38°54′19.96″N77°4′12.59″W / 38.9055444°N 77.0701639°W /38.9055444; -77.0701639
The Exorcist steps are concrete stairs, continuing 36th Street,[1] descending from the corner of Prospect St and 36th St NW, down to a small parking lot, set back from the intersection ofM Street NW, Canal Rd NW, and Whitehurst Freeway NW in theGeorgetown neighborhood ofWashington, D.C., famous for being featured in the 1973 filmThe Exorcist. The steps were built in 1895 by George Killeen,[2] a prominent local Democratic figure, during construction of the adjacentCapital Traction Company Barn forcable cars,[1] serving as alightwell and publicright of way. There is a family legend of George Killeen that the wall's construction was a handshake agreement and that Killeen was never paid for its completion. Before theExorcist association, the stairs were informally called "Hitchcock steps"[3] for famed suspense and horror film directorAlfred Hitchcock.[4]
ForThe Exorcist, the steps were padded with half-inch-thick (13 mm) rubber to film the fall of the characterFather Damien Karras. Because the house from which Karras falls was set back slightly from the steps, the film crew constructed an eastward extension with afalse front to the house in order to film the scene.[4][5][3]
In a ceremonialHalloween weekend in 2015 that featured the film's directorWilliam Friedkin and screenwriterWilliam Peter Blatty (who also wrote thebook on which the film is based), theExorcist steps were recognized as a D.C. landmark and official tourist attraction byMayor of the District of ColumbiaMuriel Bowser, with a plaque unveiled at the base of the steps recognizing its importance to Washington, D.C. and film history.[6][7][8]
Other staircases famous for their use in films:
There's an interesting article in the Washington Post from December 1894 profiling the elderly famous author Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth who lived in a cottage perched next door on Prospect. Here it is after she passed away when it became a bit of a tourist trap:...The cottage was demolished in 1942. In 1950 a new townhouse was constructed in its place. That is the Exorcist house
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