They also made an eight-minute promotional reel about the Blair Witch and missing filmmakers. Independent film representative John Pierson, host of the Independent Film Channel's "Split Screen" series, saw it and was taken in.

"I said, `I can't believe all of this. I've never heard about it, " Pierson recalled telling Myrick. "And he said, `John, we made it all up.' "

Pierson's company, Grainy Pictures, put up an early $10,000 and ran a segment about the movie on "Split Screen," which prompted an Albany detective to call in offering to help find the filmmakers. Myrick and Sanchez shot " Blair Witch " in the fall of 1997 after auditioning 2,000 actors to play the three students.

— Caro, Mark. "Frightfully Frightfully, Frightfully Real: The Bewitching Story Behind 'The Blair Witch Project'". Chicago Tribune. July 14, 1999. Chicago Sports Final, Page 1.