Hocus Pocus: 5 Times Winifred Was The Strongest Sister (& 5 Times She Was The Weakest)

Winifred Sanderson is the head witch in charge in Disney’s Hocus Pocus. Joined with her two sisters Mary and Sarah, Winifred was on a mission to be youthful and live forever. Before she and her sisters were hung for killing the Binx family’s daughter, Winifred did a spell that would resurrect them from the dead as long as the black flam candle was lit by a virgin on Halloween night.

Three-hundred years later, Max Dennison lit the black flame candle on Halloween night and brought the women back to life. And as persistent and intelligent as Winifred Sanderson was, she had her weak moments that proved she wasn’t as strong as she led on.

10 Strongest: Her Relationship With The Book

Known as “Book,” Winifred cares for her spellbook like it’s her own child. As soon as she was brought back from the dead, she found solace in holding her book. It’s because of the book that Winifred was as powerful as she was.

Oddly enough, some fans didn’t realize that Mary and Sarah didn’t have the same kind of relationship with Book as Winifred did. Without the book, the Sanderson sisters would have stayed dead 300-odd years ago.

9 Weakest: She’s Selfish

When speaking about being youthful, Winifred said “Youthfulness is mine” instead of “ours.” When Max stole the book from the Sanderson sisters, Winifred’s only way to succeed was to have help from her sisters.

She may be one of the strongest sisters but she couldn’t have done what she did without the help of Mary and Sarah. If she wanted to live for young and be beautiful, she needed help. Pushing others under the bus for personal gain only did her harm instead of good.

8 Strongest: She Has The Ability To Physically Shock People

Every Halloween-themed movie is different but in Hocus Pocus, the Sanderson witches have powers beyond owning a spellbook. Sarah can sing in a mesmerizing way that entices children to their home, and Mary can smell children, which comes in hand when children are the target. Winifred, however, has the strongest of powers.

One of her powers is her electrokinesis. It’s the ability to electrocute people so they’re shocked with fear in a stable position. It’s a pretty powerful move that they would be lost without.

7 Weakest: She’s Nothing Without Her Sisters

As strong and smart as Winifred is, she is nothing without Mary and Sarah. In fact, they’re all useless without each other, which is why their bond is so strong.

Even though Winifred can electrocute people and move people with her spellbook, she needs Mary to sniff out the children and she needs Sarah to bring the children to their home. Once the children are at their home, they’re able to suck the souls and youthfulness from the child to live forever. One cannot do the job of all three.

6 Strongest: She Can Physically Move People With Her Dark Magic

Not only does Winifred have a spellbook that answers to her and electrokinesis, but she also has the ability to physically move people when she needs to.

Once she has her prey locked in her electric shock, she’s able to move them from one side of the room to the other to hurt them. (Or as Sarah says, “play” with them.) It could be different in the book, but viewers have never seen Sarah or Mary do such a thing unless it’s them physically grabbing them.

5 Weakest: Without Her Book, She’s Nothing

Let’s be honest, Winifred is nothing without her spellbook. Her memory doesn’t appear to be as strong as Sarah’s, which is why she relies on her book so strongly. It’ll be interesting if the sequel brings the two together again. 

At the beginning of the movie, Winifred is seeing flipping through the book while preparing her potion to kill Emily Binx. After the three sisters are captured, it’s because of the spellbook opening to the right page that Winifred is able to cast a spell that resurrected them on Halloween night. Fast forward 300 years, Winifred can’t remember the potions off-hand without her book. The Sandersons captured those high school bullies and can’t do a thing to them without the spellbook unless they remember the potion’s recipe.

4 Strongest: She’s The Leader Of The Pack

It’s the same thing for professional sports teams, countries, companies, and the like: the strongest person for the job typically gets the job. In the Sanderson sisters’ case, Winifred is the smartest of the three and the most driven. She’s evil enough to create a gameplan that can make them live forever.

Without Winifred, Sarah and Mary would have been left for dead hundreds of years ago. It’s Winifred that brought the family back to life looking younger than ever. Without Winifred, Mary and Sarah would probably be dancing around Salem without a bad bone in their body. Likewise, Allison was the leader of her pack when it came to getting rid of the Sandersons.

3 Weakest: She’s More Emotional Than She Lets On

Every strong character has their weak moments, including Winifred Sanderson. As brave and strong as Winifred acts, she’s actually quite emotional and runs on fear. It’s because of fear that Winifred works her tail off ’till the morning hours to live forever. However, when the Sandersons thought they had nothing else to live for, Winifred crumbled.

Dressed in her witchiest garb, Mary coddled her and tried to make her feel at ease when she lost all hope and thought they’d be dead in a matter of hours. Furthermore, she also cried when those two high schoolers called her ugly! If anyone was going to cry, one would think it would be Sarah — the one who live off her looks.

2 Strongest: She Can Bring People Back From The Dead

One small aspect of Winifred’s powers that is overlooked is how she can bring people back from the dead. When Max, Dani, Allison, and Thackery are in the graveyard, Winifred uses her powers to bring her ex-boyfriend Billy back from the grave. What Winifred didn’t expect was for Billy to be disorderly.

Billy came back for the dead and chased the kids just to use a pocket knife to cut his mouth open after years of it being sewn shut. He hated Winifred for cursing him for all these years and didn’t care to help her. But it was quite impressive that she brought him back from the dead. And let’s not forget that they turned Thackery into a cat for life!

1 Weakest: She Was The First One To Be Killed

As strong as Winifred is, she was the first one to die among her sisters. After not being able to kill a child to suck their youthfulness from them, as soon as the sun rose into the sky Winifred slowly turned to rock and died.

After Mary and Sarah died, Winifred’s hardened shell burst into thousands of pieces. That was the end of the Sanderson sisters. It’s aparent that no matter how strong Winifred was, she wasn’t strong enough to live forever.

About The Author

Lynn Gibbs
(1645 Articles Published)

Lynn is a nomad who travels the globe on the hunt for her next adventure with her husband. A lover of being outside (and finding the best latte in town), Lynn is typically hiking, walking, or jogging when she’s not focusing on her love of writing. When it comes to shows streaming on Netflix or anything Bravo-related, Lynn’s your gal.

More From Lynn Gibbs