A charm adorning a tree at the beginning of a path into the woods ensures safe travel down the path. It combines a piece of automobile chrome, the remains of an ancient suitcase, and a wire cross: “Piece of stuff come off my old car; old blue suitcase something I put up there so as to not throw it away; the cross thing I found.” The color of the suitcase (sometimes called “haint blue”) is widely believed to repel menacing spirits.
