History WesternAnimation / Paranorman

->''There's nothing wrong with being scared, Norman, so long as you don't let it change who you are.''

* SceneryPorn: Well, it is made by the company that made ''Coraline'', but [=ParaNorman=] [[UpToEleven ups Laika's game]] in a multitude of ways. The autumnal New England foliage is even more beautiful and vibrant than before.

* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: The school drama teacher. When whipping up the mob, she makes a ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' reference ("Cry 'havoc', and let slip the dogs of war!").

* HateSink: Whereas the Puritans carried out their execution of [[WouldHurtAChild Aggie]], an 11-year-old girl, out of fear and desire to [[WellIntentionedExtremist protect the town]], they were shown [[TheAtoner making amends for their actions]] ever since. However, the current citizens of Blithe Hollow were quite cruel to what they thought was a mentally ill boy for no good reason and couldn't even claim they were truly lead by fear.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Norman is not exactly Mr. Popular in town, for reasons mentioned above in CoolLoser.

* HistoryRepeats: The people of Blithe Hollow decide to ''murder'' a child who claims to be able to talk to ghosts. Once in Puritan types, once in the present.
* HotWitch: When the town of Blithe Hollow capitalizes on the execution of a supposed witch in its colonial past, most of it uses the WickedWitch archetype. A billboard for the casino, however, depicts her as a young woman in a skimpy outfit with a wad of bills in her generous cleavage. The real "witch" was an 11-year-old girl named Agatha Prenderghast.
* HumansAreBastards: Or rather, ''living'' humans are bastards. Fear and paranoia will drive humans to do ''horrendous'' things, including trying to [[WouldHurtAChild lynch a child]], [[HistoryRepeats more than once.]] The dead are either victims of great cruelty, completely harmless, trying to help, or all of the above.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: In this movie, it's the humans who are the aggressive attackers and the ghosts and zombies who just want to help. Not to mention that the Puritan zombies were actually much worse people when they ''were'' still human. At the same time, a big theme of the movie is that people often do bad things because they're afraid, not because they're inherently cruel. When they realize there's nothing to be afraid of, they're much kinder.

* IfYouCanReadThis: The background text in the movie is absolutely ''rife'' with jokes, puns, and unusual bits of humor, such that it's almost impossible to catch all of it in one viewing. Things like Salma's "My First Fusion Reactor" book and "[[Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate The Hands of Fate]]" board game for instance...

* ImprobableHairStyle: Norman's hair is always sticking straight up. Even if he combs it or it gets all mussed up, it'll always pop back to its original stance.

* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: Norman must face Agatha alone.

** Also pointed out by Neil, whose dog Bub was ran over by an animal rescue truck.
** Alvin breaking into the library with the aid of a sandwich board advertising a 'crime prevention seminar'.

%%* ISeeDeadPeople: And it's a whole lot more prosaic to him than to the TropeNamer. And considerably more fatal for Agatha.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Courtney is a self-centered teenager, but she's not a bad person and she's the first one to convince the town to give her little brother a break.

* KangarooCourt: Aggie's trial by the seven Puritans is ridiculously one-sided. She gets charged immediately without any chance to defend herself and is sentenced to death even though she's only 11. Of course, this ends up very, very bad for the seven Puritans.
* KidHero: Norman. He's 11 years old and is the only one in town who can undo the curse since his uncle (who also can talk to the dead) died.

** Uncle Prenderghast, as well.

** Even Agatha gets one, sounding like a modern take on the soundtrack of a zombie chase scene from the '80s. It plays during fights with her, the most epic being her last fight with Norman, which has some violin mixed in.
* LackOfEmpathy: The seven Puritans took a young girl away from her mother, and as Judge Hopkins told her [[ToThePain how she was to be hanged by the neck until she dies]], they were [[DissonantSerenity eerily calm]] when the girl was crying out of fear. They later subvert this after they had a HeelRealization.
* LonersAreFreaks: Justified with Norman, since the whole town, including his father, tend to scorn him for being able to talk to the dead since no one believes it. It's more of a defense mechanism.
* LovableJock: Mitch is not particularly bright, but he's not mean to anybody.

* ManlyGay: [[LovableJock Mitch]], [[StraightGay who knew?]]

** Blithe means to show a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper. Considering the town's portrayal of the legend, it's appropriate. (Also recalls Noel Coward's ghost story, ''Theatre/BlitheSpirit''.)

* TheMentor: Norman's wise (but dead) grandmother.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Norman and Aggie.

* MotionBlur: They actually ''sculpted'' [[http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7q4ypmCZh1qjhlhko1_1280.jpg smear frames]].
* MotiveDecay: Which Norman [[ShutUpHannibal calls Agatha out on]]. Her [[GhostlyGoals Ghostly Goal]] was to take revenge on the fundamentalist Puritans who unjustly murdered her. Well, she got her revenge, and [[FateWorseThanDeath then some]], and three hundred years later, when she's ''still'' lashing out in people, it's no longer about justified vengeance and now just an angry child trying to hurt the world to distract from her own pain and suffering.

* NeverMyFault: One of the townspeople can be heard saying after the curse is broken to a reporter, "It wasn't my idea, they forced me into it!"
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mr. Penderghast and his predecessors all diligently protected the town from the Witch's curse... but keeping the witch's and Puritans' spirits trapped for centuries while only stalling the curse for a year at the time. Ironically, it's only Mr. Penderghast's screw up in not telling his successor what unmarked place in the wood he should perform the "ritual" in that allows it to be lifted permanently.

* NotQuiteTheRightThing: The Prenderghast line (specifically those that [[ISeeDeadPeople can see the dead]]) have been duty-bound to keep the witch's curse at bay by reading from a book once a year. Come to find out, that ritual is simply reading a little girl bed-time stories so she'll stay asleep, but does nothing to resolve the anger and resentment that have been fueling her curse in the first place.
* NotUsingTheZWord: Subverted. Courtney uses it around Judge Hopkins, but Norman tells her not to use "the z-word."
* {{Novelization}}: Goes the extra mile from the typical tie-in novel for children and takes the form of a hardcover (with the cover underneath the jacket based on the Prenderghast book featured within the film.) It also serves as [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] with some extra details on the characters, such as how Grandma's death affected Norman, the strange circumstances of his birth, the witch trials in Blithe Hollow and other material. Not to mention the character Salma is somewhat of an AscendedExtra in the book, having some more lines and such.

