Exorcist steps
The steep Georgetown stairway down which Father Karras falls, now an official Washington landmark.
The Exorcist steps are a steep flight of concrete stairs in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., running down from the corner of Prospect Street and 36th Street NW towards M Street. They are famous as the stairs at the foot of Regan MacNeil's window in the 1973 film The Exorcist, where Father Damien Karras falls to his death.
Quick Facts
- Built
- 1895
- Location
- Prospect St and 36th St NW to M Street, Georgetown
Facts from the source article.
Background
The steps were built in 1895 by George Killeen during the building of the neighbouring Capital Traction Company car barn, and before the film they were known informally as the 'Hitchcock steps'. To film Karras's fall they were padded with half-inch rubber, and because the house was set back slightly from the steps, the crew built an extension with a false front so the window would sit right above them. In the story Burke Dennings is also found dead at their foot. Over Halloween weekend in 2015, at a ceremony with William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, Mayor Muriel Bowser recognised the steps as an official D.C. landmark and tourist attraction, and a plaque was unveiled at the bottom.
More in Locations & Settings
Elsewhere in The Exorcist
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