The Blair Witch

The legend of the Blair Witch has haunted the area of Blair, Maryland for over one hundred years. The township of Blair was originally a fort settled by Colonel Blair of England during the Revolutionary War. However, the tale begins in 1785 when children in the township of Blair accused an Irish woman, Elly Kedwards, of witchcraft. She was convicted and banished into the woods during the middle of winter. It was assumed that she had died from exposure. A year later, however, all of the people that had convicted her and half of the town’s children mysteriously disappeared. After this happened the remaining townspeople abandoned the cursed town. Throughout this legend that stretches over more than one hundred years, there has been documented proof of a person from the town writing the witchcraft language. There have also been countless eyewitnesses claiming that they’d seen witchcraft. Many people believe that the Blair Witch is real and that there is significant evidence that supports it.

For example, in 1828 twelve eyewitnesses claimed that a girl named Eileen Tracle had been pulled into a less than one foot deep stream by a ghostly white hand, whereupon she disappeared, and her body was never seen again. Soon after her death mysterious wooden stick figures began appearing in the streambed where she had vanished. The water of the stream became oily and polluted for several months after the disappearance as well.

Another good example of the strange occurrences in Blair, now Burkittsville, Maryland is the story of Rustin Parr and Kyle Brody. In 1940, eight children from Burkittsville disappeared. A man named Rustin Parr came into the town one day screaming, “I am free!” Authorities asked him what he meant. In answer Rustin led the authorities to a field near his home where there lay seven piles of stones, each a grave of child. When the graves were dug up, it was found that they had been disemboweled and had cryptic signs carved deep into their skin. Upon finding this the authorities searched Rustin’s home. They were shocked at what they found. The walls and floors of his basement were covered with blood stains and other signs that indicated that it had been a torture sight. As authorities were searching and documenting the basement, those searching upstairs found the eighth missing child huddled in a corner of his living room. That child was Kyle Brody. Kyle was unfortunately found severely traumatized. After all this was discovered Rustin admitted to the seven murders and acts of torture, saying that an old woman’s voice had told him to do it. Rustin was convicted and hung. When Kyle was an adult he was put in an insane institution. While in an institution, Kyle was videotaped writing Transitus Fluvii, the witchcraft language. An expert confirmed that Kyle was truly writing Transitus Fluvii, when at the time not even a handful of people knew how to write it.

The final major piece of evidence is the story of Coffin Rock. In 1886 a young girl named Robin Weaver got lost. After no one had seen her for a few days a search party went out looking for her. However, Robin came back alone saying that while she had been wandering in the woods an old woman had told her to follow her home whereupon the woman left Robin saying she would return. After several hours of waiting, Robin got scared and left. After hearing Robin’s story, a second search party went out looking for the first. The second party found the first naked and tied to a huge rock known as Coffin Rock. The search party had been disemboweled, their reproductive organs mutilated and they had the same cryptic signs carved into their skin as the seven children had. The second party went back to the town to get reinforcements. When they returned however, the bodies were gone and all that remained were pieces of bloody rope and the heavy smell of death that fouled the air.

Many believe that the Blair Witch truly did and does exist and that she has caused many deaths, trying to get revenge on the people in the area of Blair for what the town did to her over one hundred years ago. If you doubt the Blair Witch then why don’t you visit Burkittsville sometime? It’s said to still be haunted by her to this day. Maybe you could even visit Eileen’s Stream or Coffin Rock, that is if you’re brave enough.