We’re only a couple weeks away from the release of Blair Witch, the third entry in the series that began back in 1999. Originally titled The Woods, the new Blair Witch has been dubbed a “game-changer” by Brad in his review and the consensus of many other reviews is that it’s a highly effective horror film that brings tons of scares to the screen.
What the original film brought to the table wasn’t just one of the most important and popular found footage films ever released, it also brought a marketing campaign that was so effective that it convinced audiences that the movie was actually true. It was absolutely brilliant and I can’t think of anything that has ever come close to matching what that team did.
In an attempt to mirror some of that magic, the Blair Witch marketing team has apparently created an ARG (augmented reality game) and has scattered clues throughout various websites to add to the mystery of the film.
Reddit user damienjohn has compiled a list of the events he went through to figure out these clues. Let’s run through the timeline, shall we?
First: The user found a Facebook page for a group that is trying to find a woman by the name of Lisa Arlington, who is a documentary filmmaker.
Second: From the looks of it, Arlington was filming a documentary that “……examines the tragedy of ambiguous loss.” This film features three separate interviews, one of which is with, “James, whose older sister, along with two of her friends, disappeared on a camping trip twenty years ago“. Since the main character of Blair Witch is named James and his sister Heather filmed The Blair Witch Project in 1994 (when the movie was set), the timing does align quite well.
Third: While investigating a Tumblr blog, the user found a link to another blog that delved into the mystery of other hikers that went missing in the Black Hills of Burkittsville, Maryland, where the original film took place.
Fourth: A Twitter account that purports to investigate, “…unsavory goings-on in Maryland” appeared, claiming to have information about the missing hikers.
Fifth: A video was uploaded and shows someone running through what appears to be the house at the end of The Blair Witch Project. The clip was also retweeted by the official Blair Witch Twitter account along with the simple statement, “No comment”. You can see it below.
Sixth: In that video, there are random bursts of static. When captured, they turn out to be “puzzle” pieces that, when properly arranged, form a face of an unknown person. The picture can be found below.
Seventh: Supposedly the reddit user has been contacted by Darknet666, the above mentioned Twitter account, who asked for a postal address to, “…send more information“.
WHEW! That was one helluva journey down the rabbit hole! If anyone else finds more information, please leave it in the comments so we can see just how far this goes!