** With the ghosts, one of whom is a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} town loon]] voiced by Creator/JohnGoodman.
** Neil and Salma are implied to be, at least before the former takes interest in Norman.
%%* OneOfTheKids: Mitch.

* OtherworldlyCommunicationFailure: [[spoiler:The zombie hoard seemingly destroying the town and trying to kill Norman actually are benign and just want to ask for Norman's help in breaking the curse placed upon them and the town. Norman, using his ability to speak to ghosts, eventually comes to understand them and has to convince the rest of his town that they aren't evil.]]

** Agatha Prenderghast has very [[ShockAndAwe interesting]] powers, carried over, presumably, from life. However, she's the only one -- all the other ghosts are talkative at best.
** Uncle Prenderghast also destroyed a bathroom. Considering their abilities in life, perhaps the ghosts of mediums have stronger abilities.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Judge and the other zombies are actually a kind of RevenantZombie. They have intelligence, they're not infectious, and they aren't hungry for brains, but like any Revenant, they ''are'' driven by a single, burning purpose. In their case, they mean the town no harm at all; they only want to break Agatha's cycle so they may finally rest in peace.

* PlayingATree: Neil's part in a school play.

** Little girl Aggie had no idea how to explain her ability to see and speak to the dead in terms that her [[TheFundamentalist accusers]] could see in any way except as "witchcraft". In trying, she basically admits to being "guilty" and dies for it.
** Old Mr Prenderghast clearly had ''decades'' during which he could have written out detailed instructions for whoever took over the task of keeping the witch asleep. Indeed, that information probably ''was'' in his study. But, being rather insane, his collection of information is a tangled mess that only makes sense to his irrational mind. He also seems to assume that Norman already knows what to do and just needs to be pushed into doing it.

* PoorMansSubstitute: InUniverse. WordOfGod likened the town to a B-list version of Salem, Massachusetts.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: InUniverse, the school play about the witch's curse is admitted to be historically inaccurate, portraying the witch as a stereotypical WickedWitch who cursed the entire town be attacked by the zombies of the Puritans who tried her. In reality, the Puritans are driven by their fear-motivated religious fanaticism to ''[[MoralEventHorizon executing a]] [[WouldHurtAChild 11-year-old girl]]'' on suspected charges of witchcraft just because she talks to ghosts.
* PopularIsDumb: Courtney is a cheerleader and Mitch is a [[DumbJock jock]], and both are popular kids.

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: In a decidedly mundane manner; Agatha's execution is the core of the city's identity and tourism industry. That she's unable to move on, stuck as an angry, hateful ghost, is incidental.

* RedemptionQuest: The zombies ''are'' cursed to go through the afterlife as the living dead, but they put themselves through even worse suffering trying to do something to help Agatha pass on by moving past the hurt that they brought about.
* RestoredMyFaithInHumanity: At the climax of the film Norman talks down the main antagonist, in part, by reminding her that there are good people in the world who cared about her, and that her personal crusade for vengeance is keeping her apart from them.
* TheReveal: The witch is just a scared and angry little girl, and the spellbook really isn't anything but a bedtime story. Oh and Mitch is gay.
* RevengeIsNotJustice: The witch, Agatha, was persecuted for her supernatural powers and eventually executed. During her trial, she cursed her accusers to return as zombies, subjecting them to the same torment she felt at their hands. However, this does not come to pass until Norman fails to keep her spirit asleep and Agatha exacts vengeance by wreaking havoc on the town. Eventually, Norman points out that as awful as everyone was to her, that does not give her the right to cause suffering and she's no better than the townsfolk.
* RidiculouslyAliveUndead: Discussed. When Norman, who can communicate with the undead, is translating a zombie's moans, Norman's father says, "Please don't tell me he needs to go to the bathroom".

** Well, the Puritans were quite right that Agatha had powers and would become an "evil witch", they just didn't consider that she would do so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil as a direct consequence]] of their [[SelfFulfillingProphecy accusations.]]
** When defending the zombies from the angry mob one of the townsfolk call Norman a [[{{Necromancy}} necromancer.]] While Norman obviously didn't raise the zombies like most common depictions, his [[ISeeDeadPeople ability]] is actually closer to the ''original'' idea of necromancy; communing with the dead to divine the future.
* RousseauWasRight: The antagonist of this movie is really just a scared and angry little girl sentenced to death by a judge, who in turn was just doing what seemed for the best.
* SalemIsWitchCountry: Deconstructed and ultimately Subverted, as Blithe Hollow preferred to cash in on their blood-soaked history of witch hunts for tourism rather than deal with their dark past. So they operate on [[WrittenByTheWinners historical revisionism]], including leaving out that said witch was [[WouldHurtAChild a little girl]] that wasn't a witch, but also had Norman's ability to see the dead.
* SassyBlackWoman: Sheriff Hooper (The motorcycle cop.)
* ScarilySpecificStory: PlayedForDrama. Norman was originally tasked with reading a generic bedtime story that had been used to keep the witch [[RipVanWinkle asleep for years]], though it quickly ends up destroyed. When Norman finally confronts the witch, he decides to tell her a story about a little girl who [[ISeeDeadPeople could see ghosts]] but was [[DeathOfAChild killed]] because everyone was afraid of her, mirroring the witch's own tragic past. Ultimately, he succeeds in finally calming her down and allowing her to see she's not so different to the townspeople who tormented her.
* SceneryPorn: Well, it is made by the company that made ''Coraline'', but this one seems to take it UpToEleven in a multitude of ways.
* SchizoTech: A lot of the scenery and vehicles have a distinct look of being from TheSeventies, especially the Babcock's station wagon and Mitch's van. Also, all the TV's are old-style CRT. Nonetheless, even the kids have pre-smart cell phones and they use the internet to search for information about the witch. Note that the film is canonically set in 2012, the 300th anniversary of the witch being executed in 1712.
* ScreamingWoman: The girl in the horror flick Norman watches. She doesn't even have any lines, all she does is shriek in terror.

