Horrifying marks of witches have been found on the walls of Tudor-period property in England.
According to CNN, English Heritage, a charity that looks after hundreds of historic buildings, monuments, and sites in England, released the news about the discovery of carvings, which are known as apotropaic marks, ahead of Halloween.
The charity, in a news release on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, said that the marks were discovered in the Gainsborough Old Hall, a manor house in the eastern county of Lincolnshire, that Henry VIII and his then Queen visited only once in their lives.
Rick Berry, a volunteer who spent two years mapping around 20 cravings in the building, discovered witches’ symbols on the walls.
These marks include a “staggering array,” simple circles, which were expected to be filled with a six-petal design inside it, known as hexafoil, which traps demons, and overlapping Vs. Marian marks, are described as a sign calling for protection from the Virgin Mary.
Moreover, Kevin Booth, head of collections at English Heritage, explained the reason behind these marks in the release, stating, “It is astonishing that centuries on the amazing old buildings in our care still have secrets waiting to be discovered.”
“The Old Hall has undoubtedly had a tumultuous past, not least under the ownership of the apparently unpopular William Hickman, but why it’s the scene of quite such a high concentration of protective carvings remains a mystery,” he further added.
Experts say these signs were harvested in churches, homes, and caves to keep bad things like sickness, death, and crop failures away.
