by: Kristen Anderson

Burkittsville, Maryland might seem an unlikely tourist spot. Its official website describes a small town with a strong sense of history and a “simpler times” mentality—nothing flashy. And yet for some people, it holds more appeal than a bus tour of New York City or a drive around Los Angeles with a Hollywood Star Homes map. What might seem like a trek to an every-day-looking main street and a pretty standard patch of woods is full of nostalgia and excitement for the few, the proud: the Blair Witch superfans.

The Blair Witch Project of 1999 is the little movie that could (and did)—a low-budget horror film that changed the face of the genre and put “found footage” on the map. A fictional story with deep roots in geographical reality, the movie follows filmmakers Heather, Mike, and Josh as they interview residents of Burkittsville about the murderous Blair Witch, a legendary local figure who supposedly lives in the nearby Black Hills Forest. Our heroes continue on to visit locations said to be associated with the witch, like the local cemetery and a spot known as Coffin Rock where the witch is said to have ritualistically placed her victims, and, ultimately, the witch’s woods.

Things...don’t go so well for them.

However, things go extremely well for us, the viewer, as we watch their disbelief and paranoia give way to terror in spectacular fashion that made an entire generation feel weird about corners.

Part of what makes The Blair Witch Project so terrifyingly immersive is its tangibility—there are no special effects or superpowers here (in fact, it’s so tangible that many people thought it was real). The fact that these three characters, who we assume have the same capabilities as us, the viewers, hike to a very real location that we could also hike to.  

And so, many people have done the infamous hike into the mysterious Burkittsville woods, including some of our own here at Hunt A Killer.

The Hunt A Killer offices in Maryland are about two hours away from Burkittsville, and in 2017, before the Blair Witch Hunt A Killer Box was even on the horizon, employee and box co-writer Will Rogers made the trip from the office holiday party to Burkittsville to take pictures by the iconic “Welcome to Burkittsville” sign, gather sticks from local woods to take home and form into the famous stickmen, and generally soak up the atmosphere of his favorite fictional universe. 

The Official Blair Witch Project Facebook group features posts from fans who have gone on similar treks, from walking around the town of Burkittsville and visiting its famous cemetery to hiking the section of the Appalachian Trail that crosses just above. Enthusiasts head to the area for camping trips in the woods just outside of town, crafting stickmen, piling rock cairns and bringing home souvenirs from nature that become a niche pop culture significance (arguably, the best kind).   

But the premiere local group event for fans is the Blair Witch Experience, founded by Matt Blazi, author of 8 Days in the Woods: The Making of The Blair Witch Project. Beginning in 2013 (and on an unfortunate hiatus this year due to COVID-19), Blazi has taken the concept of a traditional convention out of the event hall and into the woods of Burkittsville for an immersive experience that’s become more heart-warming than bone-chilling, as gatherers bond over their shared love for the lore...and the location.

Blazi notes, “When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, the tiny town of Burkittsville was inundated with fans from all over the world coming to see the town where the legend supposedly happened. The town, which had no idea it was featured in a film, was caught off guard by people flooding the streets and cemetery looking for clues. With a population of less than 300, it didn’t know what to do. Fans stole signs and damaged gravesites looking for photo ops and souvenirs.”

So Blazi started his convention in celebration of the film but also with respect for its setting. He says, “Part of my duty when I hold the Blair Witch Experience is to show how movies affect their real life locations and show that fans won’t be run out of town, but also stress the importance of respecting the town’s past and present when visiting.” 

The Blair Witch Experience isn’t a haunted-house-style affair with jump scares—no witches with bindles full of human teeth popping out from behind trees. Rather, it’s a joyful celebration of the movie for the enthusiastic and the curious, a weekend rich with behind-the-scenes facts, history, and exploration of the Burkittsville filming locations as well as the woods. Dozens of people travel to this remote section of Maryland yearly, and group photos at locations like Coffin Rock show them smiling and happy to have made the journey to do something weird and cool with like-minded people.

It’s a unique phenomenon: few movies have fandoms as attached to their settings as the events themselves. There isn’t a lot of merch with pictures of the real estate development that the Poltergeist family lives in, but you can buy an “Entering Burkittsville, Maryland” sign on a t-shirt from a billion different online vendors and be throwing a deep-cut nod to fellow horror buffs.

So what makes Burkittsville different?

First of all, it’s a real, visitable place. There’s a difference between going to a town that was featured in a movie under a different name with constructed set pieces, and a town whose actual existence was the set. And the lore set forth in the film, which only becomes deeper and more intriguing the further you dive into it, breeds a certain kind of reverence that transforms the town into a mecca. Not unlike Heather, Josh and Mike, you can go to Burkittsville, Maryland to immerse yourself in the story of the Blair Witch.

Because remember: the protagonists of The Blair Witch Project didn’t live in Burkittsville. They chose to travel there. It’s only natural that their fans should follow suit...hopefully with much different results.