** Alvin when he opens the front door of Mr. Prenderghast's place only to see a zombie.
** One of the zombies when they see what became of Blithe Hollow.
* SealedEvilInACan: Norman realizes what his uncle wanted him to do to suppress the menace annually is not enough and seeks a permanent solution.

** Unlike the goofy Mr. Prenderghast, the witch serves as the EvilCounterpart as well as the BigBad. She's what Norman would be if he embraced his desire to be [[HeWhoFightsMonsters mean back to the people who treat him badly]]. Norman, however, seeks to save the townspeople and learns to value the people who care about him, while Agatha only sought to make them suffer and completely forgot about the people who loved her in the process.
* ShamingTheMob: Courtney does this to defend Norman and the Zombies from the angry mob.

* SignsOfDisrepair: At one point the "Witchy Weiners" sign falls down... and the W in Witchy eventually blinks out.

* SkewedPriorities: The man who's torn between waiting to get his chips from the vending machine and running in fear from the undead. He eventually ''does'' run off only to run BACK, while screaming, to retrieve the chips.

* SmashToBlack: Well, ''Smash to White''. Right when Norman grabs Agatha's hand, the scene immediately cuts to a silent white screen. Especially jarring since the scene prior was quite noisy.

* SpiritAdvisor: Zig-zagged all over the place. Played straight with Norman's grandmother, who advises and loves him after death just as she did while alive. Subverted with most other ghosts, including Mr. Prenderghast, who are too wrapped up in their own obsessions to offer much useful guidance. Inverted with Norman and Aggie, as he is a living person trying to help guide a spirit.
* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', given their similar genre (family/horror/comedy/mystery), settings (Salem-esque, Massachusetts), and subject manner (how a town's witch-related legends and past affects them in the present). However, ''[=ParaNorman=]'' inverts the order of the films' shared plot points to create significantly contrasting themes. In ''The Witch's Ghost,'' the witch is initially presented as an innocent and unjustly executed HeroWithBadPublicity by her descendant (who is a successful author respected by his community as well as secretly supernatural) and the twist is that she was EvilAllAlong and her ghost enacts RoaringRampageOfRevenge upon the town in the third act. In ''[=ParaNorman=]'', the inciting incident is that the curse of an executed witch is coming into effect over a Massachusetts town and the third act ''twist'' is that the "witch"'s descendant (a bullied and ostracized child who openly claims to have supernatural abilities) discovers the "witch" was innocent and unjustly executed, and the curse is her restless ghost lashing out from the trauma of being murdered by her community.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Fans have likened the art style and the feel of the film overall to VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}. Appropriate, as the art style of the game was inspired by stop-motion animation.
** It could also be seen as this to WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}. It's made by the same studio, in stop-motion and it's about an 11-year-old kid going up against a supernatural threat.

** It takes Alvin a couple of seconds to realize what Norman meant, but he doesn't react to it due to the zombies appearing.

** Mitch is your standard popular DumbJock, but his popularity seems to come in part from being actually a [[LovableJock nice person.]] And yet despite being nice, he expresses fear and distrust of socially outcast groups, despite being a member of [[StraightGay one such]] [[ManlyGay group]] himself, showing that even members of socially discriminated groups can still be fearful and prejudiced.

** Which is made rather impressive when you consider that the entire 10-second sequence had to have taken over two weeks of taking a picture, nudging a part, taking a picture, nudging a part, taking a picture, nudging a part...
* StraightGay: Turns out Mitch is gay and has a boyfriend, disappointing Courtney, who had been trying to flirt with him for the whole film.

* StylisticSuck: The zombie movie Norman watches in the beginning. The props are obviously rubber, the acting is unnatural, the girl has to shove the boom mic out of frame...
* SuburbanGothic: the quiet suburb of Blithe Hollow is filled to the brim with ghosts, who can only be seen by the protagonist, Norman. When the town is invaded by zombies, the human residents quickly prove to be more AxCrazy than the undead.

** It's not easy for Blithe Hollow to cope with the fact that they burned Town Hall and almost killed an innocent boy (Norman) out of misplaced fear. So when the day is done, they try to justify how they got swept up in the mob mentality.
** Thanks to modern technology and a massive numbers advantage, the townspeople pose ''far'' more of a danger to the zombies than the zombies do to them. In fact, throughout most of the climax it's the ''[[{{Irony}} zombies]]'' who are running from the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]] than the other way around. It turns out that this was exactly the nature of the curse; to make the jury rise from the dead and be completely helpless against the humans as punishment. The living weren't being cursed nearly as much as the small group of people who condemned the witch.
** The story of how the witch's curse came about? Where an evil, cackling old crone was brought to justice, and then cursed the whole town out of pure spite? Yeah, it's complete crap. The "witch" was an innocent child who was murdered due to a KangarooCourt run by Puritans. She never hurt anyone while she was alive, and was hung solely because the townsfolk didn't understand her, and feared her because of that. She then cursed her killers so they'd get a taste of their own medicine. Magical elements aside, anyone with a working knowledge of the Salem witch trials can tell you that this is far closer to what ''really'' happened.
*** Agatha being nothing more than a child when she was tried for being a witch is unto itself a harsh but true reality about witch hunts. In those days, witch hunts made no distinction if you were man or woman, old or young: ''anyone'' can be a victim to mass hysteria.
* TakeThat: "What are you thinking; firing at civilians?! That is for the police to do!"
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Norman puts Aggie's soul at rest, through simple (though very persistent) discussion and reasoning.
* TalkingToTheDead: Mr. Prenderghast and Norman have this ability. It apparently runs in the family. Way back in the family.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Norman's HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood seems to consist of dodging bullies at school, being berated at home, and being a pariah in town. SocialServicesDoesNotExist either. His father, in particular, alternates between believing Norman has a problem and Norman is lying, and seems to think browbeating him will fix it in either case. No one thinks ''this kid needs real help.''

* TorchesAndPitchforks: The mob at the Town Hall. Parodied when they drop all their weapons -- including a bowling ball.

