The Blair Witch Project was a groundbreaking horror film when it released back in 1999, and it left fans with uncertainty as to the fates of its three main characters. Now, the franchise has had a movie sequel, as well as Bloober Team’s 2019 horror game Blair Witch, soon to be re-released for VR as Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition.
In the years since its release, many fans of The Blair Witch Project have speculated about what became of Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams in the story, how they got lost in the Black Hills, and how their footage came to be found underneath the foundations of the abandoned house that the filmmakers enter at the end of the film. One fan theory has gained traction, and could also be hinted at in the story of Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition.
The Time Travel Theory
There is a theory that the events of The Blair Witch Project can be explained if the film’s protagonists are somehow moving between the present and the past. This theory has links to the Oculus Quest edition of the game and helps explain a few confusing things in the events of the film. At one point in The Blair Witch Project, the group attempts to hike back to their car to leave the Black Hills, but despite possessing a map and compass, are unable to reach their car before nightfall.
One possible way of explaining this is that the three filmmakers are now exploring the woods as they existed hundreds of years ago, when some of the first strange events began happening in the area according to the timeline on the official website. The earliest event in the Blair Witch timeline takes place between 1785 and 1786, when several children accuse a woman named Elly Kedward of drawing blood from them. Kedward is banished and presumed dead after a harsh winter. In November 1786, all of the children who accused Kedward as well as half of the other children in the town of Blair disappear. It is not until 1824 that the abandoned town is used as the development site for a new community, Burkittsville.
The theory goes that The Blair Witch Project's filmmakers somehow found themselves in a colonial or pre-colonial version of the Black Hills, and that they were unable to escape the woods because the woods themselves were far larger before areas were cutdown for farmland and other development. The time travel theory could also help explain how their footage was found beneath the foundations of a 100 year-old cabin when they appeared to leave the camera in the basement, though it does mean that the woods’ strange relationship with time goes beyond simply transporting visitors in the past.
Connections to the Video Game
This could be hinted at in some of the mechanics of 2019's Blair Witch and Blair Witch: Oculus Edition. The red tape which Ellis finds allows him to rewind time using his camcorder. For example, when Ellis first finds a red tape he rewinds it, causing a police car toy to appear which helps him on his journey to find missing boy Peter Shannon.
By playing with time as a mechanic, the game hints that something strange is going on with the way time works in the Black Hills. Fans who put on their Oculus headsets and load up Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition will likely find many more examples of Ellis’ strange interactions with the past in the Black Hills, and those fans of the original film who endorse the time travel theory may find themselves gleaning more information that could help explain the events of the movie in the upcoming game.
Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition will be available on October 29.