Winifred Sanderson

### ENEMIES

Rev. James Traske, Abigail Traske, Josiah Traske, Salem Villagers, Thackery Binx, Children

## BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

### PLACE OF BIRTH

Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Earth-199999

### PLACE OF DEATH

Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Earth-199999

## FAMILY

### RELATIVES

Jacob Sanderson (Father), Priscilla the Terrible (Mother), Mary Sanderson (Sister), Sarah Sanderson (Sister), Gaylette Troske (Daughter), King Syrus Mordo the Terrible (Grandson), King Pastoria Mordo (Grandson), Langwidere [Mombi] Mordo (Great-Granddaughter), Singra Mordo (Great-Granddaughter), Locasta Mordo the Good (Great-Granddaughter), Evanora Mordo the Wicked (Great-Granddaughter), Glinda Mordo the Good, (Great-Granddaughter), Theodora Mordo the Wicked (Great-Grandaughter), Syrus Palpatine (2nd Great-Grandson), Lumiya Palpatine (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Kendal Palpatine (2nd Great-Grandson), Lavina Diggs (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Iris Diggs (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Dorthy Gale (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Azra Vortigan (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Hila Vortigan (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Hasira Vortigan (2nd Great-Granddaughter), Faida Vortigan (2nd Great-Granddaughter)

“*Therefore, it stands to reason, does it not, sisters dear? That we must find the book, brew the potion and suck the lives out of the children of Salem before sunrise. Otherwise it's curtains. We evaporate! We cease to exist! Dost thou comprehend?*”
―Winifred reveals her motives and their fate to her sisters
**Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson** is the leader of the Salem Coven. She is the eldest and most intelligent witch who lived during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, along with her two sisters Mary and Sarah.

For her witchy activities, she was sentenced to death by the Salem townsfolk in 1693, and was later brought back from the dead by Max Dennison after three hundred years. Upon her return, Winifred begun to terrorize the town in hopes of kidnapping children and stealing their souls to keep herself from dying and aging once more.

## Background

Winifred was born in 1637 in Salem, Massachusetts where she lived with her two younger sisters, Mary and Sarah as orphans after their father, an apothecary, died. At some point in her youth, Winifred shared a kiss with Billy Butcherson in a graveyard and grew to believe they were soulmates, despite the fact that he didn't reciprocate this feeling.

In 1653, on her sixteenth birthday, Reverend Traske arranged for Winifred to marry John Pritchett. She adamantly refused and took the Lord's name in vain. When she wouldn't relent in her decision, Traske deemed that she had defied the authority of the church and had her banished from Salem. Rather than let her sisters, Mary and Sarah, be taken away from her, Winifred escaped with them to the nearby forbidden wood. There, they made the acquaintance of a forest enchantress, name Priscilla the Terrible who was their mother, and she sensed that Winifred, too, was a witch. The enchantress gifted Winifred a spellbook for her sixteenth birthday, but explicitly warned the Sanderson sisters against casting a spell known as the Magicae Maxima. Mother Witch also revealed to them that by killing children witches could stay young and "ridiculously" beautiful. Later that night, Winifred and her sisters successful sought revenge against Reverend Traske by casting a spell to set fire to his home.

Four years later Winifred decided to seek revenge against Traske and his family for a second time. Using her magic, she seduced the reverand's son, Josiah Traske. After a short lieason, she decided to kill him and leave the body in front of the family's door to their utter horror. This terrible act of cruelty would later result in the birth of a child who Winifred named Gaylette, and who would become a wicked witch in her own right, prior to marrying King Ozroar of Oz. It is through Gaylette that Winifred is is an ancestor of the Ozium Royal Family, House of Palpatine, House of Gale, and House of Vortigan.

Afterwards, Winifred and her sisters moved into a cottage on the outskirts of Salem in the late 1600's. When Winifred learned that Billy Butcherson took her sister Sara as his lover, she poisoned him on May 1, 1693, and sowed his mouth shut with a dull needle so that he could not reveal her secrets even in death.

### Personality

Winifred is highly intelligent, dramatic, sadistic, cruel, smart, temperamental, clever, logical, competent, wise, witty, and evil, which makes her all the more deadly if one isn't careful. Extremely vain, she is deeply offended whenever she is called ugly and swiftly punishes anyone who dares do so. According to Thackery Binx, when she caught her lover, Billy Butcherson, cheating on her with her beautiful sister Sarah, she flew into a jealous rage and poisoned him, sewing his lips shut with a dull needle for good measure, and for being unfaithful to her, and due to this, Winifred is described to be always the most jealous type among her sisters.

