Researcher Jace Tunnell, director of community engagement at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is sharing his discovery of the eighth “witch bottle” to wash up along the beaches of Corpus Christi since 2017. The find was shared to the Institute’s Facebook page with the caption, “Witch bottle! We find these every once in a while. Folks in certain cultures around the world put vegetation or other objects in a bottle. They are counter magical devices [whose] purpose is to draw in and trap harmful intentions directed at their owners.” Witch bottles are often filled with things like toenail clippings, hair, or other bizarre things from people who used them as protection against curses. The practice dates from the 16th and 17th centuries and was meant to trap spells aimed at particular people and keep them from harm. Some also believed the bottle could be used to turn the spell on the witch. “Folks in certain cultures around the world put vegetation or other objects in a bottle. They are counter-magical devices whose purpose is to draw in and trap harmful intentions directed at their owners,” the Harte Institute wrote on its Facebook page.

Despite having found eight bottles, Tunnell has never opened any of them. “I don’t get creeped out by them, but I’m also not going to open them. I mean, they’re supposed to have spells and stuff in them – why take the chance?” he told Fox News Digital. His wife won’t permit the bottles to be brought into their home and are displayed outside on their porch. McGill University Office of Science and Society reports that the bottles are commonly found in the UK, with over 200 having been recovered. “Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a powerful belief in witches and their ability to cause illness by casting a spell. But the evil spells could be fended off by trapping them in a ‘witch bottle,’ which, if properly prepared, could actually reflect the spell itself while also tormenting the witch, leaving the witch with no option but to remove the spell, allowing the victim to recover,” the society reported. 

The Harte Institute features its finds on the beaches through its YouTube channel and encourages its viewers to clean up the things they find. “When it comes to manmade debris, it’s about telling people if you see a piece of trash on the ground, pick it up. A lot of the stuff we find, even if it’s way inland, gets into the nearest waterway if it rains. Where does that go? The ocean,” Tunnell warned. The Museum of London Archeology does recommend keeping the bottles corked, although this is due to concerns of biohazards rather than spells.