Heather Donahue rose to stardom after starring in the Blair Witch Project, an unexpected indie hit in the 1990s. Her horrified, tear-filled eyes became one of the most haunting images from a film that pioneered a new kind of horror that is being imitated in movies today.

One would assume that starring in a $248 million film that becomes the buzz of the country for weeks, if not months, is a wonderful thing. But Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Josh Leonard, the three teenage actors who starred in the famous 1999 movie, were not so lucky.

The film, which was developed on a shoestring budget and shot in only eight days, earned $248 million against a $60,000 budget, making it the sixth highest-grossing independent film of all time.

Many people flocked to cinemas to witness what they thought was real video film of a witch stalking children in the woods. Their view was based on a hoax website created by filmmaker Eduardo Sanchez ahead to the film’s debut, which turned the Blair Witch into an urban legend.

Heather Donahue (Getty Images)

Over an eight-day period, the protagonists all consented to have their characters use their own identities and recorded most of the material themselves. This meant that, in the minds of many, when they died on television, they also perished in real life.

The actors were labeled as dead on their IMBD sites to increase the buzz around the film. Donahue lived in relative anonymity in Los Angeles, reading her own obituary and biding her time until her resurrection. All three only came to prominence after the film was released in theaters.

Some speculated that the movie was really a documentary, and that the three filmmakers had died while working on it. Furthermore, when the general public understood that The Blair Witch Project was not a typical horror picture, many people felt duped. The performers once again felt singled out. Although the producers had reservations about how Blair Witch was promoted, co-director Daniel Myrickremains optimistic about the film’s legacy:

“As an artist, part of why you’re doing this is to leave a mark, to leave an impression, and to influence people, to move people, and Blair Witch did that. Forever I’ll be grateful to have been a part of that, to be part of an amazing thing, and to be remembered for at least one thing. Maybe not everything, but that one thing is something I’m appreciative of. Not many filmmakers get to say that.”

The film’s cultural ubiquity disguised its clever production tactics, which spurred a wave of imitation found-footage horror films, including Paranormal Activity, and started one of the first successful viral marketing campaigns of the Internet age.

Instead of accolades, Donahue experienced extraordinary backlash, was constantly mocked in skits and in a notorious Scary Movie sequence, and her mother got condolences from people all over the globe who thought she had died. Those who approached her on the street said they hoped she was dead and demanded their money back, which was much worse.

“[the success of Blair Witch] is something you have to live with, like a tumour or a tattoo on your face,” she says of the film’s legacy to Broadly.

Now that the unexpected sequel has come, Donahue is concerned that her life will be disturbed once again. “It’s just like this thing that’s always there,” she says “she said. It had really receded in the background, and now with the new movie coming out, it’s very much present for me and my family again, which is challenging for them as well. My mother is being asked again about sympathy cards.”

Conspiracy theories continue to swirl around the actors over two decades later. “There are some people online who think that we are hired shills because those kids really did die and we’ve been hired to be them so that nobody will get arrested.”