Randy Donahue being interviewed for Curse of the Blair Witch.
Randy Donahue was the paternal grandfather of Heather and James Donahue, the husband of Sadie Donahue and the father of Jim Donahue.
When he was 12-13 years old, Randy supposedly hiked towards Tappy East Creek. He then encountered an old woman who uttered his last name. Frightened about how she knew his name, Randy ran off and never saw her again. In the coming years he would theorize that the woman had actually been the Blair Witch. He then retold this story to his granddaughter Heather, which inspired her to use the mythology of the witch as the backdrop of her thesis film.
In February of 1996, he was interviewed by private investigator Buck Buchanan about Heather's disappearance. Randy then reiterated the salient points of his encounter with the old woman as well as his regret about ever telling her about the Blair Witch legend, as he believed this made him ultimately culpable for her disappearance.
In early 1999, Randy was interviewed for the documentary Curse of the Blair Witch. In it, he talks about holding Heather for about an hour when she was born. That same year saw the release of The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier, which compiled various info including his interviews about Heather Donahue.