%%* UndeadChild: Agatha, tragically.
* VillainousBreakdown: Agatha, when Norman takes apart her actions and ideology, telling her that she isn't morally superior after all. ''"I don't like this story!"''
** Even before then, she completely loses it when Norman manages to convince the townsfolk to spare the zombies. Probably sore over the fact that they were shown the mercy that she was not.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Norman, with his dad literally saying "Well done, son." near the end of the movie.

** In the opening scene, we're introduced to Norman's grandmother and all seems normal, but when he relays her request about the thermostat to his father, he angrily chews him out for saying that since [[DeadAllAlong she died a while ago]], establishing Norman's ghost-seeing powers in a rather abrupt manner.
** One of Norman's magic-induced flashbacks makes a ''girlish sob'' into a WhamLine of epic proportions, revealing who the witch actually was: an 11-year-old girl.

** Sort of, anyway. During a vision, Norman has while in the school play, a tree grabs him and warns him that the "dead are coming."

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Norman against Aggie who is just scared and very angry.
* WholePlotReference: To ''Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDeadPartII'', with a group of kids lead by a young male child, as well as including his older sister and a guy she's interested in, trying to survive a ZombieApocalypse in a movie filled with BlackComedy. Plus, the outbreak is caused by the meddling of the child's bully, though the bully doesn't become a zombie unlike the other film.
* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: Realistically done and a really nice touch to TheReveal. When Norman gets a vision of the Blithe Hollow witch trial, he thinks he's being placed in her role again and doesn't see the accused, until he hears someone crying from behind him. [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/aae5a8e4e6905839705f4fc7936e5bec/tumblr_mi4kbtVSnl1qhdexto2_500.gif His eyes widen in shock]] and he turns around to see that Agatha, the "witch" of Blithe Hollow, is a girl his age.
* WitchHunt: The trope that causes all the trouble in the first place.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The "witch" is an (extremely psychically powerful) little girl who lost it when she was accused and executed.
* WouldHurtAChild: The Judge's sentencing of a young girl to be ''hanged'' for talking to the dead.

* YouAreNotAlone: Norman's "weapon" against Agatha, being the first person in centuries to really understand her.
%%* YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal: See StealthInsult above.

* ZombieAdvocate: Norman, when he realizes the zombies have intelligence and are afraid too. His sister, Neil, Mitch, and Alvin back him up on this.

** Subverted in that the appearance of the zombies does freak the townspeople out, but they then quickly gather weapons and attack them and the zombies are instantly overwhelmed because they are not strong, numerous, or infectious.
** Wonderfully subverted even further in the courthouse scene. The zombies and kids are inside as questing arms burst through the walls and windows, much like in any Romero movie. That's right, LIVING people are breaking down the walls in an attempt to attack the undead.

* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: The school drama teacher. When whipping up the mob, she makes a Theatre/JuliusCaesar reference ("Cry 'havoc', and let slip the dogs of war!").

* CoolLoser: Norman happens to be able to speak to the dead, but is considered an outsider in the community. However, this is somewhat justified when you really consider from everyone else's perspective how this is a kid who is going around claiming he speaks with dead people.

* CosmeticHorror: The school drama teacher. Mrs. Henscher's daytime makeup is awful, but her puke green facial mask was bad enough that only her talking saved her from being mistaken for a zombie.
* CrapsackWorld: The town is a rundown little suburb, the locals have a low tolerance for any behavior that lies outside the norm, and it of course has a [[TownWithADarkSecret dark secret]].

** We see early on how it looks to everyone else; he ducks around empty air, constantly talks to empty space, and even stops at roadkill to pet it. As it's not until shortly thereafter we get to see through his eyes, it's pretty clear he comes across as a CloudCuckooLander at best.

* CrustyCaretaker: [[AllThereInTheManual According to the novelization]], Mr. Prenderghast is the caretaker to the Blithe Hollow Cemetery.
* CuteGhostGirl: Agatha, once Norman calms her down.
* DarkerAndEdgier: It's even ''darker'' than ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' -- which is saying something. It also only got a PG rating -- probably one of the darkest PG rated movies out there.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The ghosts all over town are a pretty friendly bunch overall. Likewise, the zombies were only malicious before they died; in their (un)death, they just wanted to atone for their sin of killing the "witch," Agatha, who in turn was simply angry over the wrongs committed against her.
* DeadpanSnarker: In the Babcock family, Norman, Courtney, and Grandma.

** Judge Hopkins is a deconstruction of the HangingJudge, as he legitimately did [[IDidWhatIHadToDo what he thought was best]] and his decision wasn't motivated by sadism or cruelty, but by a values system that [[ValuesDissonance all the people of Blithe Hollow agreed with.]] He's also a deconstruction of the stereotypical zombie characters, as he and his fellow zombies have come to regret their actions over the [[FateWorseThanDeath hundreds of years]] they've been dead, and in the climax, it's ''[[{{Irony}} the zombies]]'' who flee in terror from the hordes of [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters bloodthirsty townspeople.]]
** The Witch was not an evil old crone practicing black magic, but a scared little girl with abilities neither she nor the townsfolk understood who was ''executed'' by the townspeople for something she had no control over, which is [[TruthInTelevision much closer]] to what the Salem Witch Trials actually were in real life. Moreover, while her FreudianExcuse is sympathetic, it's still only an ''excuse'' -- she's a scared, angry child lashing out in the only way she knows how, and Norman forces her to understand that her violent cursing of the town and its people is understandable, but still not justified or the right thing to do.
** The townspeople of Blithe Hollow are shown to be not so different from the zombies, reacting to their appearance with extreme violence and aggression, and with shots of their attacks deliberately paralleling iconic zombie attack scenes. Thanks to modern technology and a massive numbers advantage, the townspeople pose far more of a threat to the slow-moving, shambling zombies than the zombies do to them. Their lynch-mob mentality gets so bad that they actively try to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kill]]'' Norman, who's only a child, just for being different -- [[HistoryRepeats exactly like]] the zombies when they were alive.
* DeconstructiveParody: Of both stereotypical zombie movies and of the SalemIsWitchCountry tropes. [[CerebusSyndrome At first]], it seems to be simply spoofing the genre with the [[StylisticSuck old]] [[BadBadActing zombie]] [[SoBadItsGood movies]] that Norman watches, before deconstructing the concept of "evil witches and mindless zombies" by making ''[[GreyAndGrayMorality both]]'' of them into [[TragicVillain tragic characters.]] Aggie was an innocent little girl who was executed for her powers despite not hurting anyone with them, and while the Puritan zombies initially crossed the MoralEventHorizon by sentencing Aggie to death, they've all suffered a FateWorseThanDeath and have spent the last several hundred years trying to [[TheAtoner atone for what they did.]] The zombies are actually trying to ''help'' the protagonists break the curse so they can rest in peace. Not to mention, that in the third act of the film, it's the ''zombies'' who run and hide in terror from the [[{{Irony}} vicious, mindless hordes of living townspeople.]] And the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters living townspeople]] are the only ones who outright try to kill Norman without any provocation on his part.

