In 1940, a hermit named Rustin Parr turns himself in to the authorities and confesses to the murder of seven children, claiming a cloaked ghost woman made him do it. Kyle Brody was the only survivor, with Parr making the boy stand in a corner while he committed the killings.

Myrick and Snchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993. They developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised.