They theorize that his screams are a fabrication by the witch to draw them out of their tent.

That night, they hear Josh's agonized screams but are unable to locate him. Josh disappears the next morning, and Heather and Mike try in vain to find him. They come across a river identical to one they crossed earlier and realize they have walked in a circle. Upon returning to their tent, they find that their possessions have been rifled through, and Josh's equipment is covered with slime. After an unknown force shakes the tent, they hide in the woods until dawn. They again hear strange sounds that night, including children laughing. They decide to head south, using Mike's compass, and discover stick figures suspended from trees. Mike reveals he kicked the map into a creek out of frustration, which provokes a fight between the three as they realize they are lost. In the morning, they find that three cairns have been built around their tent.

The following day, they try to hike back to the car but cannot find it before dark and make camp. That night, they hear the sound of twigs snapping. They camp for the night, and the next day, find an old cemetery with seven small cairns, one of which Josh accidentally knocks over. The students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century their bodies later disappeared. He tells them of a young girl named Robin Weaver, who went missing in 1888 when she returned three days later, she talked about 'an old woman whose feet never touched the ground'. They meet two fishermen, one of whom warns them that the woods are haunted. The students explore the woods in north Burkittsville to research the legend. Locals tell them of Rustin Parr, a hermit who lived in the woods and kidnapped seven children in the 1940s he supposedly killed them all in his basement, murdering them in pairs while having one stand in a corner. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, and interview residents about the legend. In October 1994, film students Heather, Mike, and Josh set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. The film purports to be footage found in the discarded cameras of three young filmmakers who had gone missing. While critical reception was mostly positive, audience reception was split. The film had a limited release on July 14 the same year, before expanding to a wider release starting on July 30. Owing to its successful run at Sundance, Artisan Entertainment bought the film's distribution rights for $1.1 million. When The Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at midnight on January 23, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either 'missing' or 'deceased'. Shot on an original budget of $35,000–60,000, the film had a final cost of $200,000–750,000 after post-production edits. About 20 hours of footage was shot, which was edited down to 82 minutes. The film entered production in October 1997, with the principal photography taking place in Maryland for eight days. A casting call advertisement in Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors Donahue, Williams and Leonard were cast.

They developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised. Myrick and Sánchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993. The film is credited with reviving the found-footage technique which was later used by similarly successful horror films such as Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield. The film launched a media franchise, which includes two sequels ( Book of Shadows and Blair Witch), novels, comic books, and video games. The Blair Witch Project grossed nearly $250 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time, as well as the 41st most profitable horror film, while also being a sleeper hit. The purportedly 'recovered footage' is the film the viewer sees. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. Williams, and Joshua Leonard-who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers- Heather Donahue, Michael C. The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez.

Blair witch 1999