While horror fans immediately hear “Black Hills” and think of Burkittsville from The Blair Witch Project, The Black Hills Night Hike broadens the lens to the entire state of Maryland, framing the region as an interconnected web of tall tales trapped between the western mountains and the eastern bay.
The narrative backbone of The Black Hills Night Hike follows a lost young girl (Amanda Shafer) who stumbles directly into a midnight trekking group traversing the dark trails of the Appalachian foothills. Led through the dense brush by a mysterious guide carrying an old oil lantern, the excursion isn’t your average midnight nature walk. It’s a guided journey into the dark heart of Maryland folklore.
As the group moves deeper into the woods, each stop along the trail framed by the guide acts as a launching pad into distinct regional horror vignettes, including the Haunted Covered Bridge of Harford County, haunting tale surrounding the ghostly, vengeful spirits bound to Jericho Bridge; the Maryland Goatman, Prince George’s County’s infamous axe-wielding, half-goat hybrid born out of Beltsville Agricultural Research Center lore; the Snallygaster, Frederick County’s winged dragon-like beast that plagued early settlersl Chessie of the Chesapeake Bay, an aquatic monster story tapping into the cryptid sightings that have haunted Maryland’s coastal waters for generations and the Upper Melinda Witch, a dark historical piece of Baltimore County lore involving the execution and vengeful lingering spirit of a targeted woman in the early 1800s.
The film is the brainchild of the vibrant Maryland filmmaking scene associated with the long-running 72 Film Fest in Frederick, MD. It brings together distinct visionary directors—including Nickolas Jackson, Jordan Miller, Brian Pennington and Jason Henley—each taking charge of specific regional myths. Embracing vintage storytelling traditions, the anthology utilizes physical props, lantern-lit cinematography, and practical gore effects rather than digital CGI, echoing the Golden Era of 1970s and 80s drive-in anthology horror like Creepshow and Campfire Tales. A big shoutout to the movie’s Facebook page, which lists several of their favorite anthologies, as well as deeper dives into the film’s legends.
This is a fascinating work, and I love how the movie’s look changes with each story. I may not want to walk these trails — I’d be too frightened — but I will be reading more about these tall tales.
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