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Donna Gilchrist
Biographical information
Born

17th century

Died

1692 (as a human)
2013 (as a witch)

Physical description
Species

Witch-Ghost

Gender

Female

Hair colour

Black

Family information
Affiliation
Television Portrayal
.


Donna Gilchrist is a witch who runs a soup kitchen. Her supernatural expertise is sought out by Josh and Nora to help rescue Sally Malik from Limbo. She is portrayed by actress Amy Aquino.

History

Early Life

Donna has been alive since the late 17th century, and specifies that she lived in Andover at the time, rather than the more well-known Salem. Though she was falsely accused of being a witch at the time of her execution, she was later revived by true witches and made into one of them. Because of this, she explains to Sally that she was forever indebted to them. Donna has extended her lifespan by several centuries by consuming the souls of ghosts as payment for binding supernatural contracts.

S03 e0312 02 136432870641 CC 400x535

Donna's true form

Season 3

After charging Josh and Nora $2,000 and the heart of a person one of them has killed, she has them bring her Sally's body, as she is not simply bringing Sally back from Limbo but bringing her back to life. The incantation is successful, but she uses the spell to also locate the body whose heart she used: Ray. Donna appears once more when Trent walks through what appears to be his door, only to slice through Trent's spirit with a cleaver, reducing him to a pile of sawdust. She then eats some of the dust from the pile, and her face becomes younger. After Sally accidentally bumps into Robbie, she goes to Donna to beg for her to spare her brother's life. After declining the pleas, and after holding Josh and Sally away with her witchcraft, Donna reveals there is a way to save Robbie, and anyone else Sally might see, and that is for Sally to hand her soul over to Donna once she dies her natural death. Sally reluctantly agrees, while Josh realizes that Donna anticipated this exact chain of events. When Sally asks her what will become of her soul, Donna dismisses the question by saying it belongs to her now and she has no right to ask. After Nick and Stevie die as a result of their falling too deep into the hunger for human flesh, they both enter the same spiritual Door with a gilded clam on the outside. With Alannah's help, Sally realizes that the door leads to Donna rather than the afterlife, and when she finally dies her spirit will also pass through the door and straight to Donna. Sally, Josh, and Aidan pass through the door, discovering Donna has brought Ray back to life to be her guard dog, and Aidan and Sally confront Donna. Aidan realizes that Donna must have already eaten Nick's and Stevie's souls for sustenance, and when she goes to attack Sally to do the same, the incantation Ilana taught her begins to cause Donna to age rapidly. Although they believe it is weakening her, Donna reveals that it is only a "true face" spell, showing what she truly looks like after having been alive since at least the 17th centuries, admitting that the Salem witch trials were "depressing". Donna says that she had originally planned to have some other use for Sally's soul, but Sally's insistence to know that plan and her resistance to death has made her change her mind, and she only plans on devouring her soul to regain her youth. Everything would have gone according to plan for her, as she knew that all who are brought back from the dead eventually feel the need to see their loved ones, and their souls would have gone her way, but once Sally demanded that her brother be saved, the deal changed and that would cause herself, Stevie, and Nick, to begin decomposing and becoming flesh-eating zombies. Just as Donna prepares to devour Sally's soul, Aidan reveals he has brought Sally's heart with him and throws it into a fire, intending to reverse the spell binding Sally to Donna. As flames begin to engulf Donna, she performs another incantation to send the flames to Sally, who realizes the futility of the situation and allows Donna to devour her soul. She is turned into sawdust and Donna breathes it in, regaining her youthful complexion, but she soon begins to radiate light and in a scream of pain explodes, sending Josh, Aidan, and Sally's spirit back to the house, seemingly defeating Donna for good. However, Sally later sees a set of candles Emily has blown out burn brightly again, and violently, before dying down, suggesting Donna is not yet out of their lives. 

Donna reappears as a ghost at the end of the season 3 finale where she tells Sally about "death spots", the exact area where a ghost died as a human. Donna uses the cracks on the tiles as a portal to pull Sally through.

Season 4

Season 4 reveals that due to the destruction of Sally's death spot they have become trapped in another form of purgatory which Donna compares to a police holding cell. Sally has been using her powers to make it look like a health spa. Donna, having realized the error of her ways, seeks to destroy herself and Sally as they both threaten the existence of the world due too many tears in reality. Sally later manages to escape from the "cell", leaving Donna trapped there alone.

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