As the eldest of her sisters, Winifred is their leader, though she probably would be anyway due to her cunning and competence, traits which her sisters lack. She is also shown to be much more smarter, clever, and observant than her younger sisters. Mary is her right-hand witch and compliments Winifred constantly, but Sarah's air-headed idiocy in particular frequently exasperates her to no good end. However, Winifred tolerates them either because her idolized mother asked her to, or because they each have invaluable, unique powers necessary for her plans. Her own unique power is electrokinesis, which can easily and painfully subdue pesky older siblings who get in her way.

But if there is one thing she truly loves in the world, it is her beloved spellbook. Originally owned by the Devil before being entrusted upon generations of witches with herself as its latest heir and able to magically change its contents to fit the situation, it is a priceless treasure that she absolutely adores. When she speaks to her book, she mostly cares for, and mostly kind to it, just like the book is her own child.

Her spellbook helps her find the perfect spells and potions to cause misfortune to others, be it painfully transforming her victims into other creatures or brewing a potion to suck away their life-force. Winifred enjoys harming others with wicked glee and even when facing execution, her sarcastic, cruel sense of humor remains unfazed.

After their revival in Hocus Pocus 2, Winifred became determined to perform the *Magicae Maxima* despite having promised The Witch Mother that she and her sisters would never use it, as she wanted to take revenge on the Traske bloodline for the wrongs done to the Sisters by their ancestor, Reverend Traske. But when they succeeded in performing the *Magicae Maxima*, because Winifred had been so stubborn and persistent, she'd failed to read the spell's warning that to cast it would cost her what she cherished most, which turned out to be her sisters, and she was horrified as she could only watch helplessly as her sisters turned to dust before her eyes. Realizing what she'd done, overcome with guilt and heartbreak, she begged Becca, Izzy, and Cassie, as well as the Book for help to get her sisters back, even stating her newfound powers meant nothing if she did not have her sisters, proving that in spite of how she treated them Winifred loved her sisters more than anything in the world that she would forsake such power to have them back. Even though the Reuniting Spell did not bring them back but rather sent Winifred to them, she was satisfied and bore no grudge, even commending the girls and stated they were lucky to have each other before she vanished to be with her sisters again, implying Winifred had found peace.

### Physical appearance

Winifred's most striking feature is her fiery red hair, which she wears in a distinctive, curled bouffant style that resembles the shape of a heart. She wears shades of green that contrast nicely with her hair in the form of a richly-embroidered velvet robe over a green and deep purple dress. Eyebrow-less, buck-toothed, and with claw-like fingernails, Winifred cuts a memorable figure enhanced by her strongly rouged cheeks and uniquely lipsticked mouth. She had striped green stockings and shoes with curved points. When she went outside, she wore a dark green hooded cloak.

### Powers and abilities

As the oldest sister, Winifred is the most powerful and intelligent of the three witches, with an extraordinary proficiency in dark magic. The many effects she can achieve through dark magic include:

* **Electrokinesis:** Her signature magical ability, Winifred could project her power from her very fingertips in a form that resembles green lightning. Not only can the lightning be used to electrocute her target, but it can also be used as a form of kinesis. For example, during Max's and Winifred's first confrontation, after she knocked him down through her electrokinesis, she went on to use electricity to telekinetically move and toss his entire being about, and even levitated him into the air, causing him extreme pain as she did so.
* **Hypnotic Voice:** Winifred and her sisters could bewitch others through song - by means of her song ("*I Put a Spell on You*"), she and her sisters hypnotized a group of adults into believing that Max's warnings about her and her sisters were just *"a good joke"*, and then went on to cast a spell of perpetual dance on them. Likewise, another of their songs ("*One Way Or Another*") enchanted several citizens to help them find Jefry Traske, the Mayor of Salem. Sara also implied that when working in tandem, they could all indeed bewitch teenagers, however they left before they could attempt to do so.
* **Potion Brewing:** The ability to create beverages that produce specific magical effects. Winifred possessed immense skill with potions (especially those that originated from her spell-book), most notably the Life Potion, which she brewed with her sisters' help.
* **Spell Casting:** The ability to cast spells to produce specific magical effects. Winifred also possessed immense skill with spells (especially those that originated from her spell-book), which she often performed with her sisters' help. Other additional abilities she derived from this power are:
	+ **Cursing:** The ability to induce curses. To punish Thackery Binx for insulting them, and to force him to live forever with his guilt over failing to save his sister from them, the three sisters cursed him to become an immortal black cat. Also, before they were hanged, Winifred cast a final curse through her spell-book, enabling them to return from the grave three centuries later, with Max (a virgin) lighting the Black Flame Candle on a Halloween full moon. Her curse also ensured that the three sisters survived Allison's plan to burn them alive in a kiln.
	+ **Necromancy:** Through a spell that she cast independently, Winifred summoned Billy Butcherson from his grave as a zombie to do her bidding. However, while he initially seemed to be on her side, he was revealed to hold her in utter contempt, and later sided with her opponents against her and her sisters.
	+ **Continual Action Inducement:** The ability to cause others to keep doing one action or a series of actions until they literally die. After Winifred hypnotized the adults through her singing voice, she and her sisters went on to sing a catchy song interwoven with a spell that made the adults *"dance until they died"* (though it was fortunately broken before said deaths could occur).
* **Broom Flight:** The ability to fly using brooms. Winifred is skilled in broom flight, and could also fly using a standard sweeping broom as an alternative to her normal broomstick.
* **Supernatural Strength:** Winifred displayed strength beyond that of a normal human when she effortlessly caught and wrenched a baseball bat ouf of Max's hands and lifted him off his feet with little effort while trying to drain his life force.
* **Conjuration:** Winifred could magically create solid objects such as ropes or a row of stitches sewn on to Billy's mouth from nothing.
* **Bibliomancy:** (formerly) Winifred was able to use her spell book to divine the specific magic that would be most useful or most helpful to her and her sisters in whatever situation they were in - her book would always automatically flip to the particular entry that they needed most (the recipe for the Life Potion, the curse to transform someone into an immortal animal, etc.).

