The Exorcist Steps

The steep stone staircase in Georgetown, immortalized in “The Exorcist,” is more than a film location—it connects to a genuine case of alleged demonic possession that inspired William Peter Blatty’s novel and the film that terrified generations.

The Real Case

According to historical accounts, the true story involved a boy known as “Roland Doe” (pseudonym) in 1949. A 14-year-old boy in Maryland and St. Louis experienced strange phenomena after playing with a Ouija board with his aunt. Objects moved, furniture shook, and scratches appeared on his body. Words appeared carved into his flesh. Multiple exorcisms were performed by Catholic priests.

William Peter Blatty, then a student at Georgetown University, heard about the case and later wrote his novel based on it.

The Exorcist Steps

The steps connect Prospect Street NW with M Street, dropping 75 feet via 97 steep stone stairs. In the film’s climax, Father Karras throws himself from the bedroom window and dies falling down these stairs.

The steps existed long before the film. They were built in the mid-1800s and originally served as a pathway for canal workers. They became part of Georgetown’s atmospheric landscape before the film cemented their dark reputation.

Reported Activity

Visitors to the steps report various phenomena. At the base, people experience cold spots even on warm nights, feelings of dread and unease, the sensation of being watched, and some claim to hear whispered prayers.

On the steps themselves, climbers report difficulty beyond the physical effort, a feeling of resistance or heaviness, shadows moving at the periphery, and the sense of a presence following them.

At the top, the house used in filming stands nearby. Some visitors photograph unexplained lights, and equipment malfunctions are common.

The Georgetown Connection

Georgetown itself has paranormal significance. It’s one of the oldest neighborhoods in D.C. with multiple haunted locations nearby, historic cemeteries and churches, and a history of tragedy and death.

The combination of the real exorcism case, the film’s cultural impact, and Georgetown’s inherent eeriness makes the steps a paranormal pilgrimage site.

Film Legacy

The 1973 film “The Exorcist” is considered one of the scariest movies ever made. There were reports of audiences fainting and fleeing theaters, claims of the production being “cursed,” multiple deaths connected to cast and crew, and lasting cultural impact on the horror genre.

The steps became such an attraction that they were given an official designation as a D.C. landmark, partly due to their film connection.

Visiting Today

The Exorcist Steps are public and can be visited at any hour. They are located at 36th Street NW, between Prospect Street and M Street, in the heart of Georgetown. A plaque mounted at the top of the steps in 2015, dedicated by Mayor Muriel Bowser and director William Friedkin himself, acknowledges the film connection and gives the staircase its formal civic recognition. Visitors often climb at night for atmosphere, though the adjacent townhouse — used for the exterior shots of the MacNeil home in the film — is private property and visitors are expected to respect the privacy of its occupants.

Cultural Impact

Few film locations have entered the cultural imagination as completely as the Exorcist Steps. Their dedication as a D.C. landmark in 2015 marked the formal recognition of a site that had, by then, been a destination for film and horror enthusiasts for more than four decades. The staircase has been featured in countless documentaries, retrospectives, and tribute photographs. It has been the setting of unofficial Halloween gatherings, ghost-hunting excursions, and academic discussions of the cultural significance of the 1973 film. For Georgetown University students, descending the steps at night has become a kind of informal initiation, and the local foot traffic surrounding the site sustains a small ecosystem of guided ghost tours and walking tours that include the staircase as a primary stop.

The case that inspired the novel and film has also continued to attract investigation. The identity of “Roland Doe” was eventually publicly confirmed by researchers and journalists as Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, a Maryland boy whose alleged 1949 possession was the subject of a diary kept by one of the participating priests. The diary, eventually published in part by various researchers, describes phenomena that range from the suggestive — scratches that appeared to form letters on the boy’s skin — to the apparently spectacular, including reports of the bed shaking and objects moving. Skeptical analyses of the case, most notably by author and investigator Mark Opsasnick, have argued that much of the original account was exaggerated by later retellings and that the boy was a troubled adolescent rather than a possession victim. The Catholic Church has never made an official ruling on the case.

Skeptical Perspectives

Conventional explanations have been offered for the phenomena reported on and around the steps. Georgetown is a busy urban environment, and the sounds of distant traffic, settling buildings, and movement on adjacent streets can be misinterpreted as following footsteps or whispered voices. The steps themselves are exceptionally steep, and the physiological effects of climbing them — increased heart rate, breathlessness, the disorientation that comes from looking down at the descent — are sufficient to produce many of the reported physical sensations without any paranormal cause. The location’s association with one of the most psychologically affecting horror films ever made primes virtually every visitor to interpret ambiguous experiences through that lens. Whether the steps themselves are haunted, or whether visitors simply bring their own fears to this famous location, the Exorcist Steps remain one of America’s most recognisable horror landmarks — a piece of cinema history that has been claimed, decade by decade, by the genuine atmosphere of the place itself.

Sources

• Wikipedia search: “The Exorcist Steps”
• Society for Psychical Research — SPR proceedings, peer-reviewed psychical research since 1882
• Library of Congress — American Folklife Center — American folklore archive
• Chronicling America — Historic US newspapers (1690–1963)