With the release of the new “Blair Witch” film that was directed by Adam Wingard and released several days ago, now would be the perfect time to look at the history and lore behind Maryland’s surprisingly dark past and a look at the inspiration behind both the 1999 release of “The Blair Witch Project,” directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, to this new rehash of the original.

The Blair Witch Project is legendary for popularizing the idea of “found footage films,” in which the main plot of the movie was that supposed footage was discovered by a group of people and is processed and edited for a public showing. The film has become a cult classic to horror movie lovers and a thrill ride for many others, but what exactly is the mythos behind The Blair Witch? People that haven’t seen the movie will be surprised to know that the legend is set in the town of Burkittsville, Maryland. The legend states that it all started with a woman named Elly Kedward, an Irish immigrant that moved to America in 1785, specifically in the state of Maryland in a town called Blair, (now known as Burkittsville). Strange occurrences started happening not long after she moved into the town of Blair, as residents began to notice that their children began to go missing and not long after they would return alone with either marks on their bodies or just very odd stories to tell their parents. They would tell stories of a woman that would lead them to a very secluded area where she would perform weird and macabre rituals, sometimes even drawing blood from them. The town’s residents later began to suspect of Elly Kedward, the lady that had recently moved into the town, of being a witch. She was tried and accused of witchcraft, and later banished from the town into the Black Hills Forest. The evidence of her death is a bit shaky, some point to her being executed by the town’s people hanging her, or tying her to a tree and let her starve or freeze to death, or that she was just banned from the town in general and later found dead due to extreme weather.

Besides the legend of The Blair Witch, there are many other stories of witchcraft in the state of Maryland. The Blair Witch is mostly considered an urban myth by most, mostly fiction, even though there are some written accounts of strange happenings in the town of Burkittsville, and even a written tome on The Blair Witch Cult. There are some stories that happened even before The Blair Witch, actual hard evidence, from the times when the pilgrims first came to America in the late 1600’s to escape religious prejudice and persecution. One account would be the persecution of Mary Lee, a passenger on the Charity of London in 1654, heading to Maryland from England. To briefly summarize, during this time there was a societal phenomenon of accusing people of witchcraft. This particular tale happened on the boat ride to America. After harsh weather prevented the vessel from landing in Bermuda, there was a rumor going around on the ship that a witch was conjuring up these storms and preventing them from making stops at different ports and leading them off course. The rumors then gained popularity and later the blame went to Mary Lee. Everyone on the ship petitioned the captain to put her on trial, and the naval men searched her and her belongings. They found a mark tattooed on her body that was believed to represent the mark of the devil, and evil sign that to them proved that she was a witch. She was then put to death by hanging before The Charity landed in Maryland, “Safe and sound, and without a witch,” as some written accounts say.

There is one more infamous story of witchcraft in Maryland, the trial and execution of Rebecca Fowler. She immigrated from England to Maryland in 1656, specifically she had worked her way up as a servant with her husband, John, to purchase and own land in the county. Rebecca was accused of witchcraft when one of their indentured servants, a man named Francis Sandsbury, reported to authorities and later took to court that he had suffered from various illnesses and injuries, which he blamed on Rebecca’s witchcraft. The belief at the time was that Rebecca had cursed him, and Rebecca was arrested and put on trial on September 30, 1685. The court accused of her of being consumed by the devil and performing witchcraft, and saying that Francis, as a product of her witchcraft, was consumed by illness and sin. There was no evidence really of her practicing any rituals related to witchcraft, but apparently the court and the jury found the Francis’s story very convincing. Rebecca pled not guilty, but was convicted of witchcraft by the twelve jurors, and the court decided her to be executed by hanging on October 3^rd.

It is very interesting to know that there is a rather dark history of witchcraft and executions of “witches” in the state of Maryland. To think, that we have come so far in terms of criminal justice and science, that in those days it was a crime for being a witch, with the following of mass hysteria concerning certain “evils” or “hauntings”. Fortunately, we have evolved as a modern society, but who knows, there are still practicing witches even today, and it could even be your fellow neighbor…