The Witches, a Roald Dahl movie that came out in 1990, has plenty of scenes to traumatize any little kid. Which is why I’m not sure why it’s pegged as a children’s movie like Dahl’s other works, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or Matilda. I remember seeing this film back in the early 90’s, and I may have forgotten some parts of the film, but Erica and the painting still haunts me to this day.

In the film, witches hide among humans and absolutely detests children. They do all sorts of unpleasant things to kids, like turning them into animals, or killing them outright. To protect and better prepare Luke Eveshim, the main character, his kindly grandmother Helga tells him a story about her own experience with witches.

Back when she was a little girl, Helga had a friend named Erica. The latter’s story starts with her father finishing a beautiful painting of a farmhouse and hanging it inside their home. He then orders Erica to buy some milk and on her way to the market, or store, Erica was snatched away by a witch. Her kidnapping prompted the entire town to conduct a search but sadly, they found no trace of Erica or any suspects of the crime.

A few days after Erica’s disappearance, Helga visited her best friend’s family, maybe to check on the progress of the search or to make sure Erica’s parents are okay. The father, at this point, was a wreck and looked like someone who hasn’t slept for days. While the mother was pouring out coffee, Erica’s father suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, gazing horrified at the painting. As if it was always there, little Erica was inside the painting.

Continuing her story, Helga narrates that throughout the years, the image of Erica would switch places from one spot of the painting to another. Sometimes she would be out feeding the ducks, often she’ll be inside the farmhouse. Nobody ever saw her move but her figure would always be in a different place. And the horrifying part is, Erica grew older as the years went by. This went on until Erica became old and frail and just stopped appearing in the painting.

For me, the most horrifying part of the story was Erica being trapped alone inside the painting. It didn’t seem like the place she got stuck on was hell, nor she was painted as being tortured, it was a simple farmhouse after all, but still. Was she aware of the other side? Could she see her parents, and the curious crowd who looked at her painting? I’m imagining something along the lines of a video game character seeing out of a window, like Ralph from Wreck-it-Ralph.

I always imagined that Erica’s father cracked from the stress and started painting Erica himself. It makes sense since the goal of the witches seems to be to kill children, so why make the extra effort of trapping her inside a painting to live up until old age? In fact, wouldn’t the spectacle of a girl growing inside a painting attract too much attention and cause scrutiny on magic and the occult? From the way the other witches tried to hide their identities and secret, you’d think this is the direct opposite of being careful.