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It’s never been easy to be a woman. But in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was especially treacherous. Childfree, unmarried, and other “weird” women were accused of witchcraft and executed in retaliation for being themselves.

The Sanderson sisters, the main characters in the Hocus Pocus movies, were outcasts, weird women who were intensely disliked by the townspeople of Salem. They were called ugly, old hags and cast out of their community for not fitting in.

This Halloween, let’s take a look at what Hocus Pocus can show us about how single, childfree women are othered, and why being a witch was a tempting way to escape all the constraints society places on women.

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