Protecting your home is one of the most basic human instincts. Today we rely on deadbolts and alarm systems, but the people of colonial New England had more to fear than human burglars. They believed that witches, demons, and evil spirits could infiltrate a house through any door, window, or chimney, and some took measures to deter such threats. Carved and scratched into the timber of New England's oldest houses are symbols that scholars in Britain have long recognized as ritual protection marks, a form of “countermagic" meant to ward off evil. In this talk, historian Alyssa Conary will draw on her master's thesis to argue that these marks are here in New England too. She'll explain how to tell them apart from ordinary carpenters' marks, look at the magical worldview that made early New Englanders so afraid of what might get into their homes, and walk through the symbols themselves, tracing where they came from and what they were meant to do.