This film was in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Top Budget: Box Office Ratio" (for a mainstream feature film). The film cost $60,000 to make and made back $248 million, a ratio of $1 spent for every $10,931 made.

Heather Donahue's mother received sympathy cards from people who believed that her daughter was actually dead or missing.

In a scene where the main actors are sleeping in a tent at night, the tent suddenly shakes violently and they all get scared. This was unscripted and the director shook the tent; the actors actually were scared.

The directors kept in touch with actors Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard with walkie-talkies, to ensure the three would not become lost during their trek. Reportedly, they got lost at least three times.

To promote discord between actors, the directors deliberately gave them less food each day of shooting.

It took a mere eight days to shoot this film.

The three leads believed the Blair Witch was a real legend during filming, though, of course, they knew the film was going to be fake. Only after the film's release did they discover that the entire mythology was made up by the film's creators.

The actors were requested to interview the townspeople, who often, unbeknownst to the actors, were planted by the directors. As a result, the expressions on the actors' faces were unrehearsed.

One of the video cameras used by the actors was bought at Circuit City. After filming was completed, the producers returned the camera for a refund, making their budget money go even further.

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

Numerous fans were so convinced of the Blair Witch's existence that they flocked to Maryland in hopes of discovering the legend. They apparently did not read the closing credits of the film.

It took eight days to shoot the film, but eight months to edit it.

To maintain the film's fear factor, the three main actors agreed to stay in character for the entire eight days of filming. Periodically, if an actor had to break from character, then the remaining two actors also had to break from character, but only after collectively reciting their safety word, taco.

The sign for Burkittsville at the beginning of the movie has been stolen three times, and it was stolen on the opening night of the movie.

The crackling sounds in the woods were made by the director and friends walking up to the camp's perimeter, breaking sticks, and then tossing them in various directions.

The actors were given no more than a 35-page outline of the mythology behind the plot, before shooting began. All lines were improvised and nearly all the events in the film were unknown to the three actors beforehand, and they were often on-camera surprises to them all.

In the movie, Heather and Mike share a somewhat antagonistic attitude towards each other. In the commentary, the directors revealed it was Heather and Joshua who were arguing most of the time (and more heatedly). Almost all of the footage of their arguments was taken from the final cut, after the filmmakers decided it seemed like both men were "ganging up" on Heather.

Heather Donahue admitted there was a considerable backlash against her because of her association with Ведьма из Блэр: Курсовая с того света (1999). It led to her having threatening encounters and difficulty finding other employment.

Heather Donahue also told Fangoria Magazine that the final scene was so terrifying for her, she kept hyperventilating and crying long after the shoot was over.

Josh's shouts in the final scene were pre-recorded and played through speakers hidden away in the woods.

The sounds of children heard at night was taken from kids playing around the house of director Eduardo Sánchez's mother. The tape was played over boomboxes in the forest. According to Michael C. Williams, he found it the scariest scene to shoot in the film.

Heather, Mike and Josh were under strict instructions to follow trails and directions given to them by the movie crew, to ensure they would reach each designated site to camp in for the night.

The Blair Witch was supposed to be seen in the movie. As the characters were running out of their tent, Heather yells, "Oh my God, what the f*** is that? What the f*** is that?", the cameraman was supposed to pan to the left where the audience would briefly see a woman wearing a white gown in the distance. But the cameraman forgot to pan to the left and the scene was not reshot.

The three principal actors, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams, shot nearly all of the completed film.

The filmmakers placed flyers around Cannes for the film festival that were "Missing" posters, stating that the cast was missing. All the flyers were taken down by the next day. It turned out that a television executive had been kidnapped just prior, and [the flyers] were taken down out of respect. The executive was since recovered safely.

The film was originally planned to include both the story of the missing students as well as the aftermath of their disappearance. The found footage of the trio would be framed by newscasts about the search for them, as well as interviews with family members and experts. Most of this material was cut out during editing for feeling contrived and too scripted, in favor of focusing completely on the story of the three students. However, much of the deleted material could later be used in the viral marketing of the film.

Although having been given a brief crash course on using the 16mm camera, Joshua Leonard struggled to focus using it for the first few days of filming. This is why the interview with Mary Brown is of such poor focus and incredibly grainy.

