Fact or Fiction?

Many years ago in Burkittsville, Maryland a man who lived in the woods came into town saying that he had “Finally finished”. When someone asked what he meant, he told them the whole story of luring eight children into the woods and killing them. He claimed that he had done this deed because a ghost witch, The Blair Witch, told him to (Mythology). When I heard about this story, and the documentary that was created about it I thought; Is The Blair Witch Project real?

Well, it’s very possible that The Blair Witch exists. Many people from the town of Burkittsville don’t believe it, but many do. Heather, Josh and Mike from Montgomery College were curious about the legend and ended up making a documentary about it. As you see in the footage as the movie plays, unusual things start to occur to the trio as they lose themselves in the woods. Josh goes missing a few days into the project, later Heather and Josh find the cabin in the woods where the eight kids died.

On the website for the documentary it shows the police searching for them, Josh’s car, photos from days prior to the project, and the bag with all of their footage (Aftermath). The man who found their bag said that it would have been impossible for the bag to have been buried where he found it (Aftermath). The bag had been buried under a 100 year old cabin in the woods, The Blair Witch Project and story involves a cabin in the woods. This cabin is where the three students apparently died, along with the eight other children many years ago.

On the ‘Mythology’ tab on the Blair Witch website it states the major events that happen, starting in 1785 when the acclaimed Blair Witch died to 1997 when the footage was received and edited together (Mythology). One of the major events is that the police withheld footage from the press and from the families, they said it was because it was fake, but is that really why they kept it secret? (Mythology). For all we knew, it was raw footage of what lives in that cabin. It is even stated that there is footage that was recovered, but not put into the documentary (Blair Witch).

But could three students be stalked and murdered in eight days? Even if there actually was a witch behind it, or a man claiming to be persuaded by a ghost of a witch, is it really possible? As seen in the footage, the first night they didn’t start a fire, nothing weird happened. The only times a stalker could have seen them would have been in the short amount of hours they had been in the woods while there was daylight. Is it possible that whoever killed them was watching them with the help of the flashlights they were carrying with them? Yes, but a person-- no matter if they are a ghost-- if they did live in an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods, could they really be able to precisely follow these kids without getting  caught on camera?

A few days into the project, bundles of sticks had been left outside of their tent (Heather Donahue). Just like the bundles of sticks that had clogged the Tappy East Creek after eleven people witnessed a woman’s pale hand drag Eileen Treacle into the water during the August of 1825 (Mythology). Then the noise of sticks breaking and leaves crunching under feet were heard only a day after the sticks had been discovered by Heather and Mike, yet the noises had no owner. Two nights that occurred, the next night children’s laughter and chatter were heard outside of their tent, followed by the whole tent being shook violently by something that wasn’t there (Heather Donahue).

A day later Josh goes missing, and in his place, one bundle of sticks with his bloody shirt to tie it together (Heather Donahue). As Heather and Mike bravely make their way along, they run into the lone cabin in the woods where they hear Josh’s cries for help. Yet these cries have no owner, so they both end up dying (Heather Donahue).

But that doesn’t answer our question, Is The Blair Witch Project real? Many people have posted their opinion on the internet, and many people have gone into detail on who The Blair Witch actually was. Elly Kedward, a poor girl who had lived a hard abusive life was accused of witch craft in February of 1785 (Mythology). Throughout her life she had become pregnant seven times, six ended in miscarriage and one died after she had been attacked (The Trial of Elly Kedward). She mourned the loss of her seven unborn fetuses by creating seven stick dolls that she hung in trees to symbolize their deaths (The Trial of Elly Kedward).

During The Blair Witch Project, the trio runs into a tree with seven stick dolls hung in it (Heather Donahue). So now that we know this about The Blair Witch herself, we can tell that she is an actual person who did live. But does that mean she killed Heather, Josh, Mike and those eight other children? If she had wanted to kill those eight children, why would she tell some man to do it? Why wouldn’t she just kill the man?

Now the man, Rustin Parr, had claimed to be told by Elly to kill these eight kids. In Burkittsville most people know about the witch, so many believed him. But many thought he had just wanted to kill these kids, and he was going to blame a dead person for his actions. But his willingness to take responsibility for his actions makes you really think that it was a witch telling him. Otherwise why would he want to confess to doing those things? (Mythology).

There are many websites and articles that state there were writers (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez) and they hired Heather Donahue, Josh Leonard and Mike Williams (The Blair Witch Hunt). Heather, Josh and Mike are still very alive. Heather now has her own company, Grow Girl, which is about her growing marijuana. Now how do I know that it’s the Heather Donahue? Well, when the cover of the book says ‘How my life after The Blair Witch Project went to pot’, it’s pretty easy to tell (About). So this woman who claimed to be dead, is now being public with her growing of illegal substances?

Joshua Leonard pursued a life in acting, along with The Blair Witch Project, he also starred in Men of Honor (2000), Live From Baghdad (2002), and Higher Ground (2011) (Joshua Leonard). He has appeared in several television shows and he’s still acting in movies. Mike also continued his life as an actor, he is also known for his roles in The Objective (2008), Altered (2006), and Long Story Short (2002) (Michael Williams). He has also had roles in Law and Order SVU.

Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick have written several other films, some of them are like the psychological horror film The Blair Witch Project. Now what is psychological horror? Psychological horror is the subgenera of horror films that rely on the characters’ fears and emotional instability. As they filmed The Blair Witch Project, Eduardo and Daniel gave each actor a day’s supply of food and what they’re supposed to do.       

No one else is a loud to see their agenda; all of their conversations were un-scripted. And that’s why it seems so real, Mike and Heather’s fear when Josh went ‘Missing’ was real, but Josh’s actions weren’t (The Blair Witch Project FAQ). Heather’s reaction to Mike standing in the corner of the basement was true fear, but it wasn’t real. So, this proves that The Blair Witch Project is just a mockumentary, and by no means is real.

Bibliography

"About." n.d. Grow Girl. http://heatherdonahue.com/about/. 2 December 2012.

"Aftermath." 1999. Blair Witch. http://www.blairwitch.com/evidence.html. 29 November 2012.

Blair Witch. 1999. http://www.blairwitch.com/. 29 November 2012.

"Blair Witch." n.d. Blair Witch Wiki. http://blairwitch.wikia.com/wiki/Blair_Witch. 2 December 2012.

"Joshua Leonard." n.d. IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502671/. 2 December 2012.

"Michael Williams." n.d. IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931321/. 2 December 2012.

"Mythology." 1999. Blair Witch. http://www.blairwitch.com/mythology.html. 29 November 2012.

"The Blair Witch Hunt." 16 January 2007. Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/blair.asp. 2 December 2012.

"The Blair Witch Project FAQ." n.d. TBWP . http://david_l_mills.tripod.com/tbwp/faq.html. 2 December 2012.

The Blair Witch Project. Dir. Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams Heather Donahue. Perf. Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams Heather Donahue. 1996. http://www.blairwitch.com/.

The Trial of Elly Kedward. n.d. http://www.ellykedward.com/. 29 November 2012.