Reports from the field: the Blair witch

(see second letter below for latest unedited correspondence)


FROM OUR MAIL: FYI-- In Re "The Blair Witch Project"; a correspondent in Pennsylvania writes:

     Like the Exorcist, the BWP is (at least) based on a TRUE story. I know this 
for a FACT. It happened, literally, just down the road from me...
Near where I lived in Frederick County, Maryland-- there is a tiny, very old 
town-- now called Burkittsville. (I used to help protect that area as an 
officer in the County's Emergency Medical Services). Burkittsville's name 
in colonial times apparently was "Blair." And just over South Mountain from 
it (about a mile or so), the most deadly battle of the Civil War, Antietam, 
occurred. (Kinda reminded me of the article on the "Burmuda Triangle" with 
evil occuring in relation to a place of multiple hideous violent deaths).
Approximately the Fall of 1993 or so, (not long after I moved to the area), 
3 students studying filmmaking at the University of Maryland College Park 
Campus came to the area around Burkittsville (nee Blair) to do a class 
project; a film documentary on an "old local witch story" they had learned 
of. (Apparently in colonial times in Blair, a very powerful witch had lived 
there & carried on her demonic practices).
     The students DISAPPEARED without a trace in the local woods.
Their disappearance was definitely local news on WHAG-TV Channel 12 
Hagerstown at the time. I know people who participated in the search.
The area was completely searched by personnel from Frederick County 
Emergency Services & the Maryland State Police, including using dogs & the 
MSP's military-grade Dauphin Helicopters-- which are equipped with FLIR 
(Forward Looking Infra- Red) systems (which can find bodies, even buried 
ones in some instances). They found nothing. No students, no bodies, no 
evidence of foul play. No nothing. They statused the students as "missing 
persons."
     One year later, the parents were upset that nothing had been found of their 
missing children & complained to officials. The area was completely 
searched again, & this was also dutifully reported in the local media.
This time, a canister of exposed film shot by the students was found by the 
searchers, but nothing else. The film was developed by the authorities. 
The film showed the completely terrorized students in a panicked state, 
talking about feeling evil forces all around them, but no footage of any 
"foul play" actually happening to them. So, the police getting no "hard 
criminal evidence" from it, released the film to whomever it was determined 
it belonged to now.
     About a month or so later, I recall the local media reporting that people 
involved in the film program at U of MD were going to make the recovered 
film into a motion picture. I remember at the time thinking how an 
incredibly morbid idea that was-- the kids were missing & probably dead & 
others were gonna use their film.
     Well, eventually the film was indeed made-- titled what it actually was, 
"The Blair Witch Project." (The class project on the Blair Witch).
It appears the kids actually DID find the evil they were seeking-- for real, 
the hard way.
     It would seem the students actually experienced something equivalent to the 
"3 Days of Darkness" some Saints have described--where unseen demons would 
terrorize the spiritally unprotected or those delving into evil; these 
people are then literally wisked from the earth, possibly to Hell. The 
event being a form of chastisement.
     I did not go to see the BWP movie. I knew the REAL morbid, very evil true 
story behind it. I am NOT at all surprised that you felt demonic/ evil 
forces attached to you at the time by viewing it.
     There were some very REAL & powerful demonic forces involved-- in the events 
which really happened to create the film, & in the area of Burkittsville/ 
Blair in general--witness the carnage at Antietam which spilled into it & 
for which it was a staging/recovery area.
     I'm sure the WHAG-TV 12 Archives circa October 1993/ 1994 and/or the 
Frederick Post Newspaper of similar time will definitely have the original 
true stories about the college students & their disappearence, if you would 
wish to contact them.
     (I don't believe it was a hoax either. The State of Maryland would not be 
pleased-- if suddenly these kids just turned up-- to cash in on the movie, 
given hundreds of thousands of public dollars of personnel & equipment 
expenses spent to investigate & search repeatedly for them; so it would have 
to be a huge conspiracy of them, their families, others & their being 
required to "disappear" for life-- to carry such a thing off if a hoax-- 
just doesn't seem plausible).
    So, now you have one more TRUE item from "my FYI file."
Frederick County is indeed a place of great SPIRITUAL WARFARE, with both 
"Blair" (demonic) & Emmitsburg (Our Lady/ Saint Joseph) together in one 
place. (And yes, I have lived an almost far too interesting life entwined in 
all these goings on !!!! God has certainly made life interesting for us).
     Though you might want to know this info.