The 1999-2000 hunting season suffered badly, due to this film. The movie was so popular that fans all over the country were hiking into the wilderness to shoot their own Blair Witch-style documentaries. As a result, they kept most of the wildlife scared away from hunting areas.

Apparently, Heather Donahue brought a knife into the forest while filming was taking place because she didn't like the idea of sleeping with two guys.

Many of the Futhark runes seen in the old house are reversed, which has a special meaning. A reversed rune implies a dark or negative fate for the person who reads them.

Heather Donahue wrote her own monologue for the initial scenes in her documentary.

The directors put up posters at a local college in an attempt to recruit students to help work on this low-budget production. Only one person responded to the recruitment ad, Patricia DeCou, who not only portrayed Mary Brown, but also helped with the art department.

The final day of shooting took place on Halloween night. The crew had planned on wrapping one day before, but the camera had run out of batteries due to the camera light, requiring an additional day of shooting.

One of the first theatrical features to make use of a large-scale viral marketing, which claimed that the three main characters had really gone on a trip to shoot a documentary and were never found again, save for their video camera and the footage they shot. A website was posted on the Internet one year prior to the release to set up the premise of the documentary, complete with detailed reports of the search, the recovery of the trio's footage within an old cabin, reactions from their families, and expert opinions. The three actors were instructed to refrain from making public appearances. The myth wasn't debunked until after the movie's premiere, but positive word of mouth had already popularized the movie to the extent that its success completely overshadowed that of the almost simultaneously released big-budget horror movie Призрак дома на холме (1999).

The production company, Haxan Films, borrowed its named from Benjamin Christensen's witchcraft documentary, Häxan (1922), a source of inspiration for the film. Häxan is the Swedish word for the witch.

When promoting the film, the producers claimed it was real footage. Some people either have at one point or still believe it, or at the very least, believe that it is a re-enactment of a true story.

The 16mm Camera used to film the documentary and the black and white scenes in the film was sold on ebay following the completion of the film.

The first cut of the movie to be screened was 2.5 hours in length.

At 85%, this has the highest score on Rotten Tomatoes of any film that was nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Picture.

Sanchez and Myrick wanted Heather to have a sort of Captain Ahab quality (obsessively documenting everything). Heather Donahue had that. Mike's function in the film is to say the things the audience is probably thinking. And Josh (for a time) is the team peacemaker.

The real town of Burkittsville where the film is set found itself awash with fans. The town sign was stolen and desecrations in the graveyard made the mayor instigate extra police protection. The local cinema decided not to screen the film.

The runic lettering in the old house are a mixture of two different alphabets, Hebraic and Futhark. Hebraic runes went on to become Ancient Hebrew. Futhark runes are proto-European, dating from the first millennium B.C.

In the initial draft, Josh was intended to have a strong romantic interest in Heather. In several of the scene instructions given to the actors on the callback auditions, it was instructed that Josh take note of how attractive Heather was, and how dejected he should be that she seemed oblivious to this. Eventually the idea was scrapped as fear the movie would become too cliché.

The slime on Josh's backpack was actually KY jelly.

When the movie was released the town of Burkittsville, in the hopes of making at least some profit from the film, did its own marketing. During the annual summer carnival the local Ruritan Club featured the "Bur-Witch" sandwich - country fried ham and a fried egg on top of a cheeseburger, nestled in a sesame seed bun, and doused with horseradish. The sandwich was the most popular selling item on the menu two years in a row.

The movie inspired a short-lived series of young-adult horror novels, written by an author under the name "Cade Merrill," who claimed to have been Heather's cousin and a longtime Burkittsville resident.

According to the directors, the scene where Heather, Josh and Mike were in the motel room was the longest piece of film that the three had shot. The scene reportedly went on for at least ninety minutes and involved Josh and Mike reading poetry followed by some drunken arguing between Josh and Heather.

Although Heather, Mike and Josh had to pitch and take down the tent they slept in, they did not have to carry it from location to location for them as this was done for them by the movie crew who would do so out of sight.

Heather Donahue mentioned to Fangoria Magazine that her first question she asked the director, upon arriving on the set, was if he was planning on making a snuff film.

Some theatergoers experienced nausea from the handheld camera movements and actually had to leave to vomit. In some Toronto theatres, ushers asked patrons who where prone to motion sickness to sit in the aisle seat and to try not to "throw up on other people."

