces at the time. I therefore have no problem referring to these bottles as witch-bottles, but Thwaite’s paper has certainly raised some interesting points.

Written Evidence

Ralph Merrifield in his Archaeology of Ritual and Magic cited four early modern documents in his work on witch-bottles: Joseph Blagrave’s Astrological Practice of Physick (1671), Joseph Glanvil’s Sadducismus Triumphatus (1681), Increase Mather’s An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684) and Cotton Mather’s Late Memorable Providences (1691) which all contain references to the practice of creating a counter-witchcraft bottle.

The reference in Blagrave’s work appears in a section on ‘experimental Rules, whereby to afflict the Witch, causing the evil to return back upon them’. He describes the practice as follows:

Another way is stop the urine of the Patient, close up in a bottle, and put into it three nails, pins or needles, with a little white Salt, keeping the urine always warm: if you let it remain long in the bottle, it will endanger the witches life: for I have found by experience that they will be grievously tormented making their water with great difficulty, if any at all, and the more if the Moon be in Scorpio in Square or Opposition to his Significator, when its done.

His reasoning for the success of the operation is as follows: ‘The reason … is...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Part I. Context and Discussion of Principal Find Types
• Part II. Evidence and Examples
• References
• Index