Hope it is helpful, Always, JIM (Williamsport, Pa.)

 

ps--hopefully, God will use it to expose the deceptive actions of the evil one. 
That BWP (& its ilk) was NOT "harmless little scary fantasy entertainment" 
which effectively desensitize people to the REALITY of evil. Evil does 
latch onto those who seek it-- BOTH-- in overt ways (like students on a film 
project), as well as almost unconscious ways-- those who just watch it in a 
movie or give in to do that "FREE psychic reading on TV." "RESIST the evil 
one & he will FLEE." Halloween is NOT a holiday. Not something to be 
"celebrated." NOT a time to encourage kids to dress up like witches, 
devils, demons et al.

SECOND LETTER: 

        "Well, I find this all kind a strange myself, to tell the truth. I am definitely NOT a HOAXER by any stretch. I have NOTHING to gain, and very much to lose, by potentially destroying my credibility with you, for nothing, over something like the Blair Witch Project.

       Like I said in the letter, I lived literally 5 minutes (Old Middletown 
Road-- between Jefferson & Middletown) from where it all happened (I can send you a copy of my Frederick County Emergency Medical Services Photo ID--Badge # 5) & a front page story from the Frederick News-Post showing the EMS Service I helped found and command in the County to verify I really was an EMS/ Fire-Rescue Officer).

      I VIVIDLY remember watching the evening news stories on WHAG-TV Hagerstown (NBC Affiliate Channel 25/Cable 12) local news and footage of the separate searches one year apart (which had to have been in '93/'94, as it was not long after I moved to the area)-- this was YEARS before the BWP movie came to theaters or the supposed "real" movie filming using "actors" was done. It was NOT reported as "there is a movie being made in Burkittsville," that was for certain.

It tends to get one's attention when multiple people are disappearing 
without a trace 5 minutes from your home. You fear about your personal safety when you live that close & you also like to hike in the same vicinity. Such information definitely imprints on one's memory. Especially when a year later the whole thing comes up again.

I checked Channel 25's website (www.nbc25.com) & the Frederick News-Post's for details-- but they are not archived online back to 1993 (they started their websites several years after that time it seems & cannot search before then-- I wish they had it readily available-- but Im still working on somehow obtaining original source material). I would think the weekly Brunswick paper also must have made mention of the searches but I'm sure they are probably too small to have a website.

Last year, when the BWP movie first came out. I had absolutely no clue what the "BWP" per se was (I didnt realize Burkittsville had been called Blair). I was oblivious in that way. By then, I was living in PA. A friend, knowing I had lived in Maryland, mentioned in passing, she heard the BWP movie was based on a town in Maryland called Burkittsville. I told them I lived near there & it must be the movie the news stories had foretold would be made about the missing students. I proceeded to tell them about the missing students & events/ news stories of circa 1993/94.

Without ever having seen the "BWP movie" nor having read any stories about it-- I described to them what (when they did go to see it) turned out to be the entire plot-- based SOLELY on my memories of the events & the news stories I remembered. I am definitely not a psychic. There is NO way I could have known so much about a movie I had NEVER seen nor read about -- without having previously seen those local news reports in the early '90's about disappearing students. Its an awfully strange coincidence that the filmmakers would just pick Burkittsville "at random" of all possible places to make their film (& it not be related to what had happened earlier there).

The BWP Movie story being "totally fictional" doesn't make sense to me personally, UNLESS-- the "students disappearences" during that time ('93 or so) ACTUALLY were STAGED somehow, & this fact only came to light AFTER I had already moved away from the area. (Which in itself is scary, if these "filmmakers" were resorting to hoaxes & false police reports originally to hype their movie). More that that, I cannot say.

I feel strange about this. I KNOW what I SAW & heard back then as far as news goes & I would definitely swear to it. Only wish the hard copy was a little more easily obtained (if I still lived there I'd go to the Frederick Library for newspapers of the time-- just for peace of mind-- but that isn't too practical at the moment, living 150 or so miles away).

Of course, anything due to the evil one travels in deception & confusion, so the "evilness" involved with BWP is still not minimized at all, & 
Burkittsville today is just filled with witches & New Agers drawn there by "the story"-- so, sadly, one way or another, evil is now flourishing there-- whether or not a witch had before).

Hope this whole thing has not cast my veracity into question with you. 
Kinda almost wish I wouldn't have brought it up. But I stand by what I have said about the news reports. I SAW them myself. (Guess I'm now wondering about the truth of the "disappearences" though).


Jim, PA-C

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