Bewitched : Mixing with mortals

For all of their detest of mortals, the witches and warlocks seemed to have hung around their fair share of them. Endora is always dashing off to go skiing with this prince, or king, or whatnot. Maurice adored Shakespeare (and probably knew him). Endora hung around Plato and Aristotle. Aunt Clara (though she never hated anyone) was Queen Victoria's lady-in-waiting. Even Hepsubah was attracted to and dated a mortal.

I know there's a difference between hanging around mortals and being married to one, but mortals were a part of their everyday lives. I would think they would be more mellow around them.

But Shakespeare wasn't your "average" mortal, was he? Same with Queen Victoria.
They liked some mortals (Endora was helpful with Mario and his Italian restaurant).

There was also the suggestion that many of the famous "mortals" were actually
witches or warlocks (Willie Mays, and even Steve McQueen!).

Yeah I was thinking about Willie Mays! I just watched the season three episode that featured Endora's Halloween party and he was a guest.

There was quite a bit of writing in the early episodes that got contradicted. For instance, in the first season Samantha was trying to explain baseball to Endora. Endora thought it was typical of humans to "just run around in a circle, getting no place." But then, she was a friend of Willie Mays! She must've known something about baseball. LOL

The witches also seemed to have no concept of money. But season three has an episode when Sam is trying to fix a broken lamp and Aunt Clara conjures up Ben Franklin.

She tells Samantha that electricians charge $7.50 an hour. Why would Clara know that? Just curious. Did she have a need to call an electrician?

The witches didn't seem to be against associating with humans, just marriage with humans, at least that was true in Sam's family. But they couldn't avoid humans or human society altogether. Nor did they seem to want to. After all Sam does say that Endora's favorite cities are Paris and Rome (both built by humans! LOL) Endora loved fine dining in restaurants in Paris.

They were living in a human world. Just didn't want to marry them though, I guess.

I don't think those points are so unbelievable. Endora could've easily
not known anything about baseball in 1963, and still have befriended
"warlock" Willie Mayes in 1966. Aunt Clara could've easily overheard
someone - anyone - mention that electricians cost $7.50 an hour.

In other words, it's possible.

And while the witches may not have needed money, it's not like they didn't
have any concept of its value.

Endora was know for "taking a dim view of most mortals." Most isn't all.

As for Ben Franklin, he was an extraordinary inventor - far from your
"average" mortal. He was known for far more than being on paper
currency. Surely, Aunt Clara would've known him, although it's cute that
she thought he could fix a lamp.

Oh I never thought those points were totally unbelievable. They were just a few things that seem to get contradicted. It happens in all sitcoms!

In the first season episode Endora seemed like she had never even HEARD of baseball when Sam said that Darrin took her to a game. Sure, Endora could have known Willie Mays and not understood how the game is played at all. But I think she would have been aware that he was operating in the "mortal" world if he was a friend. Of course she could have met him AFTER that episode and that's why she invited him to her party. 😊

I never thought it was unusual that Clara would know Ben Franklin, not at all. It's just that money didn't seem to be a great concern (or a need) for the witches. And I found it odd that she knew the hourly rate for an electrician when she couldn't remember things that WERE important to her like most of the spells she used! LOL

Of course that type of selective memory could be attributed to a form of witch Alzheimers. My grandmother had the disease and she could not remember who family members were. But she could recall people and events from thirty years ago.

Another episode in season three with Aunt Clara was A Gazebo Never Forgets. Remember the polka dotted toy elephant that Tabitha saw in the park and wanted? When Clara attempted to conjure one for Tabitha she zapped up the real thing. For some reason she needed the toy elephant to make the reversal spell work.

Now Clara would never steal a child's toy, so when she went to the park she paid the mother twenty dollars for it. I wondered why Clara needed to carry money? Of course her spells often failed and maybe she needed cash for a taxi to get around when flying didn't work. Ha!

Going back to the Halloween episode, in the first two seasons the witches were adamantly against it. They saw it as human bigotry to celebrate a holiday that portrayed witches as ugly. Samantha even said her mother always leaves the country during Halloween. In the second season Halloween episode Endora was so angry she turned Darrin into a werewolf. They made it seem that Halloween was strictly a human thing and the witches wanted no part of it. Then by the third season Endora is holding her "annual" Halloween bash!

