The Witch

In the present day, Julia takes the human pelvic bone to the Woodhaven Museum. She meets with Henry and shows him the bone in private. He’s stunned and insists that she must report the human remains to the police. Julia persuades him not to, explaining that a police investigation would traumatize her grandmother and complicate the museum’s potential purchase of the property by turning it into a crime scene. She theorizes that the bones could belong to Caroline Eldridge.

Henry agrees to help and offers to have a friend in Boston perform carbon-14 dating to determine the bone’s age. They make a deal: If the test indicates that the bone is less than 100 years old, they will contact the authorities. Henry says that if the remains are indeed Caroline’s, the museum can arrange for a proper burial. He expects to have the results in about a week.

Back in 1692, Hiram takes the stand at Caroline’s trial. Caroline hopes that he’ll defend her, but under Magistrate Putman’s questioning, Hiram reluctantly confirms that his wife, Judith, suffered a fit while Caroline was present and that Dr. Shaylor said it was “the work of the devil” (212).

Dr. Shaylor testifies next, claiming that Caroline tried to summon Hitty to treat Judith and that Judith was possessed. He falsely takes credit for saving Judith’s life, asserting that he and Molly banished Caroline from the room before nursing Judith back to health. Caroline is horrified by his fabrications, which carry significant weight with the court due to his respected position. As Dr. Shaylor concludes, Putman calls Molly as the next witness.

In the present timeline, Julia returns to the room she was sleeping in to retrieve the rest of her clothes. She discovers that Caroline’s coral-blue combs, which she had left on the vanity, have been mysteriously rearranged. While packing, she finds the two letters she took from the attic. Later, in her new room, she decides that she can no longer wait for answers about her family’s secrets and resolves to open the second unsent letter.

Julia reads Ethel’s second letter to her mother. In it, she expresses her disappointment over her parents’ lack of support regarding her pregnancy. Ethel writes that she’s about two months from her due date and, with help from Celia, plans to have the baby—whom Celia predicts will be a boy—at home. The letter is dated two months before Julia’s father’s birth. The contents lead Julia to suspect that Ethel, not Letty, was her father’s biological mother.

At the 1692 trial, Molly takes the stand and delivers damning testimony against Caroline. She falsely claims that Caroline consorts with the devil, who visits their home in the form of a cat, Gideon, and feeds from her teat. She adds that Caroline tried to force her to sign the “devil’s book.” Molly corroborates Dr. Shaylor’s story about Judith’s fit, adding that Caroline cast an “evil eye” on Judith.

As Molly returns to her seat, her shawl slips, revealing a thickened waistline that suggests that she’s pregnant. She sits next to Archie, and Caroline sees him place a hand on her knee as they exchange a private look. The truth hits Caroline: Archie and Molly are having an affair and have orchestrated the trial to dispose of her so that they can be together. When Magistrate Putman asks Archie to defend Caroline’s character, he refuses, condemning her with his silence. Putman then calls Caroline forward to defend herself.

In the present, Julia struggles with the knowledge that Ethel may be her grandmother. Her father has told her that if Letty isn’t safe at home, they will need to sell Pemberton, with the proceeds going toward a memory-care placement nearby. 

Later, Julia gently tries to ask Ethel about her past and the falling-out she had with her parents. Ethel immediately becomes suspicious and hostile, shutting down the conversation with a cryptic warning. Realizing that neither Ethel nor the cognitively impaired Letty will tell her the truth, Julia decides that her only remaining option is to question Mick, the groundskeeper.

Two days later, Julia seizes an opportunity to speak with Mick alone while Ethel is out and Letty is napping. She offers to help him spread mulch in the yard. Mick sends her to the shed for a bag, where she’s unsettled by a pair of small, muddy footprints and a sudden blast of cold air. As they work, Julia asks Mick if he remembers a woman named Celia who once worked at Pemberton. Mick becomes visibly pained and denies knowing anyone by that name, even after Julia mentions that her grandmother told her they were once engaged. He curtly ends the conversation, leaving Julia at another dead end in her search for the truth.