* DisappearsIntoLight: A variant; when Aggie is finally at rest, she and the zombies fade away in this manner to move on to the afterlife.
* DistressBall: Enforced in-universe. The actress in the horror flick Norman is watching in the beginning. A zombie comes towards her and she just stands there screaming. (Her annoyed glance at the camera hints she's not exactly thrilled with this.)
* DistaffCounterpart: Aggie to Norman.

** Also, in the flashback to Aggie's sentencing, when Judge Hopkins gives his speech, note the shot of the then-living Puritans [[ZombieGait slowly stalking]] mercilessly towards Aggie and surrounding her. Their slow movements, pale faces and blank expressions makes them appear [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters far more chillingly zombie-like]] than they are as actual zombies.

* DumbBlonde: Courtney, though her hair may be dyed.
%%* DumbJock: Mitch.
* DumbMuscle: Mitch and Alvin are pretty strong given their ages, and not too bright.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Norman has to fight a supernatural menace to protect a town that largely scorns him, only to find a growing number of townspeople realize that his ability to speak to the dead is real. While the movie finishes out with said townspeople too occupied with justifying their own moblike behavior to properly apologize to Norman, he does earn his family's support and realizes that he has a true friend in Neil.

* EnfantTerrible: A little girl tears off a zombie's arm and later on lights her teddy bear on fire in order to set the town hall alight.
* EntertainmentAboveTheirAge: Norman is only about nine, but he frequently [[NightmareFetishist watches violent horror movies]], and at one point, he mentions watching ''Film/SexAndViolence''.
* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: The first creature to invade the town.

** The witch cursed the entire town to be attacked by the zombies of the people who tried her. {{Subverted|Trope}} in the end. Aggie wasn't cursing the town to be attacked by zombies, she was cursing the zombies to go through the same thing she went through.
** Subverted with Judge Hopkins. He sentenced an innocent girl to death for talking to the dead not because he does not like her being different from others, but because he [[WellIntentionedExtremist thought it would be good for the townspeople]].
* EvilIsHammy: You can atually, quite literally, [[FreezeFrameBonus see the spittle flying]] when [[HangingJudge Judge Hopkins]] is handing down the sentence to Aggie. Appropriately enough for the trope name, he's lost the hamminess now that he's 1) a zombie and 2) [[TheAtoner a good guy.]]

* ExtraStrengthMasquerade: The television news report the following day suggests that the rest of the state attributes the entire supernatural event to a "freak tornado" hitting Blithe Hollow.
* EyeScream: Alvin gets poked in the eye repeatedly by a zombie arm.

* FaceHeelDoubleTurn: Sort-of, and in both cases, it's ''posthumous''. The whole tragedy began when merciless Puritan fanatics sentenced a little girl to hanging just because she had powers they didn't understand. Fast-forward three hundred years, and the zombies of those same Puritans have had a ''[[AndIMustScream very]] [[FateWorseThanDeath long]]'' time to [[TheAtoner realize]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone what they did]], while Agatha, despite getting her revenge, has spent all those years clinging to her hatred and refusing to let go, even when it means innocent people are hurt in the process.

%%* FatBestFriend: Neil.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Most obviously for the zombies, who are forced to live afterlives of horrifying suffering for what they did several hundred years ago, but also Agatha herself, who remains on Earth as a being of almost pure fear and hate, unable to pass on until she confronts her own desire for vengeance and recognizes it for a mindset that is really worse than useless.
* FavouritismFlipFlop: At the end of the film, Alvin explains to a couple of girls that he and Norman have been real close for years now. Seeing how Alvin was Norman's bully, that statement is [[MetaphoricallyTrue technically true]].
* FightingBackIsWrong: The {{Aesop}} of the story is that bullying is wrong even if they did it first. The villain is trying to get revenge on the people who killed her, but in the end Norman makes her realize that she has become as bad as they are.
* FireForgedFriends: Alvin, the former bully, warms up to Norman after supposedly being attacked by zombies.

** During the opening B-Movie, Norman's Grandma suggests that instead of running, the girl in the film could try to reason with the zombie.

** In a meta example, TV spots aired around the Olympics show the zombies getting along well with Norman.
%%* {{Forgiveness}}: One of the main themes of the film.
* FreakyIsCool: Pretty much the reason why Neil befriends Norman.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: The witch's ghost used to be a sweet little girl whose only power was the ability to see ghosts. Her [[ShockAndAwe other]] [[AnimateDead more terrifying]] [[MindOverMatter powers]] only emerged after the townsfolk sentenced her to death by hanging.

** A couple on a date are cooing at each other over wine, while out the window Mitch's car tumbles and bounces down the hill.
** While Norman's family is watching his school play, literally ''every single parent'' in the audience is recording the show on a video camera.
* TheFutureIsShocking: The Puritan zombies are awakened in the modern day, and are shocked to see such things as a bar, sexy advertisements, and a TV window display broadcasting endless scenes of war, violence, and scantily-clad pop stars.

* GenreThrowback: Particularly towards vintage zombie movies during the opening scene with the "feature presentation" card and {{narm}}-y acting of the lead actress of said ShowWithinAShow.
** It's also a throwback to PG-rated films that could get away with racier content before the invention of the PG-13 rating. Yes, the ''rating'' is a throwback!
* GetBackInTheCloset: In some foreign language versions, Mitch instead says he has a girlfriend.

