The Evil Wiki
Advertisement

Nothing good can come from this Book. You got it?!
~ Thackery Binx's warning about the Spellbook.

The Spellbook is an evil magic book owned and used by the Sanderson Sisters (Winnie, Mary and Sarah) to create potions and cast spells, and it plays a major antagonistic role in the 1993 live-action Disney movie Hocus Pocus. It is generally just referred to by Winnie as Book.

History

This cursed spellbook was said to be given to Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson by The Devil himself. It is bound in human skin, it contains the recipes for her most powerful and evil spells. The book has a human eye on the front cover, and often sleeps, only waking to the sound of its mistress who dotes on and cherishes it, meaning the book is alive and, on some level, intelligent.

The book's actual history seemed to be much more complicated; while its ties with the Devil being unmistakable, the spellbook apparently had been passed down throughout generations of witches. Sanderson sisters happened to be latest heirs of the book, having inherited it from their predecessor known only as the "Mother Witch", an evil enchantress whom they met and subsequently became their mentor shortly after their exile from Salem on Winnie's 16th birthday.

Pages of the Spellbook

The pages of the Spellbook contains certain spells and secrets including the power of the Black Flame Candle.

Among its contents is the Life Potion, an evil elixir that allows the 3 witches to suck the life-force of the drinker to replenish their youth. Another is a number of "miracles" of witchcraft including spells that curses a victim with immortality, transforms victims into cats, raise the dead, and also the "Excruciating Punishments" which is a list of how to curse victims with many cruel punishments such as amnesia, boils and blisters, etc.

The Black Flame Candle Spell

The Black Flame Candle Spell

It's most important curse was the "Black Flame Candle Spell": if in the event the witches were killed, that if a virgin lit the Black Flame Candle on Hallow's Eve (Halloween) during a full moon, the 3 witches would return alive for one night unless they suck the life out of a child lest they turn to dust at sunrise.

The book is protected by magic and cannot be burned nor destroyed. It is an unholy record of sorcery and nothing good can come from it.

Although earlier in the film, there is one passage in the Spellbook that Max Dennison and his girlfriend Alison later used to their advantage in their defense against the Sanderson Sisters' attack, the "Circle of Salt": according to the book, salt (not to be confused with the old European superstition of spilling salt) is a tool of white magic, can used in forming a surrounding circle, only then can it protect victims from black magic, zombies, witches, and, as Alison hilariously guessed, old boyfriends. Alison tossed a limited amount of salt at Sarah Sanderson and it made her sorcerous ability to fly gone awry.

After the deaths of the Sanderson Sisters, the Book was last seen in the witches' cottage, opening its eye, and presumably remained there.

Over the next 29 years, Book falls into the hands of Gilbert who witnessed the witches' and their demise in 1993. Guided by Book, Gilbert creates two new Black Flame Candles and succeeds in tricking Becca and Izzy into using one to resurrect the Sanderson sisters once again in 2022. Book is reunited with Winnie, but he is reluctant to help Winnie with the Magicae Maxima spell, causing Winnie to force Book into submission after repeatedly ignoring Book's attempts to warn her about the dangers of using that particular spell.

During the spell, Becca, who is a newly-discovered witch, convinces Book to abandon Winnie, recognizing that he doesn't want the spell to be performed. Book shows Becca, Izzy and Cassie the warning that Winnie had ignored and they realize that it means that Winnie will be sacrificing Mary and Sarah for the power that she wants and attempt to warn Winnie too late. After her sisters turn to dust, Winnie desperately begs Book for help one last time, willing to give up all of her power just to have Mary and Sarah back. Sympathetic to Winnie's plight, Book provides Becca, Izzy and Cassie with the Spell of Reuniting which turns Winnie to dust to join her sisters, much to Winnie's delight. Watching Winnie's death, Book sheds a tear.

In the aftermath, Becca decides to keep Book for herself and she, Izzy and Cassie plan to use him to continue their own witchcraft.

Gallery

Trivia

  • It is also referred to as the Spell Book, the Sanderson Sisters' Spellbook, Winifred Sanderson's Spellbook or Winnie Sanderson's Spellbook. It is also affectionately called "Book" by Winnie Sanderson since it was her most prized possession and her darling "pet" as she loves the book more then even her own 2 sisters.
  • The Manual of Witchcraft & Alchemy

    The Manual of Witchcraft & Alchemy

    The Spellbook's original name is "Manuel of Witchcraft & Alchemy" as revealed and shown on the first written page of the Book.
  • The Spellbook shares a similar trait with the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (also known as the Naturom Demonto and the Book of the Dead) from the Evil Dead film franchise for both ungodly magic tomes are bound in human flesh.
  • According to the one of the pages of the Spellbook containing the Black Flame Candle spell, there was a written incantation of sorts that reads "Solaten amnes saculorem tuba mirum est.".
  • The revelation of the Spellbook being likely passed down throughout generations of witches all along in Hocus Pocus 2 left audience and fans alike mixed as it contradicted the statement of it brought to the world via. the pact between Winifred and the Devil himself. It must be stressed that the hysteria of witch hunts at the time of the Sanderson sisters' execution may very well have affected those who documented their cases to the point of misunderstanding them, thus unwisely exaggerating and/or romanticizing certain details, rather than based said records through facts, as well as writing them through neutral perspective, as with real-life witch hunt cases. Even in the film proper, this was touched upon by Gilbert himself, who accurately thought the Sanderson sisters were misunderstood and, much to his dismay, had learned the records pertaining to them had been marred by lies added by misogynistic folks who held a vendetta against them — Reverend Trask in particular.
  • This spellbook was fireproof unlike Sarah Ravencroft's spellbook in Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost.
Advertisement