The Blair Witch Project centers on the titular Blair Witch stalking and finally killing three student filmmakers, but was the witch actually the real killer responsible for the students' deaths? The Blair Witch Project went down in history as one of the scariest horror films of all time immediately upon its release. In an interview, writer and horror movie aficionado Stephen King revealed he couldn’t finish The Blair Witch Project. The movie sees three college students attempting to film a documentary about the town of Burkittsville, Maryland and the so-called "Blair Witch" many of the town’s residents believe resides in the Black Hills Forest just outside of town. After interviewing several of the town’s residents, the students set off to camp in the Black Hills Forest to continue filming their documentary. They become hopelessly lost and are stalked by a seemingly paranormal force.
The marketing for the film is so well-known that many audiences incorrectly label it as the first-ever found footage film. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez wrote, directed, and edited the low-budget film which hugely influenced viral movie marketing. Instead of the usual movie posters, they distributed missing person leaflets and encouraged viewers to research the fictitious legend and the supposedly missing college students. SyFy even released its own short mockumentary about the legend, further engrossing audiences in the “true story” plot before the film was even released. The actors themselves were also listed as “missing, presumed dead” on IMDb.
After audiences saw the film, many were horrified at the supposedly true story, thinking that the three actors, Heather Donahue as Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard as Joshua (Josh) Leonard, and Michael C. Williams as Michael "Mike" Williams were actually missing. The Blair Witch Project now has two movies sequels, but the fact that the actors were essentially playing themselves in the original only added to the terror experienced by many viewers who walked away fearing that the Blair Witch had killed three students after trapping and leading them to a house to be murdered. Years later, however, audiences have since reevaluated the film and come up with several other potential killers, leading them to question whether the Blair Witch was actually targeting the students at all. Here's every major theory on who the "real killer" was in The Blair Witch Project.
The Blair Witch
Here's the most obvious theory: the Blair Witch herself. The Blair Witch, actually named Elly Kedward, was accused of witchcraft in 1785 when several local children reported that she had performed witchcraft on them. Elly was then banished from the town, which was called Blair at the time, kicking off the plot of the found-footage horror film. Elly was officially presumed to have died because of the elements when she was banished to the Black Forest in the middle of winter. In actuality, Elly was dragged out of town before being hung up on a tree with heavy rocks tied to her limbs, slowly stretching them out. By the next year, every single one of Elly’s accusers along with half of the town’s children had all vanished. The townspeople, afraid that the Blair Witch had put a curse on them, vowed never to say her actual name again and eventually left the town, which was renamed Burkittsville years later when people began to return.
The Blair Witch is the obvious answer to who was the killer in the film project that tricked audiences into believing its "true story." Several of the townspeople in Burkittsville still believed in the curse of the Blair Witch and cited several stories of deaths and strange phenomena that had been linked to her. A few town residents even claimed to have seen the witch. When the characters are killed, the Blair Witch is the most evident suspect. The students experienced paranormal phenomena such as being trapped in the forest with no explanation as they wander around for days. They become hopelessly lost on what was meant to be a fairly short backpacking trip. Time and location begin to make no sense as they follow Mike’s compass in one direction only to come across the same stream they had already been to. They begin finding dolls – which are also an important plot point in 2016’s Blair Witch – made of sticks and what are meant to be grave markers outside of their tents one morning with no explanation as to how they got there. The students fear they have come under the curse of the Blair Witch, and Heather makes an apology tape saying that it is all her fault for going into the woods in the first place.
One of the Previous Victims
The paranormal phenomenon could’ve also been a result of revenge-seeking victims who had previously died in the woods. Initially, audiences are led to believe that there is a vengeful spirit responsible for what happens to the characters, but they assume it is the witch. The film has since been reevaluated, and some viewers think that the vengeful spirit, or spirits, attacking the filmmakers could have been someone else who, like Elly, had been murdered in the Black Forest in the fictional Blair Witch legend. It’s up for debate who this spirit could be, but between the townspeople and children who vanished, the kids kidnapped and murdered by serial killer Rustin Parr, and the five men killed and sliced open on Coffin Rock, there is no shortage of potential ghostly suspects. Although it is still likely that the witch was indirectly responsible because she was the one who killed these victims to begin with. Other theories on this list even suggest that the victims of Rustin Parr were only killed because Parr was under the influence of the Blair Witch.
