Special Halloween Edition: The History of Witch Windows

With Halloween this week – and many communities around the area celebrating the holiday on different days – we thought we’d take a bit of a break from our normal blog topics for some seasonal trivia.  Of course, Halloween and witches go hand in hand, so it’s only natural we’d want to talk about a peculiar type of window you might not be familiar with – the witch window.

They are more common in the Northeast part of the U.S., particularly Vermont (hence the other name, the Vermont window), but you may also have seen this window style on older homes around the Twin Cities. Perhaps you’ve wondered if the window installer had a few sips of witches’ brew before the window was put in, but this oddly-angled configuration has a purpose.  And here’s a bit of its history.

(Shown below are some typical examples of the witch window – also called the coffin window.)

We’d love to be able to tell you we know exactly where the name ‘witch window’ and ‘coffin window’ come from, but unfortunately there isn’t much to be able to trace, other than local legends and possible explanations.  Here are some we’ve heard:

• They were installed to prevent witches from being able to fly into a home.  Of course, the witch trials in this area had people in a furor over witches, so a preoccupation with keeping them away from one’s home is understandable.  The explanation – as ludicrous as it seems – is that witches travel by flying upright on broomsticks, so a slanted window would prevent them from coming in, or at least they’d have to get off their broom.   Makes you wonder why they wouldn’t just use the door…
• The term ‘coffin window’ comes from the need to remove a dead body in a coffin from the upstairs of a home. Stairways in these old homes were rather narrow, so it would be difficult to get the coffin down the stairs. Having a window like this would make it simple to slide out onto the roof.  Of course, that begs the question of what would happen next.  And then there is the issue of how they got the coffin upstairs to begin with.

As seasonally amusing as these explanations may be, chances are that neither is true.  What makes more sense is that tilting a window on its side to install it in a narrow gable area meant air and light in a spot where a regular window installation wouldn’t work. And the time frame these windows were popular in was a period when custom window manufacturing wasn’t yet a thing.  But that’s not nearly as entertaining at Halloween as the idea of a window tilt keeping a witch out!

Today’s modern custom and specialty shape windows mean that no matter what kind of odd wall area you have, chances are there is the perfect window for it.  And we can install it if you live here in the Twin Cities area.  Happy Halloween! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Window Outfitters is a premier Window Replacement, doors, siding contractor and installer. As Contractor in the St Paul, Minneapolis, (Twin Cities) Minnesota (MN) metro, we proudly serve, but are not limited to, the following areas: Minneapolis Energy Efficient Vinyl Windows, Replacement Window Contractors Minnesota, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Lakeville, Savage, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Eagan, St Paul, Hastings, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Farmington MN, Chaska, Shakopee, Chanhassen, Victoria, Mendota Heights Anderson Windows Minneapolis, Marvin Windows Minneapolis.