Rustin Parr

Rustin Parr is an antagonist in the film The Blair Witch Project and its history, and he is a hermit living in the forest of Burkittsville in North America. He lived during the 1940s and this is when his crimes took place.

Backstory
He was a man who chose to become a hermit because he preferred nature to humanity and urbanization. He chose a place for himself in the woods surrounding his home town of Burkittsville, and he would only come into town sporadically. He built a house with his own hands and he lived in it in the forest and he had a nice, relaxed life in the forest. He would venture into town from time to time for food and provisions, and he grew friendly with the animals in the woods - they would often flock by his house to graze outside.

That was until the Witch came.

Voices in his head
Rustin Parr had an unpleasant experience when he would encounter a woman in black walking in the woods during his walks and meditations. She was an old woman, and she would always vanish as soon as he looked at her closer.

Things got more sinister when he heard this woman's voice in her head, and though she spoke in a foreign tongue, he understood her, and she told him to go into town and abduct some children, bring them back to his house and kill them for her. She said she would not leave him until he did this. Parr, somewhat superstitious, obeyed. He went into town.

Murder of the Burkittsville Seven
Rustin Parr went into Burkittsville and lured seven children back to his house with promises of chocolate, and they eagerly accepted, and then he put them in the cellar for the day. He bought them all out at nightfall and proceeded to have one of the children stand in the corner facing the wall and he would kill the other one via evisceration. Then he would kill the other one too. He did this because he believed the old woman was looking at him through the children's eyes and he wanted to be rid of her gaze.

One boy, Kyle Brody, escaped from Rustin Parr, and he told court about the murders. Rustin was convicted by an angry mob when the police bought all six of his victims out of the woods, and it "tore up the community." Rustin Parr was interrogated by Federal police, and then they hanged him.