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Portrayal(s): Bette Midler, Taylor Henderson (younger)
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Full Name: Winifred Sanderson
Sobriquet (Nickname/Nicknames): "Winnie"
Gender: Female
Age: 16 (1653), 18 (1655), 56 (at the time of her death), 356 (resurrected once in 1993; Hocus Pocus), 385 (resurrected twice in 2022; Hocus Pocus 2)
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Parent(s): Unnamed biological parents †, "Mother" (adoptive mother) †
Sibling(s): Mary Sanderson (younger sister) †, Sarah Sanderson (youngest sister) †
Significant Other(s): Billy Butcherson (ex-boyfriend/ex-lover) †
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Date of Birth: April 6th, 1637
Date of Death: 1693
Cause: Hanging
Homeplace: Sanderson Sisters' Cottage; Salem, Massachusetts
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Occupation: Witch
Affiliation(s): The Sanderson Sisters
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Like(s): Absorbing children's souls, flying, making/creating potions, studying dark magic, witchcraft, worshiping Satan, Mother, torture, being youthful, scorpion pies, harming or manipulating others, singing
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Dislike(s): Being called, "ugly", being tricked, getting cheated on, rejection, Max, Becca, and the others, her sisters' incompetence and stupidity, her spellbook being harmed or stolen, aging, getting insulted, her sisters getting taken away, Mother's death
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Ability/Abilities: Electrokinesis, Dark Magic, hypnotic singing (limited), Bibliomancy, potion brewing, casting spells
Paraphernalia(s): Manual of Witchcraft and Alchemy, broomstick (formerly), rake (currently)
Status: Deceased
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Background: Winifred Sanderson was the first and the eldest of the two sisters. She's highly intelligent, dramatic, cruel, temperamental, manipulative, logical, wise, and most knowably, evil. Back when she was young, her parents one day left without return. This forced Winifred to stay and raise her younger sisters on her own without a parental figure. By her sixteenth birthday, Winifred's forced to marry John Pritchett from the demand of Reverend Traske despite Winifred's refusal and her love for Billy Butcherson.
Winifred was sentenced to be banished from Salem. Her and her younger sisters would then escape from Reverend Traske and the mob to avoid any further danger. They later went to the woods to remain hidden. They would stumble across the first witch named Mother. Winifred idolizes her and remains close with Mother until her death two years later which would deeply effect her.
It was then Winifred would become the villain that citizens in Salem have feared and recognized since the witch trials.
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Trivia:
- Winifred Sanderson took inspiration of the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1900's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- Winifred's main nickname, "Winnie" is named based on Winnie Gillis from the Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver sitcom, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
- According to Allison in a piece of deleted dialogue back at Hocus Pocus (1993) from the shooting script, Winifred's father was mentioned to be a warlock. However, in this sequel (even the redraft version), Winifred and her sisters shared a single father. He works as an apothecary, a person that prepares/sold medicine and drugs.
- Despite that the Sandersons' father died right before Winifred's sixteenth birthday and that their mother's status is unknown in the sequel. In this redraft (Act III), their biological parents abandoned Winifred and her sisters at a very young age.