### Weaknesses

* **Hallowed Ground:** Witches can't set foot on hallowed ground. When Winifred fell onto the hallowed ground in a cemetery, she turned into stone.
* **Salt:** Salt protects against dark magic, thus a circle of salt can protect Winifred's victim from her power. Likewise, a circle of salt can contain Winnie and her sisters until the circle is broken. Apparently, when another witch employs salt against Winifred, the salt's protection is enhanced.

## Biography

In 1693, the Sanderson Sisters, now graying and stooped with age, decide to brew the Life Potion, which will steal the life force of a child to restore their own youth and vitality. As Winifred and Mary work on the potion, they send Sarah out to lure a child with her siren-like voice. She soon returns with a young girl named Emily Binx, whom they bewitch in no time to sit docilely in a chair as they finish up the potion. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, the girl's elder brother Thackery interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Mary and Sarah gleefully chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. A furious Winifred easily subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age on Halloween night.

Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Winifred initially plans to simply kill him, but she changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily.

Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but an air-headed Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured and hanged. But before they die, Winifred casts one final spell declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem.

A full three-hundred years later, the sisters are revived when someone lights the Black Flame Candle, which mysterious powers can summon them back from the dead- but only for a single night. Nevertheless, the sisters are overjoyed at returning to their cottage, even more so when Mary announces that she smells children. Her powerful nose leads them straight to a young girl's hiding place, forcing her, Dani, out into the open. They pick her up and almost succeed in throwing her into their cauldron when Dani's older brother, Max, - the one who lit the candle- jumps out of hiding, demanding that they release his sister. Amused, Winifred easily subdues him with her powers. Winifred practices her witchcraft on him, delighted that she hasn't lost her touch at all. However, Dani and Max's friend, Allison manages to wallop Mary with a frying pan as Dani hits Winifred and Sarah with her trick-or-treat bag. Before Winnie can retaliate, a black cat attacks her out of nowhere, giving Dani enough time to wake up her dazed brother. Max triggers the sprinklers, which he convinces the witches is a "burning rain of death". The cat orders Max to grab the spellbook, batting at him impatiently when Max stares at the talking cat in shock. Nevertheless, he breaks into the glass case containing the book and makes his escape along with the cat.

The sisters find them at the cemetery and Winifred summons her ex-boyfriend, Billy Butcherson, to get her book back. The sisters encounter a bus driver and rode on the bus, until Mary smelled children. But they were confused when the children were wearing costumes. They encounter a man dressed as Satan and mistaking him for their true master and his wife to be Medusa (a woman with snake-like curlers in her hair), but were so chased out of the house by the man's wife but finds their brooms gone after they were taken by some children dressed like the sisters. When Winifred unmasked a kid in a costume, she realizes the truth of Halloween that children wear costumes and run amok which Sarah finds funny and Winfred punches her in the stomach to get her to stop.

The sisters went to a Halloween party where Max's parents and Max, Dani, and Allison tried to warn them, but they didn't believe them, so Max went to the stage and used a microphone to tell everyone about the Sanderson Sister and revealed them, but Winifred ridicules him before singing "I Put a Spell on You" therefore enchanting all the adults causing them to dance until they die. After this they went to Max and Allison's high school where Max spoke through the microphone at the office telling them that the spellbook is here. The sisters heard a voice taking about a book which the sisters think it know about the spellbook, but it was actually a tape recording and were unwittingly lead to a kiln where the children locked the door and burned them alive after Allison gets an idea from a restaurant.

