Want to Get Rid of Your Haints and Boo Hags?

Well, hello there out there in Acorn land. This week’s blog is something I came across when my wife and I moved to North Carolina about a year ago, and it was something I’ve never even heard of but found very interesting. When it comes to mythology, legends, or even the good spooky story, I’ve always been interested in discovering the story behind them. Probably because of my overall love of history, which many of these traditions and myths are based on at their core.

 I know that in the south, beliefs and superstitions of spirits and ghosts are more prevalent than in many places in America. Just visit New Orleans or Savanna, and you will get a real feel of this. You don’t find Voodoo shops on just any city street corner, but in some places in the south, you have a better chance of seeing something like this on your morning stroll, drinking your Chicory, and munching down your Baguettes from Café Du Monde. Some still practice superstitions like covering up your mirrors with a cloth or taking them down altogether during thunderstorms around the south and throughout the world.

While driving around the countryside between Hillsborough and Roxboro, North Carolina, I began to notice what I would call Bottle Trees. They were not everywhere, but I started seeing them more frequently as I drove around. They were simply a pole in the ground with mainly blue bottles, but some are decorated with all sorts of colors, placed upside down on pegs attached to it. I said to myself, “there is something you don’t see every day,” and locked it away in my brain so I could ask someone about it later. The strange thing was when I asked fellow co-workers, I got a lot of blank looks, and people started asking me if I wasn’t drinking something out of these blue bottles, which I wasn’t just to set the record straight.

Often in my life, I’ve noticed that if I’ve had a question or something to figure out, that I’d see something within the next week or so that shed some light on the answer. It’s like you’re throwing the question out into the universe, and then the universe says, here you go. I could probably write a blog post on this phenomenon because it’s strange when it happens. I’ve also had the questions answered in dreams, which is really strange, but I digress.

While watching the show Hometown, which is about a couple, Ben, and Erin Napier, that follows the pair as they rehab homes in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi; they talked about painting a porch ceiling a particular color, in the tradition of an old southern home. (BTW, this is a fun show to watch and we are addicted to it).  During this episode, I wasn’t paying close attention but overheard them wanting to color the porch ceilings Haint Blue, which they did at this particular house. I started to think back to many of my travels around the south and remembered that many ceilings of porches were painted a light shade of blue and then wondered why.

I thought it might have to do with folklore or old tradition, but now I needed to get to the bottom of the story. I went to the good old Wikipedia for the answer, and this is what I found in the first paragraph.

Originally, Haint Blue was thought by the Gullah to ward haints, or ghosts, away from the home. The tactic was intended either to mimic the appearance of the sky, tricking the ghost into passing through or to mimic the appearance of water, which ghosts traditionally could not cross. The Gullah would paint not only the porch but also doors, window frames, and shutters. Blue glass bottles were also hung in trees to trap haints and boo hags.

Did you happen to catch what was also mentioned in this paragraph? Yes, they talk about Haint Blue, but they also refer to blue bottles to capture spirits within them. Evidently, the wind blowing across the bottles’ opening makes that old familiar sound that we all did as children, and sometimes as adults, to irritate parents and siblings alike. This sound attracts the spirits into going into the bottle and traps them until daylight, which does away with said bad spirits. (Evidently spirits along with vampires do not like the sun).

So, you want to paint your porch haints blue? Delving into the tradition, it again seems that there are different shades of this color depending on where you find it, and believe it or not, most major paint companies are making a shade of light blue and calling it Haint Blue, but it’s really not.

Here are just some of the descriptions of different types of Haint Blue:

Charleston Haint Blue and Shutter Dark Green. Light, airy, ethereal, and maybe even a little mysterious. This is the pale blue you’ll find on porch ceilings across the south, but particularly prominent in Charleston. Purposefully balanced to work with a wide range of exterior color palettes. You can buy both individually or as a set.

Ohio Haint Blue Cultivated directly from the walls of one of the most haunted mansions in Ohio, as seen on the TV show Ghost Adventures. Our exclusive formulas were cultivated by examining the colors once visible on Prospect Place’s walls in Dresden, Ohio. Walls that have since been wallpapered and painted over.

Savannah Haint Blue formulas were derived directly from color chips found in an exclusive, historic Savannah paint colors brochure that was reproduced and authorized in the 1980s.

Finally, we have La Maison Haint Blue these are formulas inspired by hues of indigo that were popular in Southeast Asia in the 19th century. A region rich with history and superstition. Found on walls throughout “The Blue Mansion” in Penang, these awe coaxing blues are complex and mystically transportive.

If you are curious about these shades of Haint Blue, you can go to The Land of Color webpage and even buy as many gallons as you would like to depending on your haunting factor at your own home. Just kidding, of course, but it is a very light and fresh color and would look good just about anywhere. Buy a couple of gallons and tell them that the Acorn Blog sent you. Well, maybe not, because they might think you’re a little off your rocker.

Another strange thing about this color as I’m being told, is that if you take a sample into your local big-box retailer and have it matched, the color is just a little off, but it’s noticeable—another eerie but interesting tidbit about Haint Blue and its mysterious background.

I’m sure most people today use these bottle trees as pretty yard ornament’s, and no thought is given about their origin. I’m also confident that most people simply paint their ceilings Haint Blue for the tradition and not the original purpose. Looking back at history, you see this all around the world with many different cultures. Architectural additions or paint schemes to word off bad luck or evil spirits have been used for many years. Some examples are gargoyles, curved roofs in Chinese design, Kimon Corner’s in Japanese houses, and many modern buildings not having a 13^th floor.  Our modern world seems to be hanging onto many traditions that many would consider just plain silly, but it connects us to our past. It is also interesting that worldwide in many different cultures that are totally separated, these cultures came up with their version of Haint Blue. It seems that at its base, there is a human connection that binds us all together. Our hopes and fears are universal it seems and in today’s world, that’s a little reassuring.

Its little discoveries like a simple paint color overheard on a tv show which connected the dots from seeing some random lawn ornaments that took us down this path, and let me just say Thank You. It was a fun and educational trip, and I hope you thought it was as interesting as I did. Until next time, stay curious and always look for those little gems sitting about in plain sight. You never know when you might be asked that million-dollar question; what is Haint Blue used for traditionally?

If you would like, tell me what you think of the article or any other interesting subject that I haven’t explored as of yet and thank you to all my readers.