Throughout
the years, I've collected all the news and rumors about Elly Kedward - better known as the
Blair Witch - who ritually killed several children. She died 300 years ago but there
are still rumors about strange and horrifying things happening in the woods near the Black
Hills Forest. |
February, 1785:
Several children accuse Elly Kedward of luring them into her home to draw blood
from them. Kedward is found guilty of witchcraft, banished from the village during a
particularly harsh winter and presumed dead.
November, 1786:
By midwinter all of Kedward's accusers along with half of the town's children
vanish. Fearing a curse, the townspeople flee Blair and vow never to utter Elly Kedward's
name again.
November, 1809:
The Blair Witch Cult is published. This rare book, commonly considered fiction,
tells of an entire town cursed by an outcast witch.
1824:
Burkittsville is founded on the Blair site.
August, 1825:
Eleven witnesses testify to seeing a pale woman's hand reach up and pull
ten-year-old Eileen Treacle into Tappy East Creek. Her body is never recovered, and for
thirteen days after the drowning the creek is clogged with oily bundles of sticks.
March, 1886:
Eight-year-old Robin Weaver is reported missing and search parties are dispatched.
Although Weaver returns, one of the search parties does not. Their bodies are found weeks
later at Coffin Rock tied together at the arms and legs and completely disemboweled.
November, 1940 - May
1941:
Starting with Emily Hollands, a total of seven children are abducted from the area
surrounding Burkittsville, Maryland.
May 25, 1941:
An old hermit named Rustin Parr walks into a local market and tells the people
there that he is "finally finished." After Police hike for four hours to his
secluded house in the woods, they find the bodies of seven missing children in the cellar.
Each child has been ritualistically murdered and disemboweled. Parr admits to everything
in detail, telling authorities that he did it for "an old woman ghost" who
occupied the woods near his house. He is quickly convicted and hanged.
October 20, 1994:
Montgomery College students arrive in Burkittsville to interview locals about
the legend of the Blair Witch for a class project. Heather interviews Mary Brown an old
and quite insane woman who has lived in the area all her life. Mary claims to have seen
the Blair Witch one day near Tappy Creek in the form of a hairy, half-human, half-animal
beast.
October 21, 1994:
In the early morning Heather interviews two fishermen who tell the filmmakers that
Coffin Rock is less than twenty minutes from town and easily accessible by an old logging
trail. The filmmakers hike into Black Hills Forest shortly thereafter and are never seen
again.
October 25, 1994:
The first APB is issued. Josh's car is found later in the day parked on Black Rock
Road.
October 26, 1994:
The Maryland State Police launch their search of the Black Hills area, an operation
that lasts ten days and includes up to one hundred men aided by dogs, helicopters, and
even a fly over by a Department of Defense Satellite.
November 5, 1994:
The search is called off after 33,000 man hours fail to find a trace of the
filmmakers or any of their gear. Heather's mother, Angie Donahue, begins an exhaustive
personal search for her daughter and her two companions.
June 19, 1995:
The case is declared inactive and unsolved.
October 16, 1995:
Students from the University of Maryland's Anthropology Department discover a
duffel bag containing film cans, DAT tapes, video-cassettes, a Hi-8 video camera,
Heather's journal and a CP-16 film camera buried under the foundation of a 100 year-old
cabin. When the evidence is examined, Burkittsville Sheriff Ron Cravens announced that the
11 rolls of black and white film and 10 HI8 video tapes are indeed the property of Heather
Donahue and her crew.
December 15, 1995:
After an initial study of the bag's contents, select pieces of film footage are
shown to the families. According to Angie Donahue, there are several unusual events but
nothing conclusive. The families question the thoroughness of the analysis and demanded
another look.
February 19, 1996:
The families are shown a second group of clips that local law enforcement officials
consider to be faked. Outraged, Mrs. Donahue goes public with her criticism and Sheriff
Cravens restricts all access to the evidence; a restriction that two lawsuits fail to
lift.
March 1, 1996:
The Sheriff's department announces that the evidence is inconclusive and the case
is once again declared inactive and unsolved. The footage is to be released to the
families when the legal limit of its classification runs out, on October 16, 1997.
October 16, 1997:
The found footage of their children's last days is turned over to the families of
Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams. Angie Donahue contracts Haxan Films
to examine the footage and piece together the events of October 20 - 28, 1994.
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