Bedlam Farm has a Bottle Tree. I saw a few of them on some of the farms I’ve photographed, although they mostly exist on farms in the South. The Bottle Tree idea comes from the Congo in the 19th century, it was a form of magic called Hood.
It was said that colored glass attracted evil spirits and trapped them inside bottles. When the wind blew, the moaning sound made by the wind whistling in the bottles was belived to be these trapped spirits. Maria and I saw some online, and we asked our friend Jack Macmillan if he could design one. He happily agreed.
Although the “limbs” on the tree are traditionally made out of steel rebar, Jack substituted bamboo for the rebar on a cedar pole. We are eager to hear the cries of the evil spirits who are trapped inside. We put out first two bottles on this morning, I think every farm ought to have a Bottle Tree to capture some evil spirits.