The Science of Monsters

What should you do if you get lost or separated from your group? Experts agree that your most important tool is keeping a positive attitude. (Easier said than done when you hear the Blair Witch outside of your tent at night!) There is a method, based on an acronym that can help you if you get lost. Remember to STOP. S is for doing just that. Robert Koester, a search and rescue expert and author of Lost Person Behavior, says that when you realize you are lost, the first thing you should do is sit down.¹ Try to stay calm and stay in one place. You shouldn’t continue to move until you complete the next steps. T is for think. Think about how you got to where you are and what landmarks you should be able to see. O is for observe. Get your compass and map out and determine directions based on where you are standing. It’s recommended to stay on a trail if you can find one or to follow a drainage or stream downhill. If you don’t have a compass or map you can determine directions by observing where the sun is in the sky or by noticing some other signs in nature. Moss tends to grow on the north side of trees while spider webs tend to be on the south. P is for plan. Come up with some possible plans, think them through, and then act on one of them. It’s usually best to stay put though unless you’re confident in your plan.

Some other self-rescue tips include taking time to rest, staying hydrated, and taking care of problems as they arise. Is there anything else the trio in The Blair Witch Project could have done to try to get out of the woods? Experts say it’s important to stay dry, warm, and safe. The best way to do all of those things is to find or build a shelter. Getting lost is more common than people think. The Oregon-based Mountain Rescue Association, which has member teams in about twenty states, completes about three thousand rescue missions each year.

Being lost in the woods is a common theme in horror movies. The 2017 movie The Ritual follows a group of hikers who get lost in the wilderness in Scandinavia and run into more than they bargained for. Stephen King’s novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) focuses on a nine-year-old girl lost in the woods and how she copes with her seemingly inevitable fate. Aside from viral marketing, the brilliance of The Blair Witch Project and Blair Witch is in taking full advantage of the very human fear of being lost. The reality of being lost in the woods is horrific enough, but add in a witch hungry for your soul, and the stakes rise.

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SECTION TEN

CREATURES

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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE DESCENT

Year of Release: 2005

Director: Neil Marshall

Writer: Neil Marshall

Starring: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza

Budget: $3.5 million

Box Office: $57.1 million

There are particular fears which seem to be universal. The fear of the dark is one we nearly all have succumbed to, especially as children when our imaginations ran wild. The dark, utilized in horror films and stories for ages, is really the fear of the unknown. In the dark anything seems possible. Claustrophobia, the fear of tight and confining places, is also common. There is something about being walled in, with little air or space to move, that has compelled many people to take the stairs rather than risk a faulty elevator.

It is no wonder then that British filmmaker Neil Marshall explored both of these fears, and threw in some ugly and vicious creatures, to great effect in his horror film The Descent. The story of a group of female friends spelunking in the Appalachian Mountains starts like a complicated, character-driven drama, but quickly turns into unabashed horror when the cave collapses. If being trapped underground isn’t bad enough, the women of The Descent encounter beings beneath the earth. These albino creatures, who have adapted to their dark environment, begin to brutally kill the women. Sarah Carter (Shauna MacDonald) is the lone survivor. She eventually escapes through a hole in the cave, covered in blood and dirt from her horrific fight for survival. Interestingly, in the UK cut of the film, there is a bleaker ending. Sarah’s escape is a dream, and she never gets out of the cave, or away from the strange, subterranean creatures. This ending was considered too depressing for American audiences.