The first title for the movie was The Blair Witch Tapes.

Sanchez and Myrick admitted they had to tone down some of the outbursts from Heather, Mike and Josh. They instead allowed them to accumulate in smaller doses.

The audition process was quite rigorous because the directors wanted actors with significant improvisational talents. Typically, the candidate entering the audition room would immediately be presented with a description like "you've just served 10 years of a 25-year prison sentence. Tell us why you should be due for parole". If the candidate hesitated too long, the audition would be over. Heather Donahue's response was "I don't think you should."

Held the record for the highest-grossing independent movie of all time until October 2002, when it was surpassed by Моя большая греческая свадьба (2002).

The Blair Witch was named for Blair High School, the school that Eduardo Sánchez's sister once attended.

The DVD version of the movie showed sections of film previously never seen on the VHS.

This film uses the word "fuck" 154 times.

The nighttime shot of Heather running through the woods (a prominent image in the trailers) had to be filmed twice because of logistical problems.

The two fishermen were father and son in law. Sanchez and Myrick toyed with the idea that one of them was playing a prank on the kids, like something out of Где ты, Скуби-Ду? (1969). They didn't follow through with it because it seemed a cheesy reason for all the spooky goings on.

After the first thirteen minutes, no characters other than Heather, Josh and Mike are seen in the film.

The 16-millimeter camera was broken during filming; Joshua Leonard (who had the camera in his pack) rolled down a hill, causing the lens to pop off the camera.

Heather calling Josh (Joshua Leonard) 'Mr Punctuality' on the first day was meant to be a sarcastic jab. Leonard had actually shown up extremely late that day.

Although the concept of a movie consisting of people's recovered video recordings is not new (with Cannibal Holocaust (1980) as a notable early example), 'The Blair Witch Project' managed to reinvigorate the 'found footage' style of filming for several decades to come, inspiring other horror movies like Паранормальное явление (2007), Репортаж (2007), and Последнее изгнание дьявола (2010), but also non-horror productions such as Монстро (2008), Хроника (2012) and Проект X: Дорвались (2012).

The house that Heather is in during the opening shot is owned by Lonnie Glerum, the film's key production assistant. He is also operating the camera during the opening shot.

The film premiered in the midnight movie section at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

More money was spent on the movie afterwards than before its completion. The directors estimated the initial production budget of the movie to be around $20,000 and $25,000, but this rose to somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000 (over 20 times the original budget) after the studio did some additional post-production. The studio had acquired the movie rights for $1.1 million (over 40 times the original budget); they spent an additional $25 million to market it (over 1000 times the original budget). Even while taking into account these additional costs, with a worldwide box office of almost $250 million, the movie earned more than 9 times its final budget.

When Joshua Leonard and Heather Donahue picked up Michael C. Williams, they were originally listening to the song "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals on the radio. However, Haxan Films couldn't get the rights to keep it in the film.

The working title was "The Black Hills Project."

The film takes place in October 1994.

Despite the filmmakers had planned for Mike and Heather to be constantly antagonistic towards each other with Josh as mediator, it was Heather and Josh that fought almost constantly during the filming. The directors found it incredibly difficult to piece together a version of the movie that felt cohesive enough for the audience to believe the storyline that Heather and Josh were actually friends who would work together on a project. Director Daniel Myrick stated in a interview that at one point in particular that Josh was quite venomous towards Heather (quoting "he was really laying into her"), and that he and co-director Eduardo Sanchez (who had been observing from a distance unknown to the three) had to break the rules about not interfering with the actors to intervene before it escalated.

Rock band HIM shot parts of their music video for the song 'And love said no...' directly outside the house seen at the end of the movie

Artisan Entertainment acquired the movie for just $1.1 million.

The waitress asking about Blair High School is played by Sandra Sánchez, the sister of director Eduardo Sánchez.

After pitching the idea to the studio Sanchez and Myrick had to wait a further three months just to get the go-ahead. It was especially frustrating because they were strapped for cash at the time.

