Some of the architecture in New England is fascinating. A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the reason for double front doors. Today's blog is about oddly placed windows called "Witch Windows" in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, but known as "Coffin Windows" in Vermont. Those names have different meanings, and you'll learn about them in today's blog.
Architecture: What are Witch Windows in New England?
WHAT ARE THESE WINDOWS? - These "witch" or "coffin" windows are both the same in appearance and location. They are rectangular and they are titled diagonally, located in the gable end of the second or third floor.
WHY COFFIN WINDOWS? - In Vermont, these tilted windows are called“coffin windows." According to the "Obscure Vermont" blog, the author, Chad Abramovich, said, "Growing up, my mother would always point them out as “coffin windows” whenever we would take a trip out of suburban Chittenden County to more rural parts of the state, where older structures far outnumbered the new."
Chad noted, "The reason they are called coffin windows is if a family member died upstairs, it was far easier to maneuver the needed coffin out the window and slide it down the roof as opposed to figuring out just how to haul it down a steep and narrow Vermont farmhouse staircase."
WHY WITCH WINDOWS? - In Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, these are rare, but they exist. Folklore says that witches cannot fly their broomsticks through the tilted windows. Although I haven't been able to find a direct tie-in with the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, it would make sense that there's a connection.
Obscure Vermont noted an interesting historic reference - A similar superstition that comes to mind is how the ancient Chinese thought bad spirits traveled in straight lines, so their architecture took on steeply peaked rooflines.
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