I went to Gettysburg College and spent a lot of time in the woods of South Central PA and northern MD in the Michaux and Catoctin forests and the Appalachian trail that passes through the area...I suppose for that reason, the Blair Witch Project had it's own attraction for me. I was also fascinated by the very early proto-viral marketing, where the whole mythology of the Blair Witch was online well before the movie and prospective movie goers could essentially do background research on the legend before seeing the evidence (i.e. the *found* footage).
Above and beyond all that, I always love a private, small money movie with no big name actors cleaning up at the box office and putting big hollywood to shame. That's always a bonus.
True, from that perspective, it was a stellar effort by an indy.
I waited to see it for a while after the hype had built to incredible levels, so maybe that was my own fault. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I gone early on.