Sarah Jessica Parker: Descended from a Witch?!

March 9, 2010 By

Much to her surprise, Sex and the City Star Sarah Jessica Parker learned recently that her 10th great-grandmother Esther Ellwell was accused of witchcraft in Salem, Mass., in the 1692 trials.

“The 44-year-old who coincidentally plays a witch in the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus, later admits that she has been deeply changed by the discoveries.”

(The ancestor was “one of the innocent victims,” claims the Daily Mail. One of the innocent ones? Who were the guilty victims?)

What about you? How would you feel if you made a shocking discovery about an ancestor?

Filed Under: Pagan
About David Charles

David Charles joined Patheos in September 2008. Since then, he has helped shape the structure and content of the site and has led partnership development with a wide range of academic and religious organizations.

David was educated in Switzerland, England, and the United States. He holds advanced degrees in religious studies from Oxford and Harvard Universities. His academic training spans a number of disciplines and fields of study, including anthropology, literature, and history. He is the recipient of a teaching award from Harvard.