The Witch Wreath at the Museum
A recent discovery of a “witch bottle,” reminded me of one of the most bewitching of witch artifacts: the “witch wreath” or the “crown of feathers.” Found inside beds and pillows, these circlets of feathers appear most often in Appalachian and German folklore, both as an omen of death or bewitchment and also as a token of salvation, something which I suspect is a later belief grafted onto an essentially malevolent sign.