Here's an anecdote about how a restless spirit was charmed into the shape of a fly and read into a bottle by 12 parsons standing in a circle.  Note how the parsons made a mistake when they threw the bottled ghost down a well: they committed it to lie for a hundred years, forgetting to specify "a hundred years and odd," thereby allowing the ghost the escape in due time.  From Chambers's Journal, 1866.

Here are some benignly haunted decanters from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1883.

Here's some overindulgence from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1883.

Here's the spirit of "Whack-fol-tol-loo-ra-loo!"  From Fun magazine, 1879.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.

The spirit of vodka will have you seeing double-V's.  From Jugend, 1908.

Here's a bottle imp from an 1863 issue of Fun magazine.

Here are the four seasons of bachelorhood: vinegar, pepper, salt, and mustard, from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1873.

From Into Mexico and Out by Joseph Steffens, 1916.

"Preserved in spirits," from Hood's Own by Thomas Hood, 1855.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.

An illustration from an 1894 issue of The Idler magazine.  The caption reads: "Is this a bottled ghost?"

There was a bottled ghost in the old dark house we recently explored.  See the remarkable bottle (and what happened with it) in our video.