Oh well, I just get a kick out of finding all the times the writers contradict themselves!

I always figured that Endora's Halloween party was to "counter-act" the hurt feelings that the mortal Halloween caused.

And this chat opens another subject--where did the Witches get money? Zap it up? It would be counterfeit, though. And I doubt they would obtain it by stealing from others (zapping it out of banks, wallets, etc). Endora states that she's "spent enough mortal money" in the Paris salon that Dick Gautier owned.

That's what I like about the board: the varying viewpoints and discussion.

gbennett: When I made the original post, I thought about Willie Mays (I always loved how he was a warlock), and I was going to suggest many of the "mortals" they hung with were actually witches. But Queen Victoria and others definitely were not.

Side question: When was Steve McQueen suggested that he was a warlock?

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And this chat opens another subject--where did the Witches get money? Zap it up?

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Actually, I believe they did. When Serena wants to hire Boyce and Hart for her annual Cosmos Cotillion, she tells them to "name your price and I'll print it. Er, I mean, pay it."

I've wondered about their money as well. But I look at it this way, as old as they are...they've probably collected enough money over the centuries to be very wealthy.

American Horror Story Season 6: Donald Trump

Yep it would seem they'd have to zap it up. In reality of course, we'd be getting into the serial numbers on the bills, etc....LOL!!!

In "Samantha's Good News" (an episode I loathe - what a sad way for Sam to tell
Darrin a new baby is on the way...by PHONE), Sam and Endora are discussing
Dr. Bombay's nephew..."the one that looks like Steve McQueen."

Sam: He IS Steve McQueen."

I think the witches would be ok with mortals who were open minded, but most of the mortals probably acted ignorant toward the witches. Most of Samantha's family seemed to like Larry Tate for some reason.

mikwalen-good point about Endora's Halloween party. Everyone was dressed elegantly, no ugly witch costumes!


I do wonder where they got some cash though. LOL Maybe they sometimes took jobs in the human world, just for kicks. They lived for so many centuries that they may have gotten bored and looked for other things to do.

Yes, they all seemed to like Larry Tate. I remember at least one episode when Serena was flirting with him quite openly.


The show presented some conflicts about witches. For instance, Endora and some of the other witches would talk about the Salem Witch Trials and how prejudiced humans were.

But in the first Halloween episode when Samantha accuses Darrin of anti-witch bigotry, he asks her how can you be prejudiced against someone you don't even BELIEVE exists!

Some characters take the view that witches are not real. But there ARE witches! I don't mean the magical type like Samantha, but there are lots of people who practice Wicca. They are quite open about being practicing witches.

Of course that was a whole other topic that a lighthearted sitcom didn't get into.

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Yes, they all seemed to like Larry Tate. I remember at least one episode when Serena was flirting with him quite openly.

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I liked when she would call him "Cotton Top."

LOL I don't remember for sure. But was that the time she looked into his eyes and asked if they were hazel or green.

Larry replied, "They're baby blue." cute

I thought it was interesting that a man would use that phrase instead of just saying that they were blue. Larry was really proud of those "baby blues" of his. He actually did have very nice eyes. With the high quality of DVDs, I really notice the color in his close-ups.


In another episode, Sam and Darrin were having an argument. It was just a big misunderstanding but Darrin brought home a marriage counselor to talk to them. Endora conjured up Sigmund Freud, a mortal!

So she must have had some respect for mortal intelligence sometime...I think.

I remember when I was little, I had a Bewitched dream, I was begging Samantha to make me powerful like HER BUT she refused, being the goody-2 shoes that she is, she was like, "Now conjuring things with magic won't bring you near the satisfaction as doing things on your own!" GGRRRRR!!! But THEN I met Endora and it was a whole different story! Endora was actually thrilled and pleased that I was so interested in Witches and wanting to learn Witchcraft! :) She was teaching me all these cool, neat things. Was such a let-down to learn it was just a dream lol

YES! I always wondered if Wiccan witches existed in the "Bewitched" universe. That is not something you're born, it's more of a life-path.

If they did exist I wonder how the Witches on Bewitched would have perceived them and reacted to them? Would they accept them as "their own"?