Writers and directors Myrick and Sanchez were catapulted into stardom and prosperity due to the success of The Blair Witch Project. In an interview, the question was raised: exactly how rich were these two men? One responded: I am not allowed to say, but I'm looking at houses for the first time in my life.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

On the set of Криминальное чтиво (1994) actor Bruce Willis might have predicted the success of the movie five years prior to its release "Some day in the next five years someone's gonna take one of these and make a feature film with it. They almost did it with, uh, Боб Робертс (1992). Some kid, some 17-year-old kid, is gonna make this killer, drop-dead, poorly lit video movie that is gonna be the hippest f***ing thing. And then there's gonna be hundreds of them everywhere. And they're gonna cost about... $60,000." he also suggests to director Quentin Tarantino that he be the one to create this video movie that would changes the world.

In one scene, Mike mentions Deliverance (1972). The film was about four businessmen who embark on a river trip in Northern Georgia, which they are soon menaced by hostile hillbillies in the local area which turns into a horrific and battle for survival in the American wilderness.

Heather Donahue was initially worried about the shoot because she worried that the directors were planning to make a snuff film.

One of the characters talks about missing out on Cal Ripken Jr. breaking baseball's consecutive games played streak. That event took place in 1995, while the film occurred in 1994.

Before the film was released, the three main actors were listed as "missing, presumed dead" on the IMDb.

The close-up of Heather Donahue's face as she tapes her farewell video was unintentional. Donahue planned to have her whole face in frame, but she had zoomed in the camera too much. However, the directors thought that the 'closeness to all the tears and phlegm' really added to the 'ugly realism' of the scene, and kept it in.

The film was originally of a much higher resolution and was degraded deliberately to look more authentic to the time it was shot.

Heather Donahue and Michael C. Williams were unaware that Joshua Leonard was going to disappear near the end of the shoot (originally Williams' character was supposed to do that). The directors had left a note for Leonard instructing him to wait for the others to fall asleep, and then leave the tent. They had to wait for 45 minutes before calling him out, telling him "you're dead." Leonard was actually glad to leave because there was a Jane's Addiction concert he wanted to go to.

When Heather screams "What the **** is that?!" she is seeing one of the movie crew standing on a hill dressed in white with a ski-mask on. Josh was holding the camera as ran behind her and didn't manage to catch the image on film.

The teeth found by Heather near the end (supposedly Josh' teeth) were real human teeth, supplied by director Eduardo Sánchez's dentist. The hair really belonged to Joshua Leonard.

Other endings shot in post-production that were scrapped included Mike being hanged, another had him bound to the wall with twigs in the manner of a stick figure. Stick figures themselves were experimented with as decorations in the final scene.

Originally, it was Mike (Michael C. Williams) who was supposed to disappear near the movie's end. However, throughout filming, there was so much bickering going on between Heather (Heather Donahue) and Josh (Joshua Leonard) that it started to become annoying and disruptive. So it was decided to pull Josh out prematurely, and most of the Heather-Josh arguments were edited out in post-production, focusing more on the antagonism between Mike and Heather. This choice proved advantageous, as Mike was always intended to be the antagonist of the group, so leaving him and Heather as the last two survivors created extra tension due to their different personalities.

Despite the fact they never get out of the woods, civilization was rarely far away in reality. Sometimes it was just a few yards away, slightly off camera.

One of the original script ideas was for a giant-size version of the stick figure to chase the students through the woods. This was rejected in favor of an enemy that was malevolent, but never seen.

This film was one of the most pirated films of 1999 because of limited release due to its independent status. The pirated version was an unfinished leaked work-print with several plot holes and most of the initial interviews missing leading to audience confusion at final scene of the film.

Off camera, Heather took one of the stick figures. It is later seen in pieces after they are chased from their campsite by unseen forces and is even mentioned by Josh in a later scene.

Heather Donahue's discovery of Joshua Leonard's teeth, blood and hair wrapped in a bundle of twigs bears a striking similarity to Washington Irving's story "The Devil and Tom Walker". Tom's wife goes to find the devil in the swamp, and never returns home. When Tom goes to find her, he discovers her apron with her heart and liver inside. However, it also reflects a scene in the silent documentary "Haxan" where a severed hand is carried by a witch hidden in a bundle of twigs.

Several ending versions were shot to show Heather discovering Mike in various positions surrounded by stickmen hanging from the ceiling. Eventually because test audiences were confused by the appearance of the stickmen (as Mike walked into a bare basement and Heather would follow a minute later to find Mike surrounded by stickmen) there was a decision to reshoot the ending. The directors also admitted to removing the stickmen from the theatrical ending to give the ending a sense of ambiguity as to whether there was a supernatural element or human element to the student's fate.