At the 1692 trial, Caroline tells Magistrate Putman that the accusations against her are based on “spectral evidence,” which isn’t legally admissible. Her argument is interrupted by Deputy Strickland, who claims to have tangible proof of her guilt. Strickland testifies that he found a “witch’s teat”—the burn mark on Caroline’s arm—and proposes a test to prove it. He explains that a witch’s mark cannot bleed and, with Putman’s permission, produces a needle to prick the mark.

When Deputy Strickland presses the needle to Caroline’s skin, it doesn’t draw blood. Caroline sees that the needle’s tip has been intentionally blunted so that it can’t pierce her skin. She cries out that the test is a fraud, but the courtroom erupts in excitement, and her protests are ignored. Upon seeing her husband Archie’s look of disgust and Molly’s triumphant smile, Caroline knows her fate is sealed. Putman declares her guilty of witchcraft and sentences her to be hanged the following day.

In the present, Dixon visits Pemberton to retrieve his EVP recorder, promising to analyze the results within a week. Before he leaves, he stares at the oil painting over the fireplace and warns Julia to be careful not to anger the spirit in the house. Shortly after, Henry calls to inform Julia that the carbon-14 dating results for the bone will be ready the next day. He then invites her to dinner that night, and she accepts.

In 1692, Deputy Strickland returns Caroline to her jail cell for the last time. He taunts her, clarifying that he performed the fraudulent test on her in court to punish her for rejecting his advances. He also threatens Jonas, wishing aloud that he will be beheaded. After Strickland leaves, Jonas says that he’s sorry for Caroline’s unjust fate. Caroline resigns herself to being executed, just as her friend Hitty was.

Returning to the present, during their dinner date at Roxie’s, Julia shows Henry the letters she found. He agrees that Ethel is likely Julia’s biological grandmother. He also offers to search for the former housekeeper Celia’s employment records at the Town Hall. Henry then proposes that Julia manage Pemberton if the museum acquires the property. To get a definitive answer about her family, Henry suggests a DNA test and tells Julia to bring him a strand of Ethel’s hair.

While driving Julia home, Henry pulls over to prove that they can dance to the old-fashioned music he plays. Under a streetlight, he teaches her the foxtrot. The moment turns romantic as they dance closely, and he kisses her. They continue to dance to several more songs before he drives her home.

The morning after her date with Henry, Julia is in a good mood until she accidentally steps on and breaks one of Caroline’s coral-blue combs, which has mysteriously appeared on her bedroom floor. Worried that she has angered the spirit, she resolves to get Ethel’s hair for the DNA test before heading to the museum. She sneaks into Ethel’s immaculately clean room and, after a brief search, finds a tangle of hair in the wastepaper basket. As she grabs it, she hears footsteps. She quickly hides the hair and exits the room, running into Mick at the top of the stairs. She makes a clumsy excuse for being there, and Mick gives her a suspicious look but says nothing.

In 1692, as Deputy Strickland brings dinner to the jail, Jonas suddenly begins shouting accusations that Caroline is a powerful witch. He then appears to have a violent, convulsive fit. Believing that Caroline has bewitched Jonas, Strickland unlocks the cell to intervene. The moment he enters, Jonas recovers, grabs a sharpened rock he had loosened from the floor, and strikes Strickland on the head, knocking him out. Jonas then takes the keys, locks the unconscious deputy in the cell, and smiles at Caroline.

In the present timeline, Julia gets lost on her way to the museum and pulls into a motel parking lot, where she notices a car identical to Ethel’s. At the museum, the receptionist, Lina, jokingly tells Julia that Henry is the ghost of a curator who died in a 1952 fire. Henry appears, annoyed by the prank and by the fact that Julia briefly believed it. Alone with Julia, he finally explains his aversion to the supernatural: His parents died in a car crash when he was eight years old, and he resents the false comfort that their spirits are “watching over” him.

Henry then gives Julia the results of the analysis. His friend estimated the bone’s age at around 300 years, removing the need to involve the police. However, he reveals that an examination of the pelvic structure proves that the bone belongs to a man, not a woman.