I'm forwarding a query that was originally sent to a fellow scholar of
vernacular architecture.  I'll make sure that any responses are sent on to Mr.
May.  Thanks!

Marty Perdue
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Greetings,

I am a U.S. Navy architectural historian working on the U.S. Army Fort
Rosecrans Historic District in San Diego, California.  The early post
buildings were erected between 1903 and 1908, following completion of three
Coast Artillery batteries in 1898. The 1989 renovation of a 1904 barracks
reportedly recovered 2 boots from a chimney.  Last Summer I monitored
renovation of another 1904 barracks when a boot and campaign hat were
recovered from a bricked-in cavity inside the original chimney.  The boot
shows heavy wear and the hat suffered insect damage.  We have been puzzled
as to who and why these objects would have been concealed inside the
architecture.  This discovery seemed different from coins, bar tokens, and
letters found in the walls.  Yesterday, I read in Ralph and Terry Kovels'
antique column in the local newspaper that vernacular construction in New
England carried-on an English tradition of concealing ghost and evil-spirit
wards near openings and that this tradition dates back to the 13th century.
Do you have any information or can you direct me to publications to support
this interpretation?

I have also learned an archaeology dig uncovered a glass bottle filled with
ferrous needles and traces of urine in the hearth of a 17th century house
ruin.  This is now referred to as the "Witch Bottle," but they did not
provide substantiating evidence to support that interpretation.

Are there articles on concealments in vernacular architecture?

Ron May
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