Summary

• The autopsy in
  The Autopsy of Jane Doe
  Autopsy reveals dark secrets of Jane Doe’s past, intertwined with Salem witch trials history.
• André Øvredal crafts a smart thriller with art-house horror vibes and jump scares, though the thematic depth of
  The Autopsy of Jane Doe
  is just as impressive.
• Jane Doe’s powers emerge from brutal torture, seeking revenge on those who wronged her.

The 2016 supernatural horror film The Autopsy of Jane Doe explained the story of one of the most complex witches in horror history. The film also marks Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal’s first English language film, following his breakout in Trollhunter. Starring Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox as Austin and Tommy Tilden, the father-son coroner duo is tasked with autopsying the body of an unknown woman. This woman, only known as Jane Doe, soon opened the coroners to great horrors.

While The Autopsy of Jane Doe was a critical favorite (86% on Rotten Tomatoes), it was not a box office success. The movie finished with only a $6 million take, but it shows Øvredal’s skills as a filmmaker, leading to his fairly successful career in the horror genre. The consensus is Øvredal created a smart thriller, with a dark mystery that unravels as the movie creepily played out. It rides a tightrope between art-house horror and jump scares and much of that lies with the mystery of the witch on the autopsy table, and the Autopsy of Jane Doe ending masterfully brings its many themes together.

How Did Tommy & Austin Learn Jane Doe Was A Witch?

The Clues That Revealed What They Were Up Against

As Austin and Tommy begin their search for a cause of death in The Autopsy of Jane Doe, the two are quickly confused by a lack of visible signs of trauma. As they continue to dissect Jane Doe, they uncover strange objects and inexplicable internal scarring. They notice that scars on her organs and the charring on her lungs cannot be explained, as there is no outward appearance of such injuries occurring. Furthermore, Tommy discovers a Jimsonweed, a plant that acts as a paralyzing agent and is not native to their location.

The scars on her organs, the removal of her tongue, the charred lungs, and the paralyzing agent explain how the New England Puritans attempted to kill the witch.

Venturing deeper into the cadaver, they find a cloth with sigils and Roman numerals written on it with a tooth wrapped inside. They discover the sigils were used as a tool to banish her uncleanly spirit, the Roman numerals indicate that the date was 1693, and the Jimsonweed is native to the Northeast.

By the end of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, they realize that Jane Doe was tried as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. The scars on her organs, the removal of her tongue, the charred lungs, and the paralyzing agent explain how the New England Puritans attempted to kill the witch.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe’s Witch & Her Powers

How The Witch Attacked Her Tormenters

When Tommy realizes Jane Doe is a witch in The Autopsy of Jane Doe, he reflects on the inaccuracies of the trials. He tells Austin that most women tried and accused of witchcraft were innocent and fell victim to the ramblings of children. Jane Doe was not a witch at first, but the brutality of her accusers transformed her into the vengeful spirit of one. She experienced such severe torture that Jane Doe became a symbol for all innocent women murdered in Salem and her body lives on to enact revenge.

The cloth inside of her includes a passage from Leviticus meant to condemn witches.

Jane Doe’s powers are derived from the moment she was tortured. The cloth inside of her includes a passage from Leviticus meant to condemn witches. As she was not a witch, the attempt to condemn her as one transformed her into a witch. Without the trial prosecutors forcing the cloth down her throat, she would not have become a witch in the first place.

The body of Jane Doe lives on to enact revenge on all people who attempt to take away her bodily autonomy, whether through an autopsy or otherwise. She stands as a symbol that works against the brutality of the Salem Witch Trials. The Autopsy of Jane Doe offers unique insight into the brutal workings of one of America’s oldest supernatural histories while providing a modern twist on the lore surrounding witchcraft and one of the United States’ darker historical eras.

How Powerful Jane Doe Is Compared To Other Movie Witches

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Introduced Viewers To An Incredibly Dangerous Horror Movie Magic User

The titular witch in The Autopsy of Jane Doe is undeniably incredibly powerful. Also, as is the case with most horror movie monsters and villains, many viewers wonder how she stacks up compared to other witches from cinema history. However, assessing exactly how powerful the witch in The Autopsy of Jane Doe is compared to other witches from famous movies is a question with two answers.

When it comes to horror movie witches specifically, it’s inarguable that Jane Doe from The Autopsy of Jane Doe is one of the most powerful seen on screen so far. She is able to resist death for centuries, possess other corpses, inflict wounds on the living, and much more. As a testament to her power, she achieves all of this while being basically comatose. It’s clear that Jane Doe is a considerably more powerful entity than, for example, the witch in The Blair Witch Project or Ellen from Hereditary.

Whether Jane Doe is the most powerful horror movie witch is a little more debatable, though she’s definitely a strong contender for the title. This is only true of horror movie witches, however. The other answer to the question comes when considering witches across all genres of movies, which has a drastically different result. If witches from movies of all genres are included, then the corpse from The Autopsy of Jane Doe doesn’t even come close to being the most powerful.

Witches have appeared in movies of all kinds, not just horror. This means that characters like Ursula from The Little Mermaid, the Grand High Witches in the kid’s movie The Witches, Yubaba in Spirited Away, and Harry Potter characters like Hermione Granger and Bellatrix LeStrange all count. While none of them display their power in such adult ways due to genre constraints, it’s still clear that they’re much more powerful.

For example, The White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was able to bend an entire kingdom to her will. Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty could engulf an entire room in green flames and transform into a colossal dragon. While these may not be as intimidating from a viewer’s perspective, it’s still clear that such acts would require far greater magical prowess than the witch from The Autopsy of Jane Doe ever displayed.

That being said, the ending of The Autopsy of Jane Doe did hint that Jane Doe was coming back to life after Tommy’s sacrifice. While there’s no sequel planned, from a purely hypothetical perspective, it’s entirely possible that, were Jane Doe to return to life at full strength, she could give the likes of The White Witch and Maleficent a run for their money.