* GivingThemTheStrip: The Judge zombie manages to grab Norman, who sheds his jacket and runs away. The zombie can be seen staring at it in confusion for a second before tossing it aside.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Judge Hopkins in his past life. He sentenced a little girl to death, thus starting this whole mess. Kind of {{Averted}} by his HeelRealization in his now Zombified state.

%%* GymBunny: [[StraightGay Mitch]].

'''Random Stranger:''' Everyone Look!\\
''[Cue Norman climbing City Hall]''

!'''This page will contain a bunch of unmarked spoilers.'''

''[=ParaNorman=]'' is a stop-motion animated comedy horror film from Creator/{{Laika}} Animation Studios, better known for their success with ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''. It's directed by Chris Butler (the main storyboard artist on ''Coraline'') and Sam Fell (an Creator/{{Aardman|Animations}} alumni and director of ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'') based off a script written by Butler, and was released in August 2012.

The film follows the titular protagonist, Norman (voiced by Creator/KodiSmitMcPhee), living in a small town in Massachusetts. With the "gift" of speaking to the dead, Norman is considered an outcast by the majority of the town, most of which is populated by [[AdultsAreUseless useless adults]] and a nasty population of kids. When the town comes under siege by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies,]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] and [[WickedWitch witches]], only he can actually save the town from these creatures, not to mention a three centuries-old curse.

** The witch's ghost, [[TragicVillain Agatha Prenderghast]], UsedToBeASweetKid who, like Norman, happened to have the ability to speak to the dead. She cursed the zombies in revenge for killing her only for being different. She became so obsessed with making the townspeople pay for what they did to her that she completely forgot about the people who loved her and she almost completely lost herself in her rage. When she is finally able to find peace with the help of Norman, Agatha DisappearsIntoLight to move on to the afterlife upon realizing that the only thing she really wanted was [[IWantMyMommy to see her mother again after the townspeople separate them]].
** The Judge (as well as the other zombies) have come to regret their actions over the [[FateWorseThanDeath hundreds of years]] they've been dead. When Aggie is finally at rest, they [[DisappearsIntoLight Disappear into Light]] to move on to the afterlife as they look scared and regretful.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Courtney manages to find herself on both sides of the trope. She's infatuated with Mitch, who doesn't reciprocate since [[StraightGay he's gay]] with a boyfriend and [[ObliviousToLove had no idea she had been trying to flirt with him]]. Meanwhile, Alvin likes Courtney, but she doesn't reciprocate since [[PrecociousCrush she's much older]], [[AbhorrentAdmirer and he's a bit of a creep about it]].
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: {{Deconstruction}}. Norman tries to take the constant bullying with grace but often finds his heroics hampered by [[FatBestFriend almost]] every living person's low opinion of him. It doesn't help that the witch (in fact, an 11-year-old girl) ''died'' because of this.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The exact time period of the movie is a bit fuzzy. All the [=TVs=], most of the cars, and the movies that Norman watches seem to come from the 70s, but all the kids have cell phones and internet access and during the school play, all the parents (as in literally ''[[FunnyBackgroundEvent all]]'' the parents) have 2000s-era video recorder cameras.
* AnAesop: Multiple: "don't let fear make you do bad things," "bullying of any kind is wrong," and most importantly, "revenge is wrong." Interestingly, it's not the protagonist who needs to learn the last one; instead, he teaches it to the accused witch.

** Don't automatically take your own viewpoint for correct. All of the problems in the film are caused by a lack of critical thinking, on both the apparent good and evil sides. First this applies to the Puritan jury who killed Agatha out of fear, then this applies to the people of the present-day fighting the zombies, then it applies to Agatha herself for condemning the Puritans to be zombies.
* AndIMustScream: Pretty much the witch's curse the town is famous for. The seven Puritans are said to be damned to walk the earth as the undead. They're all very aware of their punishment when the curse comes into full effect in the movie.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Courtney sees Norman as this.
* AntiVillain: Both "the witch" and the zombies. The former by being just an angry little girl lashing out at everyone out of revenge and the latter for executing Agatha out of fear and feeling genuinely remorseful for it now.

** Norman, to the Zombie after finding out what they did to Agatha.

** During the climax.

* AsideGlance: InUniverse. The actress in the cheesy zombie movie Norman watches screams in horror at the zombie walking toward her, but he's walking so slowly and forcing her to scream for so long that she stops to cast an annoyed look off-camera (presumably at the director), and then resumes screaming.
* AssKicksYou: The police officer smacks the van that had all of the kids and one of the zombies inside with just her hips, and the truck gets forcibly knocked away.
* TheAtoner: The Judge (as well as the other zombies) know that the curse is their fault because of what they did to a little girl. They were only trying to tell Norman how to stop it.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The rest of the Babcock family to Norman, especially his father, who is kind of a jerk to Norman during most of the story.
* BadassPacifist: Norman takes a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown that pushes the bounds of the movie's PG rating and never once stops trying to reason with the witch's ghost.
* BadBadActing: The kids in the school pageant speak with such unenthusiastic monotone, that Norman's prophetic outburst, if anything, made it a thousand times better.
* BareYourMidriff: Courtney.
* BigBad: Agatha Penderghast, a witch's ghost who has unleashed zombies on the town to avenge her execution, albeit on the zombies as opposed to the townspeople.

* BigOlEyebrows: Norman and Mr. Prenderghast. As well as Aggie. It's a ''family trait'', which apparently goes with the speaking to the dead ability.
* BigOlUnibrow: [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m97alhbglL1qk5w0io1_1280.png Salma]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Mitch to Neil. Courtney towards Norman, eventually.

* BlackComedyPetDeath: The film has Bub, a ghost dog belonging to Norman's best friend, who died from [[{{Irony}} being run over by an animal rescue van]] and whose butt the best friend accidentally kisses, mistaking it for his head.

* BrickJoke: The cheesy zombie flick Norman watches in the opening cuts away just as the girl is attacked by the zombie. At the BookEnds ending, the now-zombified girl is briefly seen munching on a severed limb.