However, they did not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise. Mary used her smelling to find Max, but they were lead to two high school bullies, Jay and Ernie (better known as Ice) as Ernie was wearing Max's shoes that he stole them during their first encountering with Max and making fun of him. After Jay called the sisters ugly chicks, the sisters captured them and took them to their cottage locking them in small hanging cages. Knowing they don't have much time left, Winifred tried to make the potion from memory, but she can't remember the ingredients and called out to her book and cried in despair.

Allison and Max, despite the warnings that nothing good can come from the book, open it to find a cure Thackery's immortality and the book sends out a signal after being opened. Winifred saw the signal and used a corn broom, while Sarah used a mop and Mary used a Hoover vacuum cleaner to fly to its location. They secretly invade the house and grabbed the book, but after accidentally breaking some glass and knowing that Max and Alison would come to get Dani and Thackery, they hid in the closet as Sarah hid under the blankets. Max and Alison arrived and the sisters revealed themselves. The sisters violently exploding from the house, but not before Winifred reveals the nature of the spell that brought them back to Allison.

Winifred and Mary made their way back to the cottage while Sarah sang her siren song to all the children of Salem so they will go to the house. When Dani called her "the ugliest thing that ever lived", Winifred decides to kill her first. After brewing the potion again they try to get Dani to drink it, but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car and Max drained all the potion. However they realize they have been tricked and Winifred was upset that her potion was all gone, but there was still enough potion left for one child. Despite Sarah and Mary saying that they have Jay and Ernie and that more children are here, Winifred wanted to used the life potion on Dani as revenge for calling her ugly.

The sisters chased after them and Winifred ordered Billy to kill Max, but he used Max's knife to sever the stitches on his lips, he apparently breaks the control Winifred has over him and joins the kids against them. Dani is put in Billy's grave while Allison circles some salt around to prevent the witches from reaching her. The sisters arrived and fought the kids and Billy. When Winifred knocked down Billy's head, Dani came out to give Billy his head back giving Winifred the opportunity to grab her. Winifred takes out the vial of potion and tried to force Dani into opening her mouth to drink it to "teach" her a lesson about "calling people ugly", but Thackery saves Dani by knocking the last vial of the life stealing potion out of Winifred's hand and Max catches it. Winifred grabs Thackery and threw him to a rock. Max threatens to smash the vial of potion, but Winifred threatens to kill Dani if he did. With no other choice, Max drinks the potion and Winifred lets Dani go and grabs Max trying to suck his life force, but Max tried to hold her off while Dani, Allison, and Billy hold back Sarah and Mary to prevent them from helping Winifred by grabbing the plug hanged from Mary's vacuum cleaner. They let go causing the two sister to fly high up to the air out of control and letting Max and Winifred fall to the ground. Winifred recovers and tries to steal Max's life force, but because she is standing on hallowed ground, she turns to stone as the sun came up. Sarah and Mary both explode, with Winifred's statue doing so afterward.

At the end of the film, however, the book is seen and it blinks, therefore hinting the sisters are not entirely gone.

## Family

### **Descendents**

#### **Grandchildren**

1. Syrus Mordo the Terrible (Via Gaylette Traske)
2. Pastoria Mordo (Via Gaylette Traske)

#### **Great-Grandchildren**

1. Langwidere [Mombi] Mordo (Via Syrus Mordo the Terrible)
2. Singra Mordo (Via Syrus Mordo the Terrible)
3. Locasta Mordo the Good (Via Pastoria Mordo)
4. Evanora Mordo the Wicked (Via Pastoria Mordo)
5. Glinda Mordo the Good (Via Pastoria Mordo)
6. Theodora Mordo the Wicked (Via Pastoria Mordo)

**2nd Great-Grandchildren**

1. Syrus Palpatine (Via Evanora Mordo the Wicked)
2. Lumiya Palpatine (Via Evanora Mordo the Wicked)
3. Kendal Palpatine (Via Evanora Mordo the Wicked)
4. Lavina Diggs (Via Glinda Mordo the Good)
5. Iris Diggs (Via Glinda Mordo the Good)
6. Dorthy Gale (Via Glinda Mordo the Good)
7. Azra Vortigan (Via Theodora Mordo the Wicked)
8. Hila Vortigan (Via Theodora Mordo the Wicked)
9. Hasira Vortigan (Via Theodora Mordo the Wicked)
10. Faida Vortigan (Via Theodora Mordo the Wicked)