How could anything be think it was real?

You would be surprised how easily people can be convinced that something, however far fetched it sounds, is true.

It was marketed as found footage, and it was basically the first of it's kind. If it came out now you could say it's like Paranormal activity, and you would immediately know what you were getting into. 1999, people never saw anything like this. So there was the thought that it was actually found and edited into a documentary.

The internet was still in it's infancy, so it wasn't as easy as it is now to go online and fact check.

It certainly looked authentic.

It's like Santa Claus, even if people know it's not true, they still like to believe it is. That's how this film became huge.

I saw TBWP in the cinema when it first came out. I never for a moment thought it was real. The marketing hype was great though (I actually preferred the 'documentary' The Curse of the Blair Witch, which detailed the 'legend' and the 'finding' and 'examination' of the footage).

It was largely due to the marketing, add that found footage films mostly unheard of (virtually non-existent). The premise being that footage was found, therefore capturing reality, then edited by people such that it can be presented to an audience.

It wasn't just that this film in and of itself took off, it was the timing of its release and everything associated with it that captured lightening in a bottle.

I've heard that leaflets were handed out with photos of three missing college kids (the actors from the film), then add to that internet buzz (as the internet was still in its infancy), word of mouth takes off and there you have it. It truly was one of those "you had to be there" moments to understand.

So someone such as yourself comes along much later and asks a reasonable question after viewing the film and wouldn't have a context for this kind of thing. Which is very understandable. But that's the basic gist of it. I'm sure there are very good breakdowns online about why and how this film -- if not fooled people outright -- at least made them curious enough to see the film.

Contrary to what people would lead you to believe, people have always been dumb and gullible.

A bunch of teens back in 1999 got hoodwinked by a marketing gimmick and haven't stopped bleating on about how special the movie is because of it. "You had to be there man, you had to be there" roughly translates to I was a shithead and fell for it circa 1999, so did my shithead friends. You had to be a shithead circa 1999 to fully experience the movie.

incorrect

it was marketed as if it was real