The Blair Witch's real name, Elly Kedward, could possibly be a spoonerism for Edward Kelley, a renaissance-era occultist and a self-proclaimed "spirit medium." Kelley was supposedly responsible for the creation of the Enochian language, the "language of angels."

The ruins of the old house where the backpack was found was Rustin Parr's house.

Several different endings were shot for the theatrical release - all occurring in the basement of Rustin Parr's cabin including two versions of Mike standing in the corner (facing backwards and forwards) surrounded by hanging stickmen, one of Mike dead and hanging from a noose and one of Mike levitating amongst branches and stickmen. Four of these endings appear on the bluray release.

The beginning of the movie states in a title card that the students went missing and a year later the footage was found but doesn't explain where or whom found it. An unreleased version of the movie started with an explanation, revealing scenes of a police investigation, a room with a table displaying all the tapes and camera equipment with evidence tags. There were also scenes showing the foundation of Rustin Parr's house where geology students had been digging and come across the footage under several layers of undisturbed soil and ash from when the house had been torched in the 40s and an expert explaining the footage could never have been placed there without disturbing and mixing the layers of ash and soil. Pirated versions of this unreleased version did circulate when the movie was still in theatres but varied slightly from the theatrical version, several interviews were missing from the Burketsville residents including the key scene revealing Rustin Parr's method of making children face the corner.

There is a popular theory that the Blair Witch is not real, but instead Mike and Josh were messing around with Heather and planned to murder her. If you go through the movie, you can find a lot of evidence to support this theory. For example:

