Mysterious 'witch bottles' wash up on beach but researchers are worried about opening them

A researcher in Texas has made clear that he has no interest in finding out what would happen if he cracked open one of the mysterious 'witch bottles' which have been washing up off the Gulf of Mexico.

Jace Tunnell works as a researcher for the Harte Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, and earlier this month he found the eighth 'witch bottle' to wash up on the beach near Corpus Christi, Texas, since 2017.

Filled with items including vegetation, herbs, metal nails, hair or even bodily fluids, similar bottles have previously been discovered in walls or underground in the UK.

The McGill University Office of Science and Society explains there was a 'powerful belief in witches and their ability to cause illness by casting a spell' back in the 16th and 17th centuries, prompting people to try and ward off the spells.

"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 explains.

YouTube/ MissionAransasNERR

Though the bottles have the relatively positive intention of thwarting evil spells, Tunnell told Fox News Digital he isn't going to risk cracking one open.

"I don't get creeped out by them, but I'm also not going to open them," he said.

"I mean, they're supposed to have spells and stuff in them – why take the chance?"

Instead, Tunnell has opted to display all of the bottles he's found along his back fence.

"My wife says I can bring shells inside, but no spell bottles," he explained.

Evidence of witch bottles is much less prevalent in the US in comparison to the UK, and Tunnell has expressed belief the bottles washing up on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico are from 'somewhere in the Caribbean or South America'.

YouTube/ MissionAransasNERR

The researcher explained some of the bottles he's found come in 'real thin yellow vinegar bottles' manufactured in Haiti, though it's unclear whether the bottles were placed in the water in the first place, or whether they were swept into a river before being delivered to the ocean.

"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 said.

Though the researcher's reason for not opening the bottle is down to the risk of spells, the bottles could also contain biohazards which make them unsafe to open.

The witch bottles are just some of the items which have washed up on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, with Tunnell also showing off an abandoned drone, lost ship supplies and dozens of messages in bottles.