Mr. Rustin Parr
Mr. Rustin Parr was a man who confessed to killing seven young boys in his house in the woods. Parr explained that he would kidnap them in pairs and force one to stand in the corner while he killed the other in The Blair Witch Project mythology. In the final moments of the film, Mike is standing and facing the corner as Heather screams, trying to get his attention. Heather then drops her camera on the floor and is killed off-screen as Mike continues to face the corner. This is the same way Parr would kill his victims.
Further aiding the theory that it is Rustin Parr’s spirit who attacks the students is that they were in his house in the final act of the film. The house they were led to belonged to Mr. Parr. It was far too modern to have belonged to the witch, who had also lived in Blair Witch Project's Burkittsville, Maryland town itself, and the house is covered in bloody children’s handprints, which are more than likely the handprints of Parr’s victims as they tried to escape. If it was Parr who lead the college kids to his house in the woods, it makes a lot of sense that he would kill them in the same manner that he killed his other victims: luring them to the house in pairs and killing the first as he forced the second to stand in the corner without looking at him.
Josh
One of the more shocking and controversial (yet completely sensical) theories is that Josh is responsible for the murder of his two classmates. Josh goes missing while the other two are left wandering the woods. They still continue to experience frights similar to those created later on by the found footage Paranormal Activity franchise. The unseen force continues following them through the woods. Josh’s screams lead Heather and Mike to Rustin Parr’s house in the middle of the forest, but were Josh’s screams really cries for help? Some viewers speculate that Josh is leading them there on purpose in order to kill them.
However, Josh’s equipment and supplies are the very first to be targeted while the three are lost in the woods. When their camp is destroyed, Josh’s stuff is found to be covered in slime. After another night of terror, Heather and Mike awaken to find that Josh is missing. Later, Heather and Mike find another doll which is wrapped in a piece of Josh’s shirt and contains teeth, part of a tongue, and Josh’s hair. All of this makes it seems illogical that he is behind the murders in the highly profitable horror flick, but, in actuality, the same facts that seem to disprove the theory that Josh is responsible also make it more viable.
The theory that Josh killed both Mike and Heather really rests on the Blair Witch. The way Heather is killed while Mike stands in the corner led some to believe, not that Rustin Parr kills the trio after he leads them to his house, but that it was the Blair Witch who took control over Mr. Parr to begin with, and she does so again using Josh. Josh is the first target of the witch who then uses him to murder his friends. This theory could potentially be explored if another Blair Witch movie were done today. It implies that Mr. Rustin Parr was being influenced by the witch when he killed the seven young boys after leading them to his house and asserts that Josh is also under the witch’s influence when he leads his friends to the same house and then murders them as well. The theory that Josh is the killer is strengthened by the idea that the Blair Witch herself is still responsible and that she also took control of Mr. Parr, explaining why Heather and Mike were killed by Josh (according to this theory) in a similar fashion to the boys taken by Parr.
Josh & Mike
The final theory is attached to the theory that Josh is behind it. Mike could also be under the influence of the witch in this horror movie where seemingly nobody survives. Mike intentionally kicks their map into the river, exclaiming that they are already lost and it’s not helping, so there’s no point in having it around. Mike’s emotions are also raised much higher than those of his two friends, leading some to believe that he was also being targeted by the witch in order to allow her to use him and Josh to kill all three of them. The theory is strengthened by the idea that Mike doesn’t happen to lose the map. He purposefully gets rid of it. Even with Mike’s raised level of anger and emotion, it doesn’t make sense that he destroys the map if his fear is based on not being able to leave the forest unless he is influenced by the same outside force placing The Blair Witch Project's signature stick figure dolls around them. Perhaps the Blair Witch wasn’t the real killer. Perhaps it was Josh (potentially aided by Mike), Mr. Parr, or any one of the other victims who died in the Black Hills Forest, but even if another killer was responsible in The Blair Witch Project, they were still committing the murders under the witch's influence.