Thread by @MxBadgerNorth

Superstitions concerning fire, may lead us to consider the hearth, and chimney, where apotropaic objects are often concealed as a form of protection to ward against malevolent forces. The chimney was believed to be a gateway for bad spirits #SuperstitionSat

Ryedale Folk Museum, Yorkshire, has 3 “witch posts” in their collection. Positioned near the hearth and carved with apotropaic-style markings, including the X-shaped St Andrew’s cross to guard against spirits entering via the chimney

#SuperstitionSat
📸 = Ryedale Folk Museum

If the smoke from your fire is billowing out into the room, it’s believed to be caused by a witch, sitting on your roof and blocking the chimney #SuperstitionSat

🎨 = From 'Dialogues touchant le pouvoir des sorcieres et de la punition qu'elles meritent' by Thomas Erastus, 1579

In Jersey, the presence of “witch’s stones” protruding from some chimneys relates to superstitions of the hearth. Householders provided these ledges as resting places for witches flying to Sabbat, and to keep them from flying down the chimney #SuperstitionSat
📸 = Wiki

In a 2015 survey of the Tower of London over 80 burn marks, made by scorching the faces of timbers with a taper, were found. It’s thought the marks are an example of superstitious sympathetic magic, to ward off fires and protect the building #SuperstitionSat
📸 = @MOLArchaeology