Creepy Architectural Features of Quirky Old Houses

Old houses today are often the main character in scary movies. The house somehow knows things or is filled with ghosts and spirits. While old homes get a bad rap as being haunted and just plain scary due to their age, there’s also the architectural features to think of. And, the lack of overhead lights certainly doesn’t help the situation.

But, did you know that when these houses were new many of them had their own built-in anti-haunting technology? Well, not so much tech as superstitions, more like building quirks. But, these architectural details have been found in many areas, proving that their owners once found comfort in these features keeping them safe from the danger.

These features are part of a tradition of vernacular architecture, a practice where lay people and builders incorporate local ideas and culture into buildings, void of any official or institutional mandates on the matter. The idea was that incorporating these details into your home would keep as-yet unknown evils from your family and by their very nature these details would have been hard to regulate or legitimize. And, yet many old homes have these curious characteristics, to keep them both from spiritual harm, but also from bodily harm. And, in one odd case the home was built to actually welcome the spirits in!

1) Witch Windows

These kooky windows were once thought to ward off witches, who would be too confused by the angled window to fly their broomsticks into the house. Often found on the upper floors near or in the bedrooms, these weird windows are still present in old homes in and around New England (like the one seen below from Vermont). The fear of witches or of someone doing harm via spells or even simply envy is a common one that manifests in the quirks of these old homes.

2) Widow’s Walks

This spooky railing on the tippy tops of old houses is often referred to as a widow’s walk. These spaces were said to be where the wives of mariners and sailors watched the ships return from far away and if the ship crashed on the way they’d be left widows. But, these make-shift balconies are also found on many houses inland, where no bodies of water can be found. The simple explanation is that in addition the long distance visibility from these lookouts, the area was a way to access the chimney since it was usually built around the chimney or chimneys of a house. Homeowners could access the chimney via this roofwalk (another name for it) and pour sand down the chimney if a fire got out of hand.

3) Rounded Corners to Welcome Spirits

Ghosts are thought to become tapped by corners, the harsh edges stopping them in their tracks. But, a prominent spiritualist couple in the 1830s in Illinois built a house with rounded corners specifically to welcome spirits and ghosts into their home. George and Sylvia Stickney wanted to make sure that if a spirit entered the home they’d have a chance to interact with it. While there’s no real way to tell if this idea worked, the resulting architecture is quite beautiful.

The bottom floor is where they lived and the top floor was a massive ballroom where they held seances. Sadly, they may have been trying to reconnect with their dead children as 7 of their 10 kids didn’t survive into adulthood.

4) Haint Blue

This Southern tradition uses sky or Caribbean blue as the paint color for ceilings on the famed outdoor porches common to these warmer climates. This tradition began with the Gullah people and spread across the South. The term haint is a variant of the word haunt, meaning ghosts. The idea was that this blue color would trick ghosts into believing the porch ceiling was the sky and they would be too confused to enter the home, keeping the home free of ghosts. Even if you don’t believe in superstitions, the color is so pretty that it’s easy to see why it caught on. This color is found not only on old houses, but is still being used on newer homes in the South as well.

5) Special Items Hidden in Walls

Shoes, bottles, or symbols built into the walls or thresholds or even in the ceilings have been found in very old homes. A shoe in the ceiling was thought to draw a bad spell to dummy a person, ie something of them but not them. Bottles filled with nails, vinegar, or other weird things were also used to keep the home’s inhabitants healthy by protecting from spells and spirits. Likewise symbols of protection, called apotropaic marks, could also be written behind the walls. Under the threshold or near the chimney was another common place to hide them as any point between the inside and the outside was considered especially vulnerable.

They were used in the UK and Europe, but have also been found in the US.

6) Witches’ Stones

In the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) there is another common architectural feature meant to interact with witches. However, rather than scaring them off tiny little stones sprouting from the chimney were meant to appease witches. The idea was that witches on their broomsticks would get tired flying all night and would need somewhere to rest. At the time most houses were constructed with thatched roofs, which meant the roofs were not good landing spots. By making small “seats” for the witches to rest on, the belief was that houses with this feature would be spared any evil curses.

Most homes there today do not have thatched roofs, yet the witches stones continue to be included in chimney construction. Though there is another theory on why they exist: to keep water from seeping in through the space between the roof and the chimney.