The Blair Witch Project was released to theaters on July 14, 1999. At the time it was notable for combining the found footage filming style with the earlier release of the website. It was one of the first to make use of the Internet for driving interest. The creators documented events on the site as if they were factual. This lead to a lot of speculation before the film’s release. Although the film was released in July, the website was released earlier in the year with new information slowly becoming available as time went on. This encouraged people to come back regularly for updates.
This website was restored to the version that was released soon after the film began showing in theaters. However, a copy of the April 1999 version of the mythology timeline has been preserved at www.blairwitch.com/mythology_april.html. This shows how some links were unavailable until certain dates, shown in the browser’s status bar.
The site is notable for many interesting features. The main index page uses Flash to start an animation and sound effect before showing the content available. It also uses Java to display a scrolling bar at the bottom of the page. For browsers that don’t have Flash installed, you can use www.blairwitch.com/main.html.
When browsing the site, be sure to check each image. Many of the images have audio or video files you can click to play. There is even a map of Blair that can be clicked for more detail. Also be sure to use the left and right navigation buttons on the pages, since there are many pages in each section.
As October’s chill sets in, dive into the eerie mystery of the Blair Witch at www.blairwitch.com. Uncover haunting clues and chilling tales that blur reality and nightmare, setting the stage for the spine-tingling film. This Halloween, embrace the fear and explore the legend before it consumes you.
