That's Not The Blair Witch At The End Of 'Blair Witch'

Unfortunately, Blair Witch was not quite the hit sequel that Lionsgate was hoping it would be. The film has only pulled in $16.5 million domestically and another $11.5 million internationally. That's a bummer, because it's actually quite the scary sequel that expands the mythology of The Blair Witch Project without ruining anything or revealing too much.

Now those of you have seen it may be thinking to yourself that the movie does reveal too much about the legend at the core of the horror franchise, mostly because it appears to reveal the titular spirit/monster/whatever. But writer Simon Barrett recently confirmed that we don't actually see the Blair Witch on screen at all. Find out more below, but beware of spoilers.

First of all, a little bit of background. Throughout both movies, we've been led to believe that the Blair Witch is Elly Kedward. In the recent sequel, the locals Lane and Talia explain that she was an Irish woman who lived in Blair (now Burkittsville, Maryland) in the 1700s, and she ended up being accused of witchcraft. Kedward was tortured in the woods by being hung from a tree with rocks tied to her limbs, gradually stretching her arms and legs out of their joins and sockets. So many have assumed that Kedward and the Blair Witch are one in the same.

However, here's what Simon Barrett had to say about the Blair Witch (via ScreenRant):

It appears the confusion may result from how the credits are listed because Barrett posted this on Twitter too:

We don't know exactly what the credit listed in question may be, but there must be someone listed in the credits as "The Blair Witch" or maybe a credit listing whoever played the creature as both Elly Kedward and the Blair Witch. But Barrett points out that the Blair Witch legend predates the story of Elly Kedward, so that means not only is the creature we saw not the Blair Witch, but Elly Kedward is apparently not the Blair Witch either. So what the hell was that we saw at the end of the movie?

Well, Blair Witch focuses on James, the brother of Heather, the woman who was part of the original trio who disappeared in the woods in The Blair Witch Project. James never stops believing that his sister may be out there somewhere, just waiting for him to find her. At the end of the movie, James and his friend Lisa end up in the house that the original three documentary filmmakers ended up in at the end of the first movie. They look in the corner to avoid making eye contact with the Blair Witch, which will kill them if they look at her. But James ends up being tricked by hearing what he believes is the voice of Heather, and he's killed.

But what if it wasn't a trick? If that creature isn't the Blair Witch, maybe it's Heather, who has been tortured and turned into something inhuman by the Blair Witch, forced to do her bidding. That would explain why James' voice is used to trick his friend Lisa into being killed as well.

However, just because the Blair Witch isn't Elly Kedward doesn't mean that her spirit doesn't still haunt those woods. Maybe that creature is Elly Kedward. The fact that she was stretched out after being hung on a tree would explain the spindly arms. Plus, with the time loop concept revealed in the sequel, it would explains how Kedward could still be around after all these years. Or maybe the creature is just the embodiment of all the people the Blair Witch has killed over the years, which is why the victims hear the voices of their friends killed before them.

Anyway, as Barrett explains, there will be more details revealed in the DVD commentary, so we'll look forward to further clarification. Knowing this new information, what's your theory on the Blair Witch ending?