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If you haven't seen the movie and you don't want to know anything, go back now!
What's the significance of the rock piles?
What's the Bible quote Heather says Mary Brown told
them?
What's the significance of the stickmen?
What does Heather see when she screams, "Oh my God
what's that!? What the f*ck is that!?!"
What's the slime on Josh's stuff?
What happens to Josh?
What's in the bundle of sticks Heather finds outside
the tent?
What's the house they find at the end?
What's the writing on the wall, along with the hand-print's,
that Mike and Heather pass in Rustin's house?
Is that Mike in the corner? Is he standing or hanging?
Okay, then why does he just stand there? And wasn't
he knocked unconscious?
When Heather's running down the stairs, why does
it sound like her screams are coming from somewhere else?
What happens in the ending?
What's the significance of the rock piles?
We're not sure if the grove with the seven rock piles is exactly what Heather was looking for when she talked about "finding the cemetary," but the rock piles do represent the Blair Witch's victims (seven for the seven children killed by Rustin Parr), and when three rock piles show up outside the tent - well, they're doomed from that moment on.
What's the Bible quote Heather says Mary Brown told them?
Although we don't hear Mary Brown talk about a Bible quote, Heather mentions it when they find the rock piles, and also refers to it in her journal. No one connected with the movie seems to know what it is, though! Numerous suggestions have been made; our leading candidates are:
What's the sigificance of the stickmen?
In the Haxan filmmakers' mythology - which is related to elements of Celtic/Pictish and Scandinavian mythologies, but IS NOT supposed to be a faithful representation of or correlation to any actual mythology - the stickmen also represent the spirits of the dead. The trees, with their roots in the earth and branches in the air, serve as bridges between the earth and the spirit world, and when the stickmen are hung in a tree they provide a way for the spirit to travel between worlds.
Although it's not explicitly shown in the movie, Josh refers to Heather having taken down one of the stickmen. (It's also mentioned in her journal.) In doing that, she trapped a spirit in one world or the other. Based on what happens next, I'd say it was trapped on earth, and not too happy....
What does Heather see when she screams (while fleeing the tent), "Oh my God what's that!? What the f*ck is that!?!"
At this point in the film, while they were fleeing from the tent, what
Heather actually saw were two members of the crew, dressed head-to-toe
in white thermal underwear, ski-masks, etc., pacing them through the woods
to the left of the camera. The original intention was that Heather
and Josh's cameras would pick up a ghostly white image which would have
been examined more carefully in the end film; remember that at the
time of filming, the intention was that the footage by Heather, Mike and
Josh would only make up part of a more traditional documentary film that
would have been closer to 'The Curse of The Blair Witch' Sci-Fi special
than what the finished film ended up being.
What's the slime on Josh's stuff?
According to Heather Donahue herself, the slime is portrayed by KY Jelly. It's significance? See the next sentence.....
It does seem related to the story of Eileen Treacle, the little girl who was pulled into Tappy East Creek in the 1800s - the mythology mentions that for days afterwards the creek was full of oily slime and stick figures.
Regardless of what it is (ectoplasm, perhaps?), the meaning is clear - Josh is a marked man.
Again, we're not entirely sure, and we don't think the filmmakers want us to be. Obviously something "gets" Josh; but whether there's some sort of spell on him that makes him leave the tent, or something goes in and gets him without waking the others, or whether he was outside on WATCH or not - or, for that matter, if he wanders off to pee and can't find his way back - isn't, and doesn't need to be, clear. When Heather finds the bundle the next morning (see below), it's also obvious that he's in trouble, if not actually dead.
As for the later part when we hear Josh's voice, it might be Josh (sounding pretty good for someone with no teeth- see below), or it might be something supernatural imitating his voice to lure Heather and Mike.
What's in the bundle of sticks Heather finds outside the tent?
The bundle of sticks contains teeth. It's also tied with strips of Josh's shirt. Obviously bad news for everyone, especially Josh...
There's been much speculation on whether there's something else besides teeth in there, and how we know it's teeth - well, one of the producers got a real human molar from his dentist; as for the rest of the stuff - well, if you want to believe it's a tongue, a heart, or whatever else you can think of, go ahead, but don't ask us! All we know about is teeth! (And according to the filmmakers, the other teeth are portrayed by Certs.)
*NOTE- If you've noticed, Heather decides NOT to show Mike the bundle. The assumption is that this is to protect Mike from the knowledge that things just went from bad to worse, and ties in to her Confessional.
Incidentally, a Dungeons and Dragons expert tells us that in D&D there's spell involving teeth and a tongue which enables the spellcaster to use the voice of the victim....don't know if that's what the filmmakers had in mind, but it's an interesting idea.
It's the house of Rustin Parr, the 1940's serial killer who said "the Blair Witch made me do it." (Yes, we know, in the Sci Fi Channel special, they say the house was burned down. But the Blair Witch doesn't always subscribe to logic or conventional laws of time and space, and it is the same house.)
What's the writing on the wall, along with the hand-print's, that Mike and Heather pass in Rustin's house?
The writing is runic characters that have no actual meaning that we know of, other than to remind one of the strange characters carved both into the victim's at Coffin Rock, and the victim's of Rustin Parr. The hand-print's obviously are meant to clue you in to the fact that it's Rustin's house (see above).
Is that Mike in the corner? Is he standing or hanging?
Yes, it's Mike. And he's definitely standing. (It ties into the Rustin Parr story - see the answer to the question "What happens in the ending?" below.)
You can't see his feet touching the floor too clearly, but from the filmmakers' description of how they shot the ending, they definitely didn't "hang" the actual actor.
Okay, then why does he just stand there? And wasn't he knocked unconscious?
He was hit hard enough to make him drop the camera, but he wasn't knocked out (again, this is from the description of how the ending was actually shot). As for why he's just standing there, instead of trying to run away or help Heather - seems to us that he's either scared stiff, or something's got a spell on him, or both. He's not in control of himself anymore.
When Heather's running down the stairs, why does it sound like her screams are coming from somewhere else?
Heather's carrying the 16mm film camera, which doesn't record sound (that's why Mike came along in the first place, to operate the DAT which records sync sound for the film camera). All the sound in the house scene is recorded by the Hi8 video camera, which is down in the basement with Mike. So when Heather is upstairs, her screams sound fainter, and they get louder as she gets closer to the basement.
Remember the Rustin Parr story? - it's in the interviews with the townspeople at the beginning of the movie. (And it's not in the bootleg.) He took the children to the basement of his house in the woods and killed them two at a time, and made one face the wall while he killed the other.
So Mike and Heather trace the screams to an abandoned house in the woods, with bloody handprints all over the walls. Hm. Rustin Parr's house, anyone? When Mike goes down in the basement, something gets him. And when Heather gets to the basement, she sees Mike standing in the corner, facing the wall. And she knows she's going to die.
As for who exactly gets Mike and Heather - whether it's the Blair Witch, or the ghost of Rustin Parr, or Josh being influenced by the Blair Witch, or something else entirely - we don't know. Everything after that camera stops running is up to your imagination.
The Blair Witch Project Spoiler FAQ (c) 1999 A&e.