There are as many answers to the question of why witches have green faces as there are warts on their noses. Here are some possible explanations:
Theory One: Witches were said to concoct herbal potions. Herbs (the leafy parts of plants) are green.
Theory Two: In the Salem witch trials, suspects were given henbane, a hallucinogenic that turned their skin green, to extract confessions. (The drug-induced “high” may also be the origin of witches flying on broomsticks.)
Theory Three: Green is associated with being sickly, unwholesome, reptilian, and bilious (think of the four medieval humors), all “evil” witchlike characteristics.
Theory Four: Green-skinned witches began with The Wizard of Oz, the first Technicolor movie. MGM used green face paint on Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West, because it was vibrant, scary, and ugly. Before that witches typically had red or orange faces. [In Baum’s books, good witches were pretty, bad witches were ugly. Skin color was not specified.] Want to learn more about the making of The Wizard of Oz movie? Read the novel A Brain, A Heart, The Nerve. More at NOVELS.
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 Technicolor movie The Wizard of Oz
A fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner
