The Exorcist Steps Get Official Recognition the Day Before Halloween

Just in time for Halloween in Georgetown, the Exorcist Steps at 36th Street—between Prospect and M Streets NW— will get an official commemorative plaque, signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, Friday, Oct. 30.

The 75 steps down to M Street from Prospect Street figured in the climatic scene of the 1973 film “The Exorcist,” when the priest sacrificed himself for the girl possessed by the devil, leaping from a window in a Prospect Street home and tumbling down the steps to his death.

“The Exorcist,” written by William Peter Blatty, a Georgetown University alumnus, and directed by William Friedkin, is considered by many to be the greatest horror movie of all time. The filming in Georgetown occurred during October 1972.

Andrew Huff coordinated the event in collaboration with the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, the Executive Office of the Mayor, the Dupont Festival and Councilmember Jack Evans, at whose office he worked.

On Oct. 30, the film’s director Bill Friedkin will be at the top of the steps at 36th and Prospect Streets at 4 p.m. for a talk as well as a meet and greet. Writer Bill Blatty will be at the top of the steps at 5 p.m. With the mayor expected to attend, the plaque dedication ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. at the bottom of the steps on M Street.

After the plaque dedication ceremony, the Georgetown Business Association will hold its monthly networking reception — themed for Halloween and “The Exorcist” and a short walk from the dedication—at Malmaison Restaurant at 3401 K St., NW, starting at 6:30 p.m; all are welcome.

A 7:30 p.m. screening of “The Exorcist” — with Friedkin in the audience — at Georgetown Loews AMC on K Street is reportedly sold out.