Unmasking the Spell: The Jaw-Dropping Secrets Behind Hocus Pocus (1993) That Disney Wishes You’d Never Discover!
Added on September 29, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, Movie News Cards
Popular
Numerology Meets Netflix: Get Your Daily Dose of Cosmic Cinema Suggestions Powered By Our AI Astrologer. Find The Show Or Movie You Were Meant To See!
Ever wonder if Mercury in retrograde could explain the eerie allure of witches and their bewitching tales? Well, buckle up, because today we’re diving into a story far darker than your usual Halloween haunted house flick. You see, the beloved Disney cult classic Hocus Pocus—you know, the one with the Sanderson Sisters lighting up our screens every spooky season—is actually inspired by grim real-life events that sent nearly 200 souls to a miserable fate back in the 1600s. Shocking, right? While we cozy up to this charming, comedic romp featuring resurrected witches and a talking black cat, the genuine saga behind it is a chilling mix of murder, madness, and mass hysteria that makes your typical ghost story look like a bedtime lullaby. But hey, in true cosmic irony, even Sarah Jessica Parker is tangled in this historical web thanks to a surprising ancestral link. So, ready to swap your pumpkin spice for a deep dive into Salem’s sinister past and see how those real sisters compare to their silver screen doppelgängers? Let’s unravel the truth behind the magic… LEARN MORE
Did you know that Hocus Pocus is based on real life murders and torture that killed nearly 200 people in the 1600s? Do I have your attention? The Salem witch trials of the late 1600s claimed the lives of men and women believed to be actual sorcerers of the dark arts who were said to be plaguing the town of Salem with black magic and satanic seduction. And ya know what… Disney made a classic beloved family-comedy about it that you, me, and just about everyone we know watch every single year for Halloween. But what if I told you that the REAL story wasn’t exactly a cozy popcorn story you’d show your kids, but instead a dark and violent rampage that had nothing to do with talking cats or wise-cracking zombies? In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the REAL Salem witch trials and how the story compares to the widely loved 90s nostalgia bomb that is Hocus Pocus. And also, I have information about how Sarah Jessica Parker might ACTUALLY be connected to the real story. Let’s get into it.
For those of you who don’t know, Hocus Pocus is the story of The Sanderson Sisters, a coven of sibling witches that are burned at the stake in the 1600s after being accused of witchcraft and their home is turned into a museum of the macabre practices they used. Then hundreds of years later, a new Salem resident, a virgin named Max, lights the black flame candle in their museum which brings them back to life for one night on Halloween to capture the souls of the town’s children and remain young forever. So you know, right off the bat Disney is playing into the idea that these women were, in fact, witches and paints the sisters as likable antagonists who DO harbor ill-intent towards the children of the town. But in REAL life, none of this was ever actually proven.
The movie’s “Sanderson Sisters” are loosely based on a trio of REAL sisters from the 1600s called “The Towne Sisters,” who were accused of witchcraft by the town of Topsfield, MA and used as a catalyst for the witch trials. See, while Hocus Pocus may need to rely on the sisters being actual witches in order for the movie to work, in the real story, the conviction of these women was much more… complicated.
So, where did this all start? What made the town SO deadset on these sisters being twisted mistresses of evil? Well, would you believe me if I said that (like every conflict in the 1600s) this all started over a property dispute? It’s not as sexy out loud as it seems in the script…
The Towne Family lived in Topsfield which bordered on what was then known as Salem Village. There farm was located right next door to a respected Salem family, the Putnams. While the two families could never agree on where one farm property stopped and the other began, it hardly seemed like witchcraft. But the Putnams always had negative things to say about the Townes. And this sparked the initial conflict. Over time, the Putnams would openly accuse the Towne family of being evil witches with an agenda to gain the trust of the locals. And seeing as before these claims, the sisters were a respected religious family, it became easy to see their status as threatening if they WERE fooling the townsfolk.
By the spring of 1692, fear was spreading like wildfire through Salem Village. Whispers of witchcraft had already claimed neighbors, friends, and strangers alike — and soon, they would touch the lives of three sisters from the Towne family.
