23 Terrifying Facts About 'The Blair Witch Project'

I still remember the night that I saw The Blair Witch Project. I convinced my friends that it was a good idea to watch the movie at a sleepover. Spoiler alert: I made a poor decision and it was in fact not a good idea. I was so scarred from that movie for, like, a year. I was so sure that the whole thing was real and that the Blair Witch would come after me too! And to be honest, I don't think I'm totally over being scared about the movie. 

What's really scary is that knowing the behind-the-scenes facts about the movie makes it even creepier. A LOT happened during filming, and now I have goosebumps just thinking about it. 

Here's everything you need to know about the horror movie that scared the whole world. 

1. Heather Donahue's mom received hundreds of sympathy cards from people who believed that her daughter was actually dead or missing! 

2. The three leads believed that the Blair Witch was a real legend while they were filming, but they knew the film was going to be fake.

Only after the movie was released did they find out that the entire mythology was made up by the film's creators.

3. The directors kept in touch with Heather, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard with walkie-talkies to make sure they didn't get lost while roaming around in the forest. Apparently, they still got lost at least three times! 

4. One of the video cameras used by the actors was bought at Circuit City. After filming finished, the producers went back and returned the camera for a full refund!

That made their budget money go even further.

5. The actors were actually tortured on set because they were forced to eat less and less by the producers. The producers wanted tension and drama between the actors, so they made sure the stars were hungry. 

6. The reactions from Heather, Mike, and Josh from when they discover they walked all day and ended up in the same spot are real. They were genuinely upset that they walked all day for nothing!

7. The actors had a code word for when they wanted to speak out of character. If they wanted a break, they would say "taco."

8. Remember the scene where they're sleeping in a tent and the tent suddenly shakes and they're all scared? Their reactions were genuine because it was unscripted.

It was the director who shook the tent! 

9. The directors told the actors to go interview the townspeople. Except they had no idea that the townspeople were planted by the directors, so the expressions on the actors' faces were completely unrehearsed!

10. Heather said that the final scene was so terrifying that she kept hyperventilating and crying long after the scene was filmed.

I get scared just thinking about that scene. I can't imagine what it was like for her to really be there filming it!

11. The teeth found by Heather near the end that are supposed to be Josh's teeth were real. The director got them from his dentist! 

And the hair? It was real too. It came from Josh!

12. The actors played dead IRL! To promote the movie, the actors were listed as "missing, presumed dead" on IMDb.

13. It only took eight days to shoot the whole movie. They shot 19 hours of footage, but it was all edited down to 90 minutes. 

14. Heather, Josh, and Michael were all paid $1,000 a day. Apparently, Michael said that he ended up making about $300,000 since the movie was released. 

15. The sounds of children heard at night were taken from kids playing around the house of the director's mom. The tape was then played over speakers in the forest. Apparently, Michael said that this was the scariest scene to shoot. 

16. Fans of the film were so convinced that the Blair Witch was real that they traveled to Maryland to discover the legend.

17. Before filming, the actors were given a 35-page outline of the mythology behind the plot. 

But all of their lines were completely improvised! They had almost no knowledge of the events that would happen in the film, resulting in their shocked reactions being completely genuine. 

18. The movie made it into The Guinness Book of World Records for "Top Budget: Box Office Ratio."

Even though the film only cost $60,000 to make, it made $248 million with a ratio of $1 spent for every $10,931 made. 

19. The Burkittsville sign that appears at the beginning of the movie has been stolen three times, including on the film's opening night. 

20. The filmmakers may have taken things a little too far with their marketing campaign.  

During the Cannes Film Festival, the filmmakers attempted to draw interest to their movie by putting up "missing" posters around the Croisette. However, a real kidnapping had just recently happened, and the filmmakers were instructed to remove the posters. 

21. Heather, Mike, and Josh were given strict instructions to follow the trails and directions that the movie crew gave them. 

This was to ensure that they would reach their designated campsites each night. 

22. From 1999 to 2000, the hoards of fans visiting the movie's Maryland locations scared away all of the hunting game. 

So although local hunters were very frustrated, at least the animals got a bit of a break! 

23. Josh was given a brief course on using his camera before shooting, but he struggled with focusing it during the first few days. 

That's why the interview with Mary Brown is so fuzzy and grainy! 

COMMENT and tell us the scariest movie you've ever watched!