The Bizarre Reason Vermont Houses Have Tilted Windows

Drive through rural Vermont and you'll eventually see one: a window set at a 45-degree angle in the gable end of an old farmhouse, tilted like it was installed by mistake. Locals call them witch windows. The story says a witch can't fly a broomstick through a slanted opening — so the tilt keeps her out. That's the story. The evidence points somewhere far less magical, and far more revealing about how nineteenth-century Vermont farm families actually lived. In this video we trace where these windows came from, why they appear almost nowhere outside Vermont, what a farm family was really solving when they cut that opening — and when the word "witch" got attached to them in the first place. 📍 If you know of a witch window near you, drop the town in the comments. We're building a list. 🔔 The Heritage Vault explores the hidden history built into old American houses — the features everyone walks past, and the reasons nobody explains. #VermontHistory #Architecture #WitchWindows #NewEngland #ArchitecturalHistory