And I would say that possibly in the 60s, Wiccans were not as open about their practices as they are today. I'd say they would have recieved quite a buit of harassment about it. I remember back in my teen years which were in the late 90s, I dabbled in Wicca and my dad found out and threw a FIT! lol

I would think the "Bewitched" witches would have known about Wicca. It's a very old religion.

I have a few books about it, not to "dabble in" like you did, just to to read about. LOL

Maybe you read this before, but I found it interesting that Wiccans are witches but not all witches are Wiccans. Wicca is actually a religion and people like Samantha weren't practicing witchcraft as a religion. If Sam was, she wouldn't have been celebrating Christmas or helping out at their church bazaar. Remember the episode when Serena took her place while Sam was at the bazaar? (and wreaked her usual havoc)

There's actually a huge Wiccan grave monument in a local cemetery. It's near my house. A lot of us dog owners walk our dogs there. It's a very old cemetery. Some of the graves are from the Civil War and earlier. You can't even read some of the older headstones.

Anyway I never even noticed this HUGE monument until someone pointed it out. It looks like a tiny building out of munchkinland. The base is stone,about five foot high, painted white and four sided. Each side is about two feet wide (gives you some idea of the dimensions). The top is metal, painted red, about five feet high and shaped like a cone. It comes to a point. You guessed it, like a witch's hat. A woman and her son are buried there. Their names are carved on one side. I believe they passed away back in the 1920's. But I haven't looked at it in a while.

On one side is printed The Wiccan Rede. Well, not the whole thing. It's long! But it starts with --- Bide the Wiccan Laws we must
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust

and ends with--- Eight Words the Wiccan Rede Fulfill
And ye Harm None,
Do What Ye Will

I can't remember the middle part. I'd have to look at it again.


The woman's first name was Mary and sometimes people call her "Bloody Mary" or the evil witch. I keep telling them, "NO! She was a Wiccan, not an evil witch."

I don't know if you came across any on this in your "dabbling".

My sister used to work with a guy who practiced Wicca and he said they only do white magic. They don't believe in putting spells on someone to make them do things, not even love spells. That would violate someone else's free will. They used to call it black magic but I think now they call it negative magic.

Obviously from the show, Endora was NOT a practitioner of white magic. LOL She was always putting spells on Darrin to manipulate him or to make him do things that went against his will. I think true Wiccans would have a problem with Endora. LOL

Of course, Bewitched was pure fantasy, imagining witches with magical powers. The show didn't get into the world of actual practicing witches or Wiccans.

Yes, definitely not all Witches are Wiccan... Wicca was NOT really for me, TOO many rules! lol

My thought was, I don't see anything wrong with manipulation AS LONG as no harm is being done. Also if someone harms me, I see nothing wrong with a hex lol

Weeelll.....Endora did nice things sometimes. She helped Mario save his little restaurant, she zapped up a particular teddy bear that Larry was seeking, she took Darren's part twice when Maurice was in a temper, and tried to give Darren a car (although THAT wreaked havoc).

I would tend to think that the "real" witches on BW wouldn't consider Wiccans to be "part" of their society. And yes, it wasn't a religion- it was a gift, a special talent.

I always wondered what the SOURCE of the Witch's powers was? Like where did their magick come from? Wiccan's invoke the universe and many believe in deities, but what was the source of Samantha's powers? I've heard ppl say maybe it was in their DNA some how.

And yes I remember once Samantha sorta ridiculed the idea of crystal ball-gazing, which is something many Wiccans do called "scrying", looking into the future, far off places, receive messages from the divine, etc...

I think that's absolutely right. The magical talent was in their DNA. A "special gene"?

And true, they thought the ideas that mortals had about witches (flying on brooms, crystal balls, pointed hats) were silly.

It was amusing how in a few episodes (two Christmas episodes in fact) she DID fly on a broom and wore the pointed hat...because the two mortals she was helping (Bill Mumy and Charles Lane respectively) "expected" a witch to look like that LOL!

Endora also flew on a broom once when she wrote in the sky, "I promise not to bother What's-his-name again." And had on a pointy hat.

Also they had many traditional Witchy names like Hagatha, Enchantra, etc....

That was more than likely Endora using witchcraft to ANIMATE a witch on a broom,
rather than she herself doing so. The witches stated repeatedly that they did
not use brooms. Sam uses a witch's costume only to appease "Michael" in a
"Vision of Sugar Plums", and in the 6th season Halloween show.