In fact, our so-called “witch bottles” were probably used not by witches, but to protect against them. According to the folklorist Ralph Merrifield: “the supposed victim of witchcraft would put some of his urine in a bottle with pins or needles, and bury it, believing that this would inflict acute pain on the witch, who would be unable to pass water until the spell had been removed.”
Belief in witches in Europe reached its height in the witch-craze from 1450-1700, a religious and moral panic that killed perhaps 100,000 people accused of witchcraft via official execution, torture, or illegal lynching. In England, the process was controlled by the courts, with witches- usually but not always women- accused of “maleficium”: causing harm by using magical spells.