The real, dark story behind practical magic

Practical Magic Has become a Halloween classic since its release in 1998, when it was adapted from the 1995 novel of the same name written by Alice Hoffman. The film stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters who come from a long line of Massachusetts witches. Practical Magic Offers a heartwarming look at the enduring bonds of sisterhood, and includes campy horror and whimsical aesthetic choices. However, despite its generally uplifting tone, Practical Magic Has a dark connection to some horrifying true story.

The film’s opening scene reveals that Owens family matriarch Maria Owens narrowly escaped the Salem witch trials, where she was condemned to death after having an affair with a married man. After surviving and accepting banishment to a remote island, her lover never returns to her, and she casts a spell on herself to never fall in love again, sparking a generational curse on any person who loves an Owen woman in her family line. While this is a key plot point, it also connects the movie to one of the darkest and most brutal chapters in American history.

How practical magic incorporates the Salem witch trials

The pursuit of this ancestral family ancestor still speaks volumes today

The Salem Witch Trials are referenced in the opening scene, and settle one of the main themes of the film – that Women are often used as a scapegoat in societies dominated by men. The film was shot on Whidbey Island, Washington, but the story took place in Massachusetts, a state with a rich American history and the site of the Salem witch trials. The opening scene depicts period accurate Puritan settler costumes, and the women convicted of witchcraft are sentenced to death by hanging from 1692-1693.

While not filmed in Massachusetts, some of Whidbey Island’s Victorian-era architecture mirrors the overall historic preservation of some local communities in Massachusetts, although the state tends to boast more colonial-era than Victorian architecture. While the story of ​​Maria Owens is fictional in practical magic, The Salem witch trials primarily prosecuted women (except for five men). None of the accused were deported to the nearby islands, but instead taken to the Boston Gaol, the city’s primary prison at the time. Historians have since confirmed that many died in prison due to the poor conditions (per the Salem Witch Museum).

The real story of the Salem witch trials

Teenage girls lead the charge in accusing men of witchcraft, although few young women are executed

Witch trials date back to the Middle Ages in Europe, when victims were drowned or burned at the stake. They emerged from the Catholic Church’s warnings against witchcraft, and the Spanish Crown’s Inquisition, which targeted heretics and witches alike (essentially anyone who did not subscribe to the status quo – via Cambridge University). According to Trinity College, Thousands of women were executed across Europe from 1300-1800. Historians believe witchcraft allegations were born from the biblical creation story that Eve was the perpetrator of original sin after eating the forbidden fruit, and the general teachings that women are the weaker sex. UK National Archives).

Centuries later, in Salem, Massachusetts, the religious fervor continued, as the Puritans perpetrated brutal executions due to their strict sect of Christianity. Puritans sought to reform the Church of England to strict adherence to the Bible. Religion aside, the rumors swirling around witchcraft are largely born of land disputes and neighbor feuds, often involving women property owners. 12-year-old Ann Putnam and several other tween girls spark the Inquisition by blaming nightmares and mystery illnesses on witchcraft, beginning with an enslaved woman named Tituba (per. Smithsonian).

The Salem Witch Museum Also confirmed that one male victim named Samuel Wardwell was convicted of being a fortune teller for his tradition of guessing the sex of unborn babies to couples in Andover, Massachusetts, close to Salem. The biggest difference between popular media portrayals of the trials (including Arthur Miller’s The Crucible) and the true story is that Few young women were executed, with the youngest victim in her late 30s.

As the story unfolds in the themes of practical magic

The film’s 1990s setting proves that misogyny was always the enemy in the witch trials

After Gillian and Sally lose their parents to the Practical Magic Curse, they were raised by their aunts Frances and Jett, who encourage them to use magic for good, as they often do to help the women of their community. However, the young girls soon face intense bullying and ostracization from their peers over their family’s reputation for witches. This prompts Sally to vow to never use magic, as she fears judgment from her community. The isolation the girls experience is Emblematic of the social treatment of women who dare to innovate or not live a conventional lifestyleEven in the film’s contemporary setting.

While the Owens women were not targeted for land ownership or predicting the sex of their neighbors’ unborn babies as in the real Salem, they were criticized for their unique way of life, from their herbal practices to literal magic and living in an all-female community. . The film uses the history of witchcraft to illustrate that women are often punished for being different or inventing new solutions, or for the downfall of men in their lives.

Such is the case when Sally Owens loses her husband to the curse, and the townsfolk immediately suspect foul play. One of the most heartwarming aspects of the film is that she soon falls in love with the handsome detective Gary Hallett (whom she dreamed of as a spell as a child, as she figured that an imaginary person could not be affected by the curse). Gary is immediately taken with the Owens’ unique way of life, instead of being trodden by it. Even the rom-com elements of the film point to the same truth – That misogyny was the real witch hunt Practical Magic And further.

Sources: Salem Witch Museum, Cambridge University, Trinity College, UK National Archives, Smithsonian