In Louisiana bottle trees are more than decoration — they are protection. Folks and I myself place bright blue bottles on wooden poles or trees outside our homes, always turned upside down, color and shape drew in evil spirits and wandering haints during the night. The spirits, curious and restless, would slip into the bottles and become trapped, swirling inside with no way to escape. Come sunrise, when the first bright light hit those bottles, the trapped spirit would weaken, fade, and die righ