• Josh and Mike are curiously walking further ahead of Heather as if they know where they're going, even though the trip and the shooting schedule is her idea.
• Josh and Mike are complaining that the areas look different. Though, Heather states that it's due to the distances between the different locations. This may subtly show that the guys are already trying to find a way to throw Heather off.
• The discussion they had about the noises at night reveals that Heather is the only one who mainly hears the noises. As seen online as part of the viral marketing for the film, in her diary, Heather writes that she would hear the noises at night while Josh and Mike are asleep. At one point, she writes that she doesn't believe that they're asleep. In the film, Josh's demeanor during their discussion when he talks about the noises is peculiar due to him being so calm and nonchalant. Mike insinuates that he hasn't heard anything. And since Mike is the sound engineer, it's suggested that he's most likely behind the noises.
• While they're walking and still discussing the noises at night, Mike says that the locals of Burkittsville are messing with their heads to which Heather responds that nobody knows that they're out there in the woods. He then asks her that had she seen the movie, Deliverance (1972), of which he's insinuating in their own situation, the locals are purposefully harassing them at night while they're asleep and may have the intent to do future harm to them. If this is the case, this shows that perhaps Heather herself actually doesn't really know that someone does know that they're out there in the woods. However, it's most likely not one of the locals that's also in the woods with the group. Instead, it may be an accomplice or accomplices of Josh and Mike's, whom we never see on-camera, that are helping to keep the illusion of scary happenings going on in order to frighten Heather into complete vulnerability and to especially help pull off the murder plot. Plus, the fact that Mike has mentioned Deliverance (1972), and knowing what happens to the main characters in that movie may also be somewhat subtly alluding to the future harm and fate of Heather.
• The famous scene of Heather, Josh, and Mike arguing over their misplaced map suggests that Josh had been lying to Heather about giving her back the map. He kept asking her for the map the day before which would most likely leave him as the last person to have it. She states that she had given him the map and had not gotten it back.
• Josh and Mike behaving bizarrely by joking around during such a tense situation which troubles Heather.
• During the bizarre moment, Mike reveals that he kicked the map into the creek which implies that Josh had given him the map without Heather knowing, thus further proving that he lied to her about giving her back the map.
• Heather would always keep the map in her back pocket. In order for any of the guys to steal the map without her knowing, Heather would have to be asleep. Heather herself stated that she sleeps like a rock which would give the guys the opportunity to take the map if she had it in her possession. However, Josh was the one who had it after she had given it to him and he gave it to Mike specifically to get rid of it.
• After the loss of the map, Heather decides to use the compass. Mike has the compass and gives it to her, to which Josh demands it away from her. This would be much harder for her to navigate the woods without the map or compass and can increase the chances of getting lost.
• Though the tent shaking was implied to be the Blair Witch scaring the group which caused them to run out of the tent, it's possible that an unseen accomplice or accomplices of Josh and Mike's had shaken the tent. Plus, perhaps the possible unseen accomplice(s) was given instructions by Josh and Mike beforehand to throw their clothes around in order to help boost Heather's fears since both of them were with Heather when they came back to the tent the next morning and found the scattered clothing.
• Josh disappearing from the tent is unbelievable. He couldn't have disappeared without alerting anyone in the tent. Even though Heather is a deep sleeper, Mike would've at least immediately known that Josh was gone. Perhaps, Mike knew that Josh was going to purposefully leave as part of their plan.
• The hair, teeth, tongue, and blood in the bundle of sticks may or may not be Josh's if he's behind the ruse. There's no way of actually knowing for sure without DNA testing.
• When Heather and Mike are running from the noises and she (offscreen) looks up to see something standing on the hill and says what is that, it could be suggested that the creature or person who scared Heather was Josh or an accomplice of Josh and Mike's.
• Once Heather and Mike seemingly lose the Blair Witch, they come across an abandoned, dilapidated house in the middle of the forest. It's suggested that the house belongs to Rustin Parr, even though the house had long since burned down in the 1940s. Some have speculated that Heather and Mike had unwittingly stepped into a time warp. Though, that would prove inconceivable since archaeologist students would later end up getting to this location in the forest and return home safely after finding Heather, Josh, and Mike's footage and belongings in the remnants of the house in 1996. By then, the house was burned down and nature had taken over. Chances are, this house is not the Parr house but is a completely different house that's similar in appearance and construction. It's not unusual for more than one house to be constructed in a similar manner within the same area. (See below for more of an explanation.)
• Mike suddenly running into the house and seems to know his way around the house in the dark is too coincidental. It's extremely questionable and suspicious that he would seemingly know the layout of the house unless he's been there before.
• When Mike exclaims that he's going upstairs, this would come across as very odd because Heather was right behind him. When he makes it to the second floor, he waits on her. Though it was dark, Mike and Heather were each able to have a light on their cameras for them to see in the dark. There would be no reason for him to speak loudly to her if she's right with him unless he's secretly signaling to someone else in the house.
• When they're on the second floor, Mike abruptly changes his mind and decides that the noises are coming from the basement. He shouts that he can hear Josh downstairs as he goes down the stairs and not waiting for Heather to catch up this time. Again, Mike shouting is him signaling to someone else in the house.
• Mike supposedly mistaking Josh's sounds coming from the basement to the second floor is baffling because there's a difference in the vicinity of noises.
• When Mike makes it to the basement, he presumably gets attacked by the Blair Witch and is made to stand in the corner when Heather finally shows up. However, if this was all part of Josh and Mike's plan and there was no Witch that attacked Mike, that would mean that he dropped his camera on purpose and simulated that he was attacked by the Witch. There would be no way that he would be able to stand in the corner with no assistance if he was attacked to the point where he was knocked unconsciously to the ground or possibly killed. It's even somewhat implied by director Eduardo Sánchez on a Reddit Q & A that Mike was able to turn around toward Heather all this time.
• When Heather sees Mike standing in the corner and screams, the way her camera violently shakes seems to suggest that she's being viciously attacked. It seems that the attack was so violent, Heather dropped her camera.
• If you listen closely, when Heather's screams abruptly stop, it sounds as if something or someone had covered her mouth as the footage goes black.
• Concerning the house itself, judging by the state of the property by the time the archaeologist students had found it two years after the events, it was burned to the ground at some point. The reason that it seemed as if it was Rustin Parr's house was due to his house also being burned, even though that may not be the case. If it's a different house, the house was ultimately burned down specifically to cover up any traces of murder. In order to get rid of any evidence and to cover their tracks, Josh, Mike, and their accomplice(s) had to torch the house to the ground. Over time, due to nature and the elements, much of remnants of the house had been destroyed before the archaeologist students had showed up. Also, (as mentioned above), since there were no reports of any strange activity when the trio's footage and belongings were found which was followed by the police investigation, that would mean that the archaeologist students weren't harassed by a Blair Witch nor any supernatural entities within the forest.