By Thom W. O'Brady

The concept that Melissa Joan Hart came up with really took the world by storm. It is based on her own life and understanding of the village she grew up in. People often wonder, is the village really full of magic, witches, rotten kids, etc.? To a great extent, there is.  The concept of a few outcast kids that are in a village that looks like a perfect  little village on the surface, but deep down is really weird captured the imagination of the world.

Sayville on the Surface.

To the casual observer Sayville is an ideal village. It has everything a idealized village would have such as a Main St. like the one in Disney in a downtown with a little theater, post office, library, banks, etc. The town is largely surrounded by woods, though not as much as yesteryear, with lots of lakes, forests and parks. There are lots of nice houses, with a train station in the middle in the downtown and it is on a bay with ferry boats that take people to Fire Island. The closest way to describe it is that it is like the little town in the Disney movie “Lady and the Tramp.” 

The Other Side of the Sayville 

Sayville really has witches, lots of rotten kids, big creepy Victorian houses, swamps, a school that looks like Hogwarts that teaches about the supernatural to children, the symbol of the schools in the village is the demonic lightening bolt with the magician colors, purple and gold. Sayville was really founded by a family that were local witch accusers that came to Long Island from Salem Village, Massachusetts, and legend has it Sayville is a contraction of “Salem Village.” To add some mystery, no one knows what Sayville means or how it its name, only speculation. In the 1930s a world famous cult leader put a curse on the village. There even was a young witch that killed a cheerleader in a demonic ceremony.  

The above was filtered though the eyes of a child. For example, the school that teaches the supernatural is a Catholic school that has religious instruction for public school kids, but emphasizes the spirit world and supernatural acts of saints. It is not much of a jump for an unhappy child to see the place as a magical place, especially since the architecture is castle-like.

 What Made the Legend

It is this mix of a perfect town with magic and monsters that made the story fascinating. It is a contrast between the perfect and what threatens it, and between the dull everyday world and the world of magic. Sayville is the only place in the world that offers the ingredients.

 For example, what other place in the world: 

• Has a demonic symbol to symbolize the schools. (Lightening Bolt, like in Harry Potter)
• Purple and gold for colors.
• Has a school that looks like a castle, that teaches the supernatural.
• “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” grew up there, it inspired her show, widely copied.
• A young witch killed a cheerleader in a demonic ceremony, making world headlines.
• A history of grisly murders, where the motive is anger. Neighbors and relatives are the victims.
• Has swamps.
• Settled by a family from Salem, Mass.
• Founded by a family involved in witch trials in the county.
• Lots of old Victorian Houses.
• Near Amityville, and is a sports team rival to it.
• In New England (Suffolk County is only place in NY that is part of New England)
• Has an important witch coven.
• Mean kids, that isolate a small group of “outcasts” with a leader that stands up to the rest.
• Snotty people.
• Is a small village.
• Name is likely derived from “Salem Village.”
• Lots of old cemeteries.
• Rich in folklore and urban legends of ghosts and the unexplained.
• A “Haunted Mansion” set back in a swamp.
• In the same Catholic Diocese as the priest in the Amityville Horror.

     AND

• Looks like a perfect, Hollywood version of a perfect, peaceful small town.
• Has a classic downtown.
• Surrounded by woods and farms. (Not as much now)
• Solid middle class, average American.
• On a bay.

It is out of a mix the above that gave birth to the legend that captivates the world.