Rebecca Nurse was the eldest — seventy-one years old, frail, and almost deaf. To everyone in Topsfield and Salem, she was known for her kindness, her unwavering devotion to God, and her calm presence. If ever there was a woman above suspicion, it was Rebecca. Yet in March, a now historic group of witnesses to witchcraft known as “the afflicted girls” began to convulse in the town’s meetinghouse, crying out that Rebecca’s “specter”/ghosts tormented them. Basically, they claimed that she was spawning ghosts and spirits from beyond the grave to haunt and possess them.
Old grudges stirred: the Putnams, who had quarreled bitterly with the Towne family over land, pressed the charge. Despite dozens signing a petition in her defense, Rebecca was brought to trial. At first, even the judges hesitated. But when one of the girls screamed that Rebecca’s ghost pinched her in open court, the tide turned. On July 19, 1692, Rebecca Nurse was hanged on Gallows Hill. Her death did not end the accusations.
Only weeks later, Mary Eastey — another of the Towne sisters — was named. Like Rebecca, Mary was admired for her involvement with the church. She was arrested, then briefly released when the court doubted the charges. But the afflicted girls renewed their claims with greater fury, insisting that her spirit tortured them at night. Mary was taken again, and this time there would be no escape. Before her execution, she wrote a petition to the judges, begging not for her own life but that they end the shedding of innocent blood. On September 22, she too was hanged.
The youngest sister, Sarah Cloyce, also fell under suspicion. Her “crime” was walking out of church in protest when the minister preached against Rebecca, her beloved sister. To leave in such a fashion was seen as a bold defense of a witch — and in Salem, such defiance was dangerous. Sarah was accused and imprisoned, but unlike Rebecca and Mary, she survived. The madness ended before her trial was complete, and eventually she walked free.
And these aren’t the only cases of this happening in those days. This was the puritan era where over 200 men and women were accused of these practices, and out of them, 19 were hanged to death, 1 man was pressed (or squashed) to death, and at least 10 more died in prison of either starvation, or bacterial infections suffered from wounds they were given during daily beatings. And that was in 1692 ALONE.
Now- obviously nobody wants to watch THAT with their 6 year old kid at Halloween- right? RIGHT?
So, the general vibe of the entire story had to be changed to suit the type of movie that we might wanna watch again and again. With the movie obviously choosing to frame the sisters as actual witches and given the fact that the town does in fact have a history of accused witchcraft, we of course eat it up every single time.
Now, I also mentioned that Sarah Jessica Parker may have a connection to this real life story, and that’s true. It was discovered sometime during the production of the film (through research that Sarah Jessica Parker did for the role) that she is a descendant of Esther Elwell, who was accused of witchcraft in the Salem trials but survived because the court dissolved before her execution could be carried out. Spooky.
And the similarities between the real events and the film only became more scarce when the recent Hocus Pocus 2 gave audiences an insight to the origin story of the witches and we learn that they were NEVER respected figures in their town, or anywhere else.
In real life though, the story is more akin to Robert Eggers’ The Witch than it is to quirky and charming adventures of Hocus Pocus. With Thomasin being accused of witchcraft that she ISN’T performing, until Black Phillip like… makes her a witch for real and then the whole comparison falls apart. Although, personally I also like to revisit The Witch every Halloween so… what does that say about me?
But obviously it’s just more fun to think of these witch trials as spooky folklore for the fall season, than it is to think about a group of sisters that were hanged and tortured over a couple of daisies overgrowing onto their neighbors’ lawn.
But folks, that is the REAL story of the Towne sisters, or the closest real-life counterparts to the Sanderson Sisters, and their tragic downfall from respected public figures in their community, to outcasts who suffered a horrific fate at the hands of the very people they worked so hard to intermingle with. Were you having a good day? Sorry if I ruined it for you. Happy Halloween season!
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
This will close in 0 seconds
This will close in 0 seconds
 That Disney Wishes You’d Never Discover!', 'https%3A%2F%2Ficonoclasmic.com%2Funmasking-the-spell-the-jaw-dropping-secrets-behind-hocus-pocus-1993-that-disney-wishes-youd-never-discover%2F')){kind=link}