%%* TheBully: Alvin.
* BurnTheWitch: Agatha, an innocent child, was condemned to death as a witch by a fearful society. And it almost happens again, with the protests of Norman's parents drowned out by the yelling of the mob, showing just how powerless they are to stop it.

* CasanovaWannabe: Alvin is frequently seen trying to woo girls while never coming close to impressing them. He's aware of it, too.
* CassandraTruth: Norman has apparently told a lot of people about his ability, and they all think he's either insane or lying for attention, but worthy of ridicule either way. Makes it really difficult to get support when the dead actually rise.
** [[ShoutOut In keeping with]] [[TropeNamer this trope]], Norman even has a [[Myth/ClassicalMythology prophetic]] [[TheCassandra vision]] in public... That earns him even more ire from his father and more taunting from his schoolmates.
%% * CastOfSnowflakes
* CelestialDeadline: Norman is supposed to read from the book at the witch's grave before sunset. When he finds the apparent spot, it doesn't work and the curse takes effect, but that's because he was at the Puritans' burial site, not the witch's.
* CentralTheme: The importance of forgiveness and not getting overcome by anger. Also, don't give in to blind fear and mob mentality because they can make you do monstrous things.
* ChekhovsGun: Norman's grandmother at the beginning says (in regards to the zombie movie he was watching) that it would be better if they just sat down and talked to each other.
* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: The school drama teacher.

* CollectiveGroan: The reaction of the group after the library at Neil's elation that he finished a whole book in one night. A book twenty-seven pages long.
** Even better, they were looking for records on the accused witch, and Neil had picked an old asbestos installation manual.

* ColorCodedForYourConvinience: All the ghosts glow pale green to underscore their undead state. The witch's powers glow bright green to emphasize her supposed evil nature.

* TheCheerleader: Courtney is the 'bitchy' version (with shades of the 'stupid' version) but she turns out to be not so bad in the end.

* PopularIsDumb: Courtney is a [[TheCheerleader cheerleader]] and Mitch is a [[DumbJock jock]], and both are popular kids.

* SupernaturalIsGreen: All the ghosts glow pale green to underscore their undead state. The witch's powers glow bright green to emphasize her supposed evil nature.

* MiddleSchoolIsMiserable: Norman and Neil are bullied by Alvin, an eighth grader.

* AdultFear: Agatha, an innocent child, was condemned to death as a witch by a fearful society. And it almost happens again, with the protests of Norman's parents drowned out by the yelling of the mob, showing just how powerless they are to stop it.

* WhatAnIdiot: Invoked in-universe, with the actress in the horror flick Norman is watching in the beginning. A zombie comes towards her and she just stands there screaming. (Her annoyed glance at the camera hints she's not exactly thrilled with this.)

** In the opening scene, we're introduced to Norman's grandmother and all seems normal, but when he relays her request about the thermostat to his father, he angrily chews him out for saying like that since [[DeadAllAlong she died a while ago]], establishing Norman's ghost-seeing powers in a rather abrupt manner.

The film follows the titular protagonist, Norman (voiced by [[Film/TheRoad Kodi]] [[Film/LetMeIn Smit-McPhee]]), living in a small town in Massachusetts. With the "gift" of speaking to the dead, Norman is considered an outcast by the majority of the town, most of which is populated by [[AdultsAreUseless useless adults]] and a nasty population of kids. When the town comes under siege by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies,]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] and [[WickedWitch witches]], only he can actually save the town from these creatures, not to mention a three centuries-old curse.

* WitchSpecies: Hinted at with certain descendants of Prenderghast blood.

** Followed by the witch's crime: "You were speaking to the dead!"

-->'''Mitch''': You're gonna love my boyfriend. He's like a total chick-flick nut!

** While Alvin is a pretty stereotypical example of TheBully, everyone sees him as a complete loser who's not much higher on the social ladder than Norman. Even his ''victims'' think he's pathetic.
** Mitch is your standard popular DumbJock, but his popularity seems to come in part from being actually a [[LovableJock nice person.]] And rarely for the trope, he expresses fear and distrust of socially outcast groups, despite being a member of [[StraightGay one such]] [[ManlyGay group]] himself, showing that even members of socially discriminated groups can still be fearful and prejudiced.

** The townspeople of Blithe Hollow are shown to be not so different from the zombies, reacting to their appearance with extreme violence and aggression, and with shots of their attacks deliberately paralleling iconic zombie attack scenes. Thanks to modern technology and a massive numbers advantage, [[RealityEnsues the townspeople pose far more of a threat to the slow-moving, shambling zombies than the zombies do to them]]. Their lynch-mob mentality gets so bad that they actively try to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kill]]'' Norman, who's only a child, just for being different -- [[HistoryRepeats exactly like]] the zombies when they were alive.

* RealityEnsues:
** It's not easy for Blithe Hollow to cope with the fact that they burned Town Hall and almost killed an innocent boy (Norman) out of misplaced fear. So when the day is done, they try to justify how they got swept up in the mob mentality.
** Thanks to modern technology and a massive numbers advantage, the townspeople pose ''far'' more of a danger to the zombies than the zombies do to them. In fact, throughout most of the climax it's the ''[[{{Irony}} zombies]]'' who are running from the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]] than the other way around. It turns out that this was exactly the nature of the curse; to make the jury rise from the dead and be completely helpless against the humans as punishment. The living weren't being cursed nearly as much as the small group of people who condemned the witch.
** The story of how the witch's curse came about? Where an evil, cackling old crone was brought to justice, and then cursed the whole town out of pure spite? Yeah, it's complete crap. The "witch" was an innocent child who was murdered due to a KangarooCourt run by Puritans. She never hurt anyone while she was alive, and was hung solely because the townsfolk didn't understand her, and feared her because of that. She then cursed her killers so they'd get a taste of their own medicine. Magical elements aside, anyone with a working knowledge of the Salem witch trials can tell you that this is far closer to what ''really'' happened.
*** Agatha being nothing more than a child when she was tried for being a witch is unto itself a harsh but true reality about witch hunts. In those days, witch hunts made no distinction if you were man or woman, old or young: ''anyone'' can be a victim to mass hysteria.

