UPDATE: The "I Put a Spell on You" quote has been laid to rest like Billy Butcherson.
At the Hocus Pocus 2 premiere Sept. 27, Bette Midler exclusively confirmed to E! News that she did say "Hello, Salem" during the iconic musical number in 1993's Hocus Pocus.
"Salem, not sailors!" she exclaimed. "Why would I say 'Hello, sailors'? No, no, it's Salem—'Hello, Salem.'"
The debate all started when Midler's own Instagram and Twitter accounts posted Sept. 23, "Hello sailors. My name's Winifred, what's yours?"
Which left fans questioning if they had been misquoting the beloved Halloween flick for years. Thankfully, we don't have to run amok, as the debate has been squashed.
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This Hocus Pocus revelation will have you saying, "Damn, damn, damn! Double damn."
In honor of Hocus Pocus 2's upcoming Sept. 30 premiere, Bette Midler, who plays the leader of the wicked Sanderson Sisters, looked back on one of her more famous lines. "Hello sailors," Bette wrote on Instagram Sept. 23, referencing her greeting during her iconic "I Put a Spell on You" performance. "My name's Winifred, what's yours?"
However, the nostalgic look back has since blown the minds of devoted Hocus Pocus fans, who were shocked to learn that they have not remembered the scene correctly. "Hello SAILORS?!," one fan commented. "Are you telling me it's not hello SALEM?!" Another fan weighed in, "I always thought you were saying 'hello, Salem,'" while a third wrote, "I was today years old when I learned she says 'Sailors' instead of 'Salem.'"
We'd be lying if we said we knew she said "Sailor" this whole time!
And we're not the only ones, as Freeform's official lyric video for the "I Put A Spell On You" number quotes Winifred as saying, "Hello, Salem! My name's Winifred, what's yours?"
While we ruminate on this news, we begin the countdown to Hocus Pocus 2, which reunites Bette with her on-screen sisters Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Sarah, and Kathy Najimy, who plays Mary. Here's hoping the new movie will give us a new batch of lines to misquote for practically three decades!
As for what you can expect from the sequel? Disney+ offered up the following description: "It's been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow's Eve."
In addition to Bette, SJP and Kathy, Hocus Pocus 2 stars Whitney Peak, Lilia Buckingham, Belissa Escobedo, Hannah Waddingham, Tony Hale and Sam Richardson. Doug Jones is also reprising his role of zombie Billy Butcherson.
Hocus Pocus 2 premieres Sept. 30 on Disney+.