Rustin Parr (1903 - November 22, 1941) was a serial killer from the early 1940s who was found guilty for murdering seven children in Burkittsville, Maryland on the supposed "instructions" of the Blair Witch.
What is the true story of The Blair Witch Project?
According to Ben Rock, the man who created the backstory for Haxan, he took inspiration from the real Maryland legend of the woman Moll Dyer. Sometime in the winter of 1697, Dyer was accused of witchcraft, tried, and subsequently banished from Leonardtown, Maryland.
Rustin Parr is an antagonist in the The Blair Witch Project series. He is a hermit living in the forest of Burkittsville, Maryland who murders several children at the behest of the Blair Witch.
Since he's never seen again, and his screams were heard during the night, it seems clear the Blair Witch — or an agent working on her behalf (like a Blair Witch killer cult according to some theories) — took him and murdered him in a rather brutal fashion.
Just like those two classics, the fear comes from what you don't see. Parr had a house in the woods that he would take the children to. We learn that he led his victims down to the basement in pairs, where he would make them stand in the corner because he didn't want them looking at him.
Film Theory: Blair Witch's SECRET KILLERS! (Blair Witch Project)
What did the witch do to Josh?
It seems the Blair Witch had tortured and ultimately killed him. The next morning Heather Donahue found Joshua's bloody teeth and gums wrapped in his shirt, but nothing more was said about it.
The backstory for the film is a legend fabricated by Sánchez and Myrick which is detailed in the Curse of the Blair Witch, a mockumentary broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 12, 1999. Sánchez and Myrick also maintain a website which adds further details to the legend.
Is the "Blair Witch Project" real footage? No. It was the first fictional film to be shot from the perspective of the characters, though which made everyone want to see it at the time. Personally, I spent the whole film waiting for something exciting or even mildly scary to happen.
The film ends with the two remaining survivors, James and Lisa, stumbling across the house from the end of the original "The Blair Witch Project," the Rustin Parr house. Inside, Lisa comes across Lane, who is visibly older than earlier in the film.
Beginning on November 13, 1940, Parr kidnapped eight children (Emily Hollands, Terra Shelly, Stephen Thompson, Michael Guidry, Eric Norris, Julie Forsyth, Margaret Lowell, and Kyle Brody) and took them to his secluded house in the Black Hills Forest, where they were ritualistically murdered.
If you mess up any of the conditions described in the good ending section you will get this ending. Ellis will kill Carver, and become him in the process, imprisoned in the forest to continue the cycle anew.
Seeing Mike's camera drop to the floor pushes the scare-o-meter into the red, and the film's final, iconic shot of Mike facing the corner as Heather screams hammers the terror home. Sure, we never see the witch, and we're left with a lot of questions . . . but that's just why it lingers in our imagination.
1. The Footage Feels Very Authentic. The found footage in this movie feels way too real, the way the camera moves as Heather runs for her life screaming, as the Josh and Mike panic in their own ways is so terrifying, the fear of the characters is portrayed so well.
Students from the University of Maryland's Anthropology Department discovered a duffel bag containing film cans, DAT tapes, video-cassettes, a Hi-8 video camera, Heather Donahue's journal and a CP-16 film camera buried under the foundation of a 100 year-old cabin.
While horror fans know that The Blair Witch Project isn't a documentary and that the events didn't actually happen to the three actors, what led the filmmakers to craft such a memorable and powerful story?
No story about witchcraft in Maryland would be complete without mentioning the Blair Witch. The Blair Witch, Elly Kedward, terrorized the town of Blair, now Burkittsville, during the late 1700's and was executed for her crimes.
Did the actors in The Blair Witch Project know what was happening?
Part of what made The Blair Witch Project so groundbreaking is that you never see the actual Blair Witch, and the filmmakers didn't use special effects to scare audiences; instead they had genuine reactions from a cast that didn't know what awaited them in the woods.
As Ellis treks through the forest, Blair Witch will present players with chances to make tough decisions that impact Ellis' and Bullet's experiences in the game. These choices lead up to two possible endings. Here's how to get both of the Blair Witch finales.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is a 2000 American horror film directed and co-written by Joe Berlinger and starring Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Barker Turner, Kim Director, Erica Leerhsen, and Tristine Skyler.
What do the stick figures mean in the Blair Witch?
The stick figures are the totems of the Blair Witch Eddy Kedward, and co-director Sánchez told WatchMojo the symbols act as a portal. This means once the students see the stick figures hung around their tents, they're not escaping the witch or the forest alive.
Several events over the course of centuries became blamed on an exiled woman named Elly Kedward, who was said to have practiced witchcraft. The witch is described by a woman as being covered in black fur which is concealed beneath a wool shawl, and by another account having long spindly branch-like limbs.
It worked so well because the film itself felt so real: the dialogue wasn't scripted, and the actors were apparently not even actors. (It later came out that all three had formal training.) “We wanted to put a level of realism into horror films,” said Sanchez.
The Black Hills, in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, consists of 1.2 million acres of forested hills and mountains, approximately 110 miles long and 70 miles wide.
In addition, the actors were eventually paid $300,000 when they were bought out of their 1 percent stake, which effectively shut them out from future residuals.
What did the rocks mean in the Blair Witch project?
As for the piles of rocks, the witch was warning them about not respecting her limits, and once they kicked over the rocks and walked past them, she unleashed her full power and the horrors began for Heather, Mike, and Josh.
