The Name Of The High School In Hocus Pocus 2 Explained

Just like the original, "Hocus Pocus 2" will take place in Salem, Massachusetts, the location of the Salem witch trials in 1692 and 1693. Presumably, this location was chosen for the films because viewers associate Salem with witches, so this is an obvious choice for the home of the Sanderson Sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy), who were executed centuries ago but continue to haunt the town whenever unassuming virgins light their Black Flame Candle and temporarily bring them back to life.

Salem is a perfect setting for a Halloween movie because it features plenty of witchy and festive details. In the real Salem, for example, there is the Salem Witch Museum, ghost and witch tours, the Witch Dungeon Museum, the Witch Trials Memorial, and more. In the movie, the Sanderson house has also been turned into a museum. "Hocus Pocus 2" goes further, with the high school named after another key figure from the real town of Salem.

The high school in "Hocus Pocus 2" is named after Samuel Skelton, a real historical figure from Salem, Massachusetts. Skelton was the first pastor of the First Church in Salem, founded on August 6, 1629 (via The First Church in Salem, Unitarian). He was born in either 1592 or 1593 in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, England, and was a member of the "advance party" of Puritan settlers in New England, which arrived in Salem in 1629 (via Norris Taylor Genealogy Page).

Skelton died five years later, nearly six decades before the Salem witch trials took place, so he would not have been present for the events that killed the Sanderson Sisters in the "Hocus Pocus" films. However, as a founder of the First Church in Salem, he was certainly responsible for building the ideologies and cultural climate that led to the witch trials occurring later on.