Thursday Things: Blair Witch Edition
22 May 2025. Vol 7 No 21. By Dan McGirt. #302
Thursday Things is here! This week we look for the Blair Witch, find unexpected treasure, and catch germs from space.
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Oh there you are, Blair. We’ve been looking all over for you. Photo by Evgeniy Smersh on Unsplash
Blair Witch watch
Do you remember the Blair Witch Project?
It was a 1999 low budget horror film that unexpectedly became a $250 million megahit. The movie was about three documentary filmmakers who somehow got lost in a Maryland state park while investigating the legend of the Blair Witch. The Blair Witch Project was notable for kicking off a resurgence of the “found footage” horror film genre.
It was also one of the first films to build an elaborate online marketing campaign. The conceit of the film was that we were watching film that was found under mysterious circumstances after the three filmmakers went missing in 1994.
The Blair Witch Project itself wears the trappings of a documentary about the case of the missing filmmakers. The website for the film did not let on that this was all fiction — it presented pictures, articles, news footage, etc. about the case, indistinguishable from a website about any other (real) unsolved mystery or crime.
And they did a good job of it! I remember spending several hours clicking through the site and reading all the material and not being sure if it was real or not. I was skeptical — I’m always skeptical — but they played it so straight it that I could not dismiss it completely.
What finally gave it away to me was that I was living in the DC area in 1994 and I did not recall any news about missing filmmakers. Nor did I recognize any of the supposed local news stations or reporters in the clips on the website. So I ultimately decided “This is made up.” But it took a while. And without that local knowledge I might still be wondering. It was that good.
I definitely went to see the movie.
Anyway, what could be more terrifying than the woods of western Maryland?
Maine, that’s what.
I am convinced that Maine is the creepiest of all states. This is mainly due to Stephen King.
And what’s even creepier than Maine?
Local politics.
So guess where Heather Donohue, star of The Blair Witch Project, ended up?
That’s right! Involved in local politics in Maine.
Still finding trouble in the woods: ‘Blair Witch Project’ star at center of Maine road dispute
FREEDOM, Maine (AP) — Heather Donahue is walking through the woods once again. The star of the successful low-budget horror movie “ The Blair Witch Project ” has an on-screen history of getting into scary situations in a forest.
But this time she is merely picking up an old soda can someone carelessly left on a trail. And she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
That seems innocent enough. But it always starts out innocently.
Heather moved to Freedom, Maine (Doesn’t that sound like a Stephen King town?) about 8 years ago and was elected to the town select board (creepy Maine talk for city council) on which she served until recently getting tossed off because of her position in a local road dispute:
The road in question is Beaver Ridge Road, a narrow, partially hilly stretch flanked by wild plants and songbirds that goes from paved to gravel to dirt as it stretches deeper into the forest. Several abutters of the road say the unimproved section is private and to use it for activities such as all-terrain vehicle riding constitutes trespassing. Donahue, and the town itself, hold that the entire road is public.
But where does the road go? What’s at the end of it?
Probably an old Indian burial ground. Or the site of a witch burning. Or a Wendigo cave. My advice — don’t go past the paved part!
Donahue painted the orange blazes using historical maps to show what she holds is the center of a public easement.
If only her character had thought of that in the Blair Witch Project. A can of orange spray paint could have saved their lives.
Abutting property owners were incensed and the first successful recall petition drive in the town’s 212-year history followed. Donahue was removed in April and an election to pick her successor is planned for next month.
Bumped out of office still beats being cursed by a 400-year-old ghost witch.
Heather Donohue back when she only had to deal with angry witches, not angry landowners. Image: The Blair Witch Project via Rotten Tomatoes
Magna Carta karma
This story does not inspire me to declutter.
Harvard Paid $27 For a 'Copy' of The Magna Carta. It Turned Out to Be The Real Thing.
A "copy" of the Magna Carta, the medieval English document that has formed the basis of constitutions around the world, owned by Harvard Law School is actually an exceedingly rare original, British researchers said Thursday.
Experts from King's College London and the University of East Anglia (UEA) said the document, which the US institution acquired in the 1940s for $27.50, is just one of seven from King Edward I's issue of Magna Carta in 1300 that still survive.
I’m going to take a closer look at that pirate treasure map I bought in the Disney World gift shop back in 1975.
Bacteria from space
Speaking of Stephen King.1
I’m sure this is fine.
Unknown Species of Bacteria Discovered in China's Space Station
Swabs from China's Tiangong space station reveal traces of a bacterium unseen on Earth, with characteristics that may help it function under stressful environmental conditions hundreds of kilometers above the planet's surface.
Naming their discovery after the station, researchers from the Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering say the study of Niallia tiangongensis and similar species could be "essential" in protecting astronaut health and spacecraft functionality over long missions.
Right?
The new species appears to be a close cousin to a known strain called Niallia circulans – a rod-shaped, soil-dwelling bacterium that just a few years ago was reallocated to a new genus classification, having previously been regarded as a pathogenic form of Bacillus.
Wait .. pathogenic? That doesn’t sound good.
Like species of Bacillus, N. circulans and its space-faring relatives pack their essential chemistry into hardy spores to survive times of great stress. It's not clear whether N. tiangongensis evolved on the station or arrived in spore form with at least a few of its distinguishing features in place.
It’s fine.
This week’s edition is brought to you by Dan’s Advice: Take control of your digital life.
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I know The Andromeda Strain is more on point, but then I’d have no excuse to play Blue Oyster Cult.