Halloween is just around the corner and that means we're all rediscovering our favourite spooky season classics ahead of the scariest day of the year.
One eternal favourite that has delighted viewers of all ages for almost two decades is Hocus Pocus.
The Disney flick, which came out in 1993, stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the evil Sanderson sisters who are resurrected on Halloween night after 300 years and cause in the town of Salem.
As fans rediscover the hilarious and frightening tale and new fans watch it for the first time, a magical link between Hocus Pocus and the 90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch has been found – and we can't believe we never noticed before.
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Hocus Pocus begins on Halloween night in Salem, Massachusetts in 1693 where a local teen named Thackery Binx (Sean Murray) attempts to save his younger sister from the evil witches.
His efforts are not successful and the Sanderson sisters transform him into a black cat, cursed to live forever with his guilt for not saving little Emily (Amanda Shepherd).
When Max Dennison (Omri Katz) accidentally awakens the witches in 1993, Thackery (the cat is voiced by Jason Marsden) helps him, along with his younger sister Dani (Thora Birch) and friend Allison (Vinessa Shaw) to capture them before they drain the youth from all of the town's children.
Thackery the cat is able to speak and director Kenny Ortega used an animatronic puppet of a black cat – in addition to a real black cat – in scenes in the film.
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Well, it turns out the cat in Hocus Pocus is the same cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
The same animatronic puppet was used in the 1996-2003 sitcom, starring Melissa Joan Hart as a regular teenager with extraordinary powers. Sabrina lives with her aunts Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick), who are also witches, and their snarky talking black cat Salem (voiced by Nick Bakay).
According to the official Hocus Pocus IMDb page, the puppet was reused years later and it makes perfect sense since both kitties are humans cursed to live as felines.
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It wouldn't be a witches' tale with a trusty black cat!
Hocus Pocus is available to stream on Disney+. Episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Featured Image Credit: DisneyTopics: TV And Film, Hocus Pocus, Halloween