A special Halloween Throwback Thursday courtesy of our Sears Family Collection. This creamware jug was produced by the British firm of William Ridgeway & Company between 1835 and 1840.

The image depicted is from Robert Burns’ poem Tam o’ Shanter (1790). The poem centers on Tam (Thomas), a farmer who spends too much time drinking with his friends at a local pub to the dismay of his wife. 

After one such night of drinking, Tam makes his way home on his horse Meg. Passing by an old church, he notices a group of witches and warlocks dancing as the Devil plays a tune on the bagpipes. Still drunk, Tam cries out to the coven “Weel done, cutty-sark (short shirt)!”. The lights in the church extinguish and Tam is chased by the group until he reaches the River Doon. In the folklore of the poem, supernatural creatures are unable to cross running water, but before Tam makes it to the bridge, the creatures grab and remove his horse’s tail. 

We are unsure of how this jug came into the possession of the Sears Family, or why, but we do know that the Sears’ were champion breeders of Ayrshire cattle, which originate from the same geographic region of Scotland as where the poem is set and where Robert Burns was born. 

To learn more about our Local History Collection, visit our Local History guide at guides.rcls.org/was_loh, or contact us via e-mail at moffat@rcls.org or phone at (845) 496-5483 x 326!