Real-Life Witches Defend 'Hocus Pocus 2' From 'New Wave' of 'Satanic Panic'

Viewers of all ages are loving the witch-tastic Hocus Pocus 2, but some parents apparently fear what the film could mean for their kids' eternal souls.

Earlier this month, Texas mother Jamie Gooch went viral after she told a local newscaster of a supposed ongoing "spiritual war." She says the "worst-case scenario" of pressing play on Hocus Pocus 2 is that "you unleash hell" on your children.

"I believe whatever comes in our TV screens, there are things attached to that," Gooch says in the clip. "I have seen for myself the things that I've watched with my eyes or heard over a TV screen that become manifested in real life. Everybody thinks it's fake and innocent, but they could be casting any type of spell that they want to, anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home."

Hocus Pocus 2 follows the Sanderson-sister witches (played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker) who hunt for kids' souls after being summoned from beyond. Real witches remain divided over the film franchise.

Newsweek asked witchcraft experts about the evangelical blowback surrounding the films, which some say is reminiscent of what was known as the "satanic panic."

The satanic panic took root in the 1980s and ushered in a wave of false accusations of ritualized child abuse nationwide. It lasted into the next decade and resulted in many wrongful convictions, some of which have yet to be reversed.

Certain scholars hear echoes of the satanic panic in today's QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that an elite cabal of Democratic politicians sacrifice kids in satanic rites.

Heather Greene, a witch and author of 2021's Lights, Camera, Witchcraft, wrote to Newsweek that the first Hocus Pocus was released in '93, amid the height of the panic. Over time, some occult practices have become more mainstream and modern witches are now more public-facing.

So-called witch shops have cropped up in cities nationwide, where the mystically inclined can find items like incense, crystals and tarot cards.

But some of the satanic panic still lingers, Greene said, especially among certain Christian groups.

"Of course, that is not surprising considering witchcraft's general history and legacy," she added. "However, these concerns are not nearly as widespread as they once were, even if social media-based amplification makes it appear otherwise."

Many Christians will likely always take issue with witches, given that they're viewed as someone who made a pact with the devil, according to Rachel Christ-Doane, the Salem Witch Museum's director of education.

Christ-Doane told Newsweek that some Christians were equally bothered by the book-turned-film series Harry Potter. The type of evangelical ire lodged against the Hocus Pocus sequel is far from new.

"I'm not here to criticize anyone's religion, but I would say that it's popular culture. There's certainly more intense depictions of the witch out there," Christ-Doane said. "If you're going to choose to take it literally, that's on you, but this is a children's film."

Our culture has become more educated when it comes to non-mainstream spiritual and religious beliefs, occult teacher and witch Mat Auryn wrote to Newsweek. These days, witch depictions tend to me more nuanced.

Tropes like wicked witches with warty, hooked noses and long, pointy hats had previously long prevailed.

But a sort of "new wave" of the satanic panic seems to be rearing its ugly head, said Auryn, who wrote the newly released Mastering Magick.

The still-fun film sequel emphasized that there can be "good witches" and explored themes of redemption, he said.

"Unfortunately, the folks who seem to embrace the satanic panic tend to be the ones who also embrace baseless conspiracy theories about politicians, Hollywood, or antisemitic beliefs about lizard people running things," Auryn said. "So, unfortunately, there will always be those out there who consciously choose to be willfully ignorant of reality."

Christian fundamentalists each year continue to "wage an ineffective war on Halloween," according to Sarah Lyons, a witch and author of the forthcoming How to Study Magic. Yet to Lyons, this year's tone feels different.

Lyons wrote to Newsweek that today's climate is reactionary. Some on the religious right are targeting bodily autonomy, free speech and civil liberties "under the cynical cause of 'protecting the children.'"

"On one hand, I want to remind people that the original Salem Witch Trials the film [Hocus Pocus] is based on began as an attack on outliers in society, but eventually reached up into even the clergy," Lyons said. "It's a historical warning about pointing fingers and causing mass hysteria for no reason."

She continued, "On the other hand, I want to take Ms. Gooch at her word. There is a spiritual war going on, and if witchcraft has historically been the spirituality of the oppressed, I know which side I happily stand on.

"If that scares you, too bad," Lyons said.