Blair Witch Project star at centre of woodland dispute

The star of the classic horror movie The Blair Witch Project has found herself in the middle of a dispute in her remote US community – thanks to her efforts in helping people lost in the forest.

Heather Donahue starred in the low-budget 1999 film about three film students who disappear in the woods while making a documentary about a legendary figure known as the Blair Witch.

Now, 50-year-old Donahue – who left acting behind years ago – lives in the US state of Maine, in the town of Freedom, which has around 700 residents.

In a twist of fate harkening back to her movie career, Donahue has been embroiled in a spat with locals that hinges on her marking trees with orange blazes to help people find their way in the dense forests.

Donahue had been a member of the town’s governing body, its select board, but lost a recall election recently after a controversy about whether a rural road that cuts through the woods is public or private property.

The matter remains unresolved, with the town and abutting landowners fighting it out in court.

The route in question is Beaver Ridge Road, a narrow, partially hilly stretch flanked by wild plants and songbirds that goes from paved to gravel to dirt as it stretches deeper into the forest.

Several people whose property abuts the road say the unimproved section is private, and to use it for activities such as all-terrain vehicle riding constitutes trespassing.

Donahue, and the town itself, hold that the entire road is public.

The former actress painted the orange blazes using historical maps to show what she holds is the centre of a public easement.

Abutting property owners were incensed and the first successful recall petition drive in the town’s 212-year history followed.

Donahue was removed in April and an election to pick her successor is planned for next month.

Tyler Hadyniak, one of the abutting property owners, said the recall was not just about the orange blazes or the woodland trail. He said it addressed a pattern of behaviour by Donahue that chafed longer established residents in the year since she took office.

“I was relieved that the recall was successful. I thought Heather’s demeanour and behaviour toward others was just unbecoming of a town official,” Mr Hadyniak said.

Donahue, who is originally from Pennsylvania and has spent long stretches of time living in California and travelling abroad, said she is aware of her status as what she called “a lady from away”.

She arrived in Maine after a winding journey in which she struggled with alcoholism, quit acting, became a medical marijuana farmer and wrote a memoir.

Donahue said she came to the Pine Tree State eight years ago, overcame her addiction and bought land in Freedom in 2020.

Recently, she has worked as a life coach and shared her passions for gardening and medicinal plants with anyone who will listen.

She is not especially interested in reliving the glory of starring in The Blair Witch Project, one of the most successful independent movies of all time.

An extreme close-up of Donahue’s character in distress close to the film’s climax is one of its most memorable moments.

The movie sparked a resurgence of interest in “found footage” style horror movies, wowed critics and polarised audiences with its homespun take on terror. Becoming lost in the woods is a key component in its spooky charm.

Unfortunately, The Blair Witch Project also led Donahue to years of legal wrangling over compensation and the right to her likeness.

Donahue makes occasional tongue-in-cheek references to the movie in passing, but also said it struck her several years ago that her life was inseparable from the film in ways that were not entirely comfortable.

She added: “I had this really difficult moment of realising my obituary was written for me when I was 25.”

Ordinarily, the hottest gossip in Freedom concerns the peskiness of the local blackflies or the quality of the fishing on Sandy Pond.

But the row over the road has become the talk of the sleepy town some 30 miles north-east of the state capital of Augusta.

Donahue has defenders in the town, including Bob Kanzler, who served on a local roads committee and agrees that the disputed path is public land.

“Heather has done a wonderful job in researching these discontinued roads in town,” Mr Kanzler said. “I know the road is public.”

Despite the ongoing battle over the road, Donahue said she has found peace in Maine – and she is not going anywhere.

“I mean, this is where humans flourish,” she said of the Freedom woods.

“I’ve figured out a way to do a lot with very little. That was all kind of centred around being able to walk in the woods.”

And she says of her life in the woods: “For me, reading fairy tales, I always wanted to live in the forest.

“It is absolutely as magical as it seemed in those storybooks.”