The Grand High Witch first appears in person as a mysterious and seemingly wealthy woman who arrives with a group of distinguished ladies for an annual convention of the ironically named RSPCC (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, reminiscent of the real-life National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). In her disguise, she is dressed entirely in black and with a "look of serpents" and "brilliant snake's eyes". However, soon the protagonist boy finds out that the RSPCC is really a coven of English witches, and the society's chairwoman is revealed as she the frightening Grand High Witch herself. Removing her synthetic face, she reveals that she is really an extremely old and hideous hag. All the other witches are terrified of her immense power, ruthlessness and boundless cruelty. She is portrayed as having overtly supernatural powers. In previous meetings, The Grand High Witch made it a custom to casually murder at least one of her minion witches simply to keep the others fearful of her, and now she does it by incinerating a timid English witch for speaking out of turn. She has already tortured and killed thousands of children around the world, and in the book she also keeps three of them just recently turned into frogs in her room, intending for them to be eaten alive by seagulls. Now she plans to give the witches of England her newest invention, the "Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker" to distribute and turn all children in the country into mice so they can be exterminated by their own parents.