Exorcist Steps, Washington D.C.

Dropping sharply toward the busy intersection of M Street, Canal Road, and the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown, this set of concrete stairs at the corner of Prospect Street and 36th Street NW, was built in 1895 by George Killeen, a well-known local Democratic figure, during construction of the nearby Capital Traction Company Barn. Originally, the stairs served a rather practical purpose as both a lightwell and a public passageway.

According to legend, the wall beside them was completed after a handshake agreement, and Killeen was never paid for his work. So, it looks like the steps had already caused a few financial nightmares before they started frightening moviegoers...

Indeed, albeit steep but otherwise looking perfectly ordinary, the Exorcist Steps boast a horror-movie résumé. Their claim to fame came in 1973, with the film "The Exorcist," in which Father Damien Karras' character takes a dramatic tumble down these stairs—the infamous sequence that truly cemented their place in popular culture.

For filming, the crew padded the steps with half-inch-thick rubber, because even horror directors have insurance concerns... There was also one small architectural problem: the house used in the scene did not line up quite as dramatically with the staircase as the script required. So the filmmakers built an eastward extension with a false front, proving once again that movie magic often involves plywood, clever angles, and pretending gravity is better staged than it really is...

Long before Hollywood got involved, though, locals reportedly already called these steps the “Hitchcock steps”—a nod to Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense and horror movies with a talent for making perfectly normal places feel deeply suspicious.

In a ceremonial Halloween weekend in 2015, the steps were officially recognized as a D.C. landmark and tourist attraction. This event featured the film's director, William Friedkin, and screenwriter William Peter Blatty, who also authored the book on which the movie is based. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled a plaque at the base of the steps, acknowledging their significance to Washington, D.C., and their impact on film history.

Today, the Exorcist Steps remain one of Washington’s strangest landmarks: part local infrastructure, part cinematic legend, and part reminder to always hold the railing...