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I'm searching for a western animated TV show about a mixed-gender group of kids who gain powers of a variety of Halloween monsters (The only one I'm certain of is that one of the girls gets to be a witch). This originally aired no later than some time in the 90s.

I think some kind of dark force was going to attack their town, and they had to figure out a way to stop it, possibly centering around an old church or cathedral. One line I recall distinctly was one of the girls said something like "I'm still a witch, so I've got the wits; so I know how to solve this problem". The show had previously mentioned that that "witch" and "wit" were cognates.

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  • Obviously not the answer, but there is an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where people become whatever their Halloween costume is.
    – eshier
    Commented Feb 5, 2018 at 17:42

1 Answer 1

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I'm pretty sure this is The Halloween Tree based on Ray Bradbury's book.

As the summary states, they are taken to Notre Dame cathedral at one point, so your church is there. Each child is dressed as a typical Halloween creature--witch, skeleton, mummy, monster.

I found this quote on Goodreads from the novel:

But, stop and think. What does the word ‘witch’ truly mean?” “Why—” said Tom, and was stymied. “Wits,” said Moundshroud. “Intelligence. That’s all it means. Knowledge. So any man, or woman, with half a brain and with inclinations toward learning had his wits about him, eh? And so, anyone too smart, who didn’t watch out, was called—” “A witch!” said everyone. “And some of the smart ones, the ones with wits, pretended at magic, or dreamed themselves with ghosts and dead shufflers and ambling mummies. And if enemies dropped dead by coincidence, they took credit for it. They liked to believe they had power, but they had none, boys, none, sad and sorry, ’tis true.

Here's the cover that may show familiar characters:

Halloween Tree

Here's a short clip from early in the story:

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    That was it! By coincidence, I actually bought the book and tucked it away unread for next Halloween. I imagine the similarity might have triggered an amusing recollection. Commented Feb 5, 2018 at 21:46
  • Damn, I was wondering if this was the answer but wasn't sure- well done!
    – Broklynite
    Commented Feb 5, 2018 at 22:06

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