Witch bottles and ancient tomes

I had the unenviable task of explaining what a 'witch bottle' is yesterday. No delicate way to put this- it's a bottle filled with urine and nails and other nastiness that is buried on your property to ward off curses. The tradition goes back several centuries in Europe. Folklore is fun stuff, hey?

How about the Voynich manuscript, the 14th century book in a code that cannot be deciphered. I never heard of  it til today, when I found this documentary on Youtube. I guess I haven't seen everything yet after all.

The oldest book that passed through my hands was from 1803. The owner penned the date inside, but over two centuries the acidic ink had eaten a delicate lacy hole in the page, still readable, where it had been.