What Does The Blair Witch Look Like?

I'm not afraid to admit it: I am one of those people who gets really creeped out when I'm walking in the woods, and I've even been known to break into a panicky run for no apparent reason. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone, because we humans have a primal fear of the unknown and what might be lurking out there among the trees, especially after dark. There's even a word for it: Xylophobia, and "The Blair Witch Project" played havoc with my xylophobic tendencies when it arrived in theaters back in 1999, even though we never find out what the titular antagonist actually looks like. Or do we?

The low-budget box office smash is now legendary for popularizing the found footage horror genre, notoriously marketed as real events leading up to the mysterious disappearance of three student filmmakers: Somewhat bossy project leader Heather (Heather Donahue), laid-back cameraman Josh (Joshua Leonard), and highly-strung sound guy Mike (Michael C. Williams). And when the famously abrupt ending rolls around, we're left none the wiser about what really happened to them.

As a big admirer of the film, it never bothered me that we never see the witch, because I always find horror more effective when things are left to our imagination. Those who disliked the movie often criticized it for almost the same thing, dismissing it as a bunch of people running around in the woods without showing us anything. But over the years, my interest has been piqued by things popping up in my social media feed promising not only to unveil the witch's appearance, but also suggesting that she was onscreen all along. Let's put on our thermals, grab the flashlight, and take a closer look.

True to the enigmatic nature of "The Blair Witch Project" as a whole, details about the witch are left deliberately vague. At the beginning of the film when the gang arrive in Burkittsville, Maryland, to do a little research ahead of their fateful trip into the woods, many of the tales they hear focus on historical atrocities: The disembowelling of a search party looking for a missing girl, and the murder of seven young children by a loner called Rustin Parr, who claimed he did it on behest of the witch.

The most detailed description of the witch herself comes from an eccentric elderly lady named Mary Brown (Patricia DeCou), who claims she encountered a "strange-looking" woman wearing a shawl and completely covered in dark fur when she was a child. However, the locals consider her crazy, and she certainly doesn't seem like the most credible witness. Elsewhere, townsfolk talk about an old woman levitating and a white vapor rising from a stream.

Once we get out into the woods, we're left with these grisly tales and our imaginations, although it might've worked out differently if "The Blair Witch Project" directors had their way. The plan was for Josh to film a brief glimpse of what scares Heather so much in the scene when the trio flees their tent at night. It was Art director Rick Moreno dressed in white long johns and with pantyhose over his head, but Josh's camera didn't pick him up as he ran along beside them. It was also a prank that backfired on Moreno, who ended up falling into a creek and getting soaked for his troubles.

At one point, after the trio heard unsettling noises around their camp at night, Josh suggests it might be some locals messing with them. One particular fan theory leans into this notion and suggests that the doomed filmmakers actually met their killer and caught her on camera: Spooky old Mary Brown.

The theory goes that Ms. Brown is seeking notoriety and recognition after being dismissed as a crank by the other townsfolk for so long. She spots her chance when she meets the students, and sets out to stalk them through the woods and scaring them half to death before finally murdering them. Two pieces of onscreen evidence support this theory. Firstly, the rickety gate outside Mary's trailer is made from sticks crudely tied with string, not unlike the creepy stick figures later found hanging from trees. Second, she quotes a Bible passage that pre-sages the stone cairns discovered by the filmmakers.

There are a few problems with this theory. Unless Mary Brown is a supernatural being posing as a human, she certainly appears too frail to spend nights out in the woods terrorizing three twenty-something students, let alone having the strength to kill them. The suggestion that she was the person who handed in the found footage also doesn't have much credence, because the film's lore states that it was discovered buried in the foundations of a cabin by another group of students a year after the filmmakers vanished. If you take a step back from the reality of the movie, it does make more sense that a human might be responsible rather than a supernatural witch — but Mary Brown doesn't seem a very likely candidate.

Another fan theory suggests that the real killer in "The Blair Witch Project" looks like a regular dude wearing a flannel shirt. In one version, theorists suggest that Josh is the culprit behind the murders of Mike and Heather. This seems somewhat plausible because Josh disappears from the camp but can still be heard calling out to his friends. At first glance, it appears that he has been abducted and brutally tortured by the witch, as Heather finds a grisly bundle containing a shred of his shirt and some bloody teeth the next morning. Furthermore, on the climactic night, it seems that the witch is using him to lure the others to the spooky old house. But could it just be Josh playing mind games while he prepares to ambush them?

Another alternative is that Mike and Josh conspired to murder Heather. We might point to Mike kicking the map into the creek as evidence, and it seems that he might be standing in the basement corner as bait while Josh sneaks up behind Heather and clobbers her. The problem is that the project was Heather's baby, so both theories depend on Josh opportunistically seizing on the chance to commit murder, possibly involving Mike in the second scenario. Also, if the killers are human, why wouldn't they just destroy the film rather than bury it? It gets a little more convincing if (as some have suggested) Josh and/or Mike are possessed by the witch, much like Rustin Parr apparently was when he killed the children in the 1940s. That's why the ambiguous ending of "The Blair Witch Project" is so cool, however: It gives fans plenty to chew over.