- BLAIR WITCH HISTORY -
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT-BURKITTSVILLE, MARYLAND
Once there was a town called "Blair" located where present Burkittsville now stands. Back in February, 1785, several children accused Elly Kedward of coaxing them into her home where she drew their blood. The town found Kedward guilty of witchcraft and she was banished from the village. They sent her away during a very cold winter and people believe that she died in the woods. In November of 1786, people started disappearing from the town. By midwinter all of the people who had accused Kedward's of being a witch had vanished. The people feared a curse and many people moved away.
People in the town vowed never to speak Elly Kedward's name again. In November of 1809 a book called the "The Blair Witch Cult" was published. In 1824 the town of Burkittsville was founded on the Blair site. In August of 1825, eleven people reported seeing a seeing a pale woman's hand reach up out of the creek and pull 10 year old Eileen Treacle into Tappy East Creek. They never found her body. Thirteen days after she drowned in the creek, oily bundles of sticks clogged the creek. Eight-year-old Robin Weaver disappeared and is reported missing in March of 1826. Search parties go to look Robin. Robin returned home but members of the search parties disappeared. Their bodies were found on Coffin Rock a few weeks later. Their arms and legs were tied together and they had been completely disemboweled.
From November of 1940 to May of 1941 children began disappearing. Emily Hollands was the first and a total of seven vanished. On May 25, 1941, Rustin Parr, an old hermit walked into the local market and tells everyone that he has finally finished his task. Police hike for four hours to get to his secluded home in the woods. They found the bodies of all seven children in the cellar. Each child was murdered and disemboweled. Rustin Parr admitted that he had killed them. He told the authorities that he was told to do it by the old woman ghost who lived in the woods near his house. He was sentenced and hung.
On October 20, 1994 some Montgomery College Students arrived in Burkittsville. The students were Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams. They came to Burkittsville to interview the locals about the legend of the Blair Witch for a class project. Heather interviews an old insane woman, named Mary Brown, who lived in the area all her life and she claimed that saw the Blair Witch near Tappy Creek in the form of a hairy, half-human, half-animal beast. On October 21, 1994, Heather interviewed two fisherman early morning. The fishermen told her that Coffin Rock was less than 20 minutes from town and accessible by an old logging trail. The filmmakers decide to hike into Black Hills Forest. The students were never seen again.
On October 25, 1994 the police issue a APB looking for the students. Josh's car is found later that day parked on Black Rock Road. On October 26, 1994, the Maryland State Police begin searching the Black Hills area. They searched for 10 days. There were over 100 men searching and they were aided by dogs, helicopters. On November 5, 1994, the police called off the search after expending 33,000 man-hours looking. Heather's mother, Angie Donahue, began her own search for her daughter and her two companions. On June 19, 1995, the case is declared inactive and unsolved.
On October 16, 1995, students from the University of Maryland's anthropology department were on a project out in the Black Hills. They discover a duffel bag containing film cases, DAT tapes, videocassettes, a Hi-8 video camera, Heather's journal and a CP-16 film camera. The duffel bag was buried under the foundation of a secluded cabin. The duffel bag was examined by the Burkittsville Sheriff. He announced that the 11 rolls of black-and-white film and 10 Hi-8 videotapes were the property of Heather Donahue and her crew. On December 15, 1995, after studying the bag's contents, selected pieces of film footage were shown to the families. According to Angie Donahue, there was nothing conclusive in the film. On February 19, 1996, the families are shown another video clip that local law enforcement officials consider to be faked. Mrs. Donahue became outraged at the Sheriff and goes public with her criticism and complains that he is restricting access to the evidence.
March 1, 1996, the sheriff's announces that the evidence is still inconclusive and the case is declared inactive and unsolved. The footage is to be released to the families on October 16, 1997. The footage is the "filmmakers" last days. Angie Donahue contracts with Haxan Films to examine the footage and piece together the events of October 20-28, 1994. The Blair Witch story was a movie.
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