Legend behind Blair Witch Project – ‘real-life exiled witch died frozen to stone’

The Blair Witch Project was a low budget Hollywood horror flick that took the movie world by storm 25 years ago today (July 14).

But the inspiration from the mostly improvised film comes from a historical character who is still said to haunt parts of Maryland. Shot with handheld cameras, the indie movie followed three students who trekked off into a forest in America to film a documentary about the local Blair Witch legend.

Although not the first movie to feature “found footage”, a clever marketing campaign saw huge profits in the box office to make it one of the most successful independent films of all time.

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There’s lots of quality news coming out of the US.

To build up buzz, producers billed the film as real life, setting up a website claiming the “students”, whose birth names were used, really did disappear.

They even prevented the lead actors from doing any sort of press at first, claiming they were deceased.

And with an audience’s appetite whetted enough, the film went onto to gross more than $200million (£157m).

But where did it all start? According to Astonishing Legends, The Blair Witch Project is thought to be based on the story of a 17th-Century resident of Leonardtown, Maryland, named Moll Dyer.

She is said to have been accused of witchcraft and chased out of her home by the local townsfolk on a winter’s night. Her body was allegedly found a few days later, partially frozen to a large stone.

The small Leonardtown community suffered from a deadly plague and bad crops, and the harsh winter made people afraid they wouldn’t survive.

A religious and puritanical community the locals turned to superstition, blaming the lack of food, sickness and ice storms on witchcraft.

The local church meeting concluded that Moll Dyer, an elderly woman living on the southern edge of town, was the alleged witch who had summoned the Devil to frighten the people of Leonardtown.

An angry mob was quickly formed with the intent of running her out of town. Upon reaching her hut, the mob surrounded and set fire to it, with Moll barely managing to escape.

Moll Dyer reportedly spotted the approaching mob and hurriedly ran away to the woods, managing to take only a light shawl for warmth. Knowing she would die of exposure before sunrise, she found a small boulder and placed her right hand upon it.

She then raised her left hand to the Moon and called down a curse on the people of Leonardtown. Days later, her body was found frozen to the stone, with her hand still held up towards the sky.

Her spirit is said to still haunt the land surrounding Leonardtown, looking for the men who forced her from her home.

Many supernatural events are reported near the modern-day Moll Dyer Road, a branch off of Maryland Route 5 that is claimed to be the site of either her residence or death.

Reports of shadow people, will-o’-the-wisps, a white dog causing car accidents, “a thick, unnatural fog,” and frequent lightning strikes are all common.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk