William Butcherson, nicknamed Billy, is the (un-)dead ex-lover of Winifred Sanderson, the oldest Sanderson sister (and witch). We are told by Thackary Binx that Billy was not only murdered (poisoned) by Winifred, but also had his mouth sewn shut by her after she found him sporting with her sister Sarah ( so he couldn't tell [Winifred's] secrets even in death ). His gravestone reads, Here Lyes Y Body of William Butcherson/Died Y 1st of May 1693/Lost Soul .In the film (set in 1993), Billy is raised from the dead by Winifred, who assigns him the task of catching the three children who have stolen her spellbook. (This is the result of a myth which states that the witches cannot set foot in a graveyard due to it having hallowed ground.) He seems somewhat confused when he bursts from his coffin (which seems to rise closer to the surface during a brief earthquake), and expresses surprised disappointment upon discovering (by reading his gravestone) that he is dead.He perks up when he notices Sarah, who greets him fondly, but his mood darkens again when Winifred orders him to go after the children (who ran off screaming). This could imply that he still has feelings for Sarah and is un-forgiving of Winifred, who continues to treat him badly throughout the movie. However, he does stumble after the youngsters, though he is temporarily delayed when the protagonist, Max, uses a branch to knock his head off. Perhaps by magic, he is able to fix it back on soon after.A little later, when Winifred is talking to Mary, she refers to William as Billy the Butcher . This suggests that Billy was either a butcher when he was alive or that he murdered people in a brutal manner, earning him the nickname Billy the Butcher . However, it may simply come from his surname, Butcherson.After following the children through sewers, Billy comes up by way of a grid in the city, but has his fingers run over - and subsequently chopped off - before managing to climb out successfully. We next see him when he finds the adolescents at the town hall, where he makes a grab at them. Here it looks as though his fingers may have been restored. As he is running after the kids, he gets caught up dancing with one of the towns folk who appears to believe that he is in costume (for Halloween).William turns up again towards the end of the film, when he runs into the children back at the graveyard. He is threatened with a pocket knife before taking the knife off of Max and using it to cut open his own sewn mouth. This is when we discover that Billy actually intends to help the youngsters: He calls Winifred a torrent of bad names and goes on to protect Dani from the witches (resulting in another loss of his head, which he again puts back on).Once the witches have been defeated, he says farewell to the children and falls back, yawning, into his grave to sleep once more. Show less «