** The townspeople of Blithe Hollow are shown to be NotSoDifferent from the zombies, reacting to their appearance with extreme violence and aggression, and with shots of their attacks deliberately paralleling iconic zombie attack scenes. Thanks to modern technology and a massive numbers advantage, [[RealityEnsues the townspeople pose far more of a threat to the slow-moving, shambling zombies than the zombies do to them]]. Their lynch-mob mentality gets so bad that they actively try to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kill]]'' Norman, who's only a child, just for being different -- [[HistoryRepeats exactly like]] the zombies when they were alive.

* HistoryRepeats: The people of Blithe Hollow decide to ''murder'' a child who claims to be able to talk to ghosts. Once in Puritan types, [[NotSoDifferent once in the present.]]

* IdenticalStranger: Norman and Aggie look like gender-flipped ''clones'' of each other. Since she obviously [[BlackComedy didn't live long enough]] to actually be his direct ancestor, this is more for [[NotSoDifferent thematic reasons]] than to imply any familial connection, though since his uncle has the same last name as her, he could be descended from an unmentioned sibling or cousin.

* ScarilySpecificStory: PlayedForDrama. Norman was originally tasked with reading a generic bedtime story that had been used to keep the witch [[RipVanWinkle asleep for years]], though it quickly ends up destroyed. When Norman finally confronts the witch, he decides to tell her a story about a little girl who [[ISeeDeadPeople could see ghosts]] but was [[DeathOfAChild killed]] because everyone was afraid of her, mirroring the witch's own tragic past. Ultimately, he succeeds in finally calming her down and allowing her to see she's NotSoDifferent to the townspeople who tormented her.

* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', given their similar genre (family/horror/comedy/mystery), settings (Salem-esque, Massachusetts), and subject manner (how a town's witch-related legends and past affects them in the present). However, ''[=ParaNorman=]'' inverts the order of the films' shared plot points to create significantly contrasting themes. In ''The Witch's Ghost,'' the witch is initially presented as an innocent and unjustly executed HeroWithBadPublicity by her descendant (who is a successful author and respected by his community and has nothing truly supernatural about him besides his descent from an actual witch) and the twist is that she was EvilAllAlong and her ghost enacts RoaringRampageOfRevenge upon the town in the third act. In ''[=ParaNorman=]'', the inciting incident is that the curse of an executed witch is coming into effect over a Massachusetts town and the third act ''twist'' is that the "witch"'s descendant (a bullied and ostracized child with actual supernatural abilities and is descended from a witch) discovers the "witch" was innocent and unjustly executed, and the curse is her restless ghost lashing out from the trauma of being murdered by her community.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Most obviously for the zombies, who are forced to live afterlives of horrifying suffering for what they did several hundred years ago, but also Agatha herself, who remains on Earth as a being of almost pure fear and hate, unable to pass on until she confronts her own desire for vengeance and recognizes it for an emotion that is really worse than useless.

** A sign reads "Spelling Bee next Wensday".

* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', given their similar genre (family/horror/comedy/mystery), settings (Salem-esque, Massachusetts), and subject manner (how a town's witch-related legends and past affects them in the present). However, ''[=ParaNorman=]'' inverts the order of the films' shared plot points to create significantly contrasting themes. In ''The Witch's Ghost,'' the witch is presented as an innocent and unjustly executed HeroWithBadPublicity by her descendant and the twist is that she was evil and her ghost enacts a curse upon the town in the third act. In ''[=ParaNorman=]'', the inciting incident is that the curse of an executed witch is coming into effect over a Massachusetts town and the third act ''twist'' is that the "witch"'s descendant discovers the "witch" was innocent and unjustly executed, and the curse is her restless ghost lashing out from the trauma of being murdered by her community. ''[=ParaNorman=]'' can easily read as a brutally honest update on ''Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost,'' considering ''[=ParaNorman=]'' focuses heavily on the cruelty that was committed onto its "witch" during the Trials and how society has perpetuated the narrative of the victims being villains to make history more palatable, in direct contrast to ''The Witch's Ghost,'' which leans into the narratives behind the executions by not only portraying its witch as truly evil and implicitly justifying her execution but also casting her surviving descendant's attempts to clear her name in the historical record as a villainous plot to trick people. It's likely that the dialogue between the two films is deliberate, because while he never specifically addresses ''The Witch's Ghost,'' ''Scooby Doo'' is referred to by director Christ Butler [[https://thefilmstage.com/video-interview-paranorman-co-directors-chris-butler-sam-fell-talk-scooby-doo-influence-bullying-puppet-hospitals-more/ as being a "defining influence"]] on ''[=ParaNorman=].'' The two films even have similar (and similarly inverted) book-finding subplots; in ''The Witch's Ghost,'' the cast are seeking the witch's allegedly mundane book, which turns out at the end of the second act to be a spellbook that is eventually used against her to return her to the grave. In ''[=ParaNorman=],'' Norman begins the second act trying to retrieve a book he believes can help him magically return the witch to her grave, but it turns out to be an ordinary book only significant because of its sentimental value to the "witch."

** Interestingly enough, given how the film is a SpiritualAntithesis to ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost,'' it arguably qualifies as one to ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland''. Both are very dark, deconstructive, and cynical movies about a cast of young people fighting the accursed undead that (initially) no one believes are real. They also have a nearly identical plot twist at their cores: the supposedly evil zombies who are apparently "hunting" the protagonists were responsible in life for the female villain(s)' StartOfDarkness, and the zombies are actually trying to ''help'' the protagonists to be freed from their curse and [[TheAtoner atone for the evil they did]] when they were alive.

** One of Norman's magic-induced flashbacks makes a ''girlish sob'' into a WhamLine of epic proportions, revealing who the witch actually was: a sweet 11-year-old girl.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mr. Penderghast and his predecessors all diligently protected the town from the Witch's curse... but keeping the witch's and Putritans' spirits trapped for centuries while only stalling the curse for a year at the time. Ironically, it's only Mr. Penderghast's scew up in not telling his successor what unmarked place in the wood he should perform the "ritual" in that allows it to be lifted permanently.