Emily Chan
Those who like to comb the beach for neat treasures have spotted mysterious glass bottles that have gotten washed up on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
If you happen to come across any, make sure to take extra caution and tread carefully around them because they might just be what is called “witch bottles.”
Witch bottles were made to repel witches and protect people from their spells. According to the McGill University Office of Science and Society, around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, people suffering from illness and misfortune believed that witches had placed curses on them.
As a result, people would fill bottles with a variety of items, such as herbs, hair, and urine, along with sharp objects like nails and pins.
Then, the witch bottles would be concealed somewhere on their property, either hidden in the walls of their homes or buried underground.
Near Corpus Christi, Texas, eight of these artifacts have popped up along a stretch of beach in recent years.
The newest bottle to arrive on the coast was removed from the sand on November 15 by a researcher named Jace Tunnell.
The bottle was made of green glass and filled with vegetation. Gooseneck barnacles clung to the bottle, indicating that it had been adrift for a long time.
Tunnell admits that he has several other witch bottles back home that he keeps in an outdoor space specifically dedicated to displaying his eerie finds since his wife won’t let him bring them indoors.
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