There was so much controversy surrounding the film. Many odd occurrences happened during the filming of this movie.
As I recall from watching an interview and reading several articles, there were a lot of strange incidents that occurred on the set. There was a fire that caused the filming to be shut down for a few days. Sometimes the temperature was very cold in the studio; a couple of actors died during the filming; a few actors were hurt and the director acted a little crazy. His approach was very unconventional. He literally scared the hell out of the actors in the process of directing the movie. He would shoot a rifle up in the air and do various other techniques in order to shock and scare the actors and then film their reaction. This was genuine fear on their faces during certain scenes. This is what made the movie look so authentic.
I saw this movie when I was 9 years old. My parents advised me against watching it. That made me even more curious to see why it was so scary. The night that I watched the movie I was terrified. I was very nervous; nauseous; dizzy; and was vomiting. I thought I was becoming possessed. The movie scared me so much that it haunted me for 3 years after watching it. I couldn’t sleep at night, and when I did I had several scary nightmares. I felt anxious and alone. This was during a rough time in my life. My mother had just passed away, we moved, and my father got remarried. My stress level was so high at the time that I am sure this is why the movie had such a profound effect on me.
Years went by and I was no longer scared by this movie, only fascinated. I found out many years later that the famous steps were located in Georgetown. My curiosity intensified, so I decided to find them and take photographs of the steps. I noticed a wall along the sidewalk with a painting of the steps and a short story behind the filming of “The Exorcist”.
I wasn’t sure exactly where they were located. Janet and I were walking on the sidewalk and suddenly I got a strange feeling. I felt like something was drawing me to this particular spot. When I stopped walking and looked up, I saw the scary stairway.
As I approached the steps I was a little scared. They were not in the dark; gloomy; area that I expected. The steps are located between an Exxon gas station on the left, and a small park on the right. In the movie, it looked like a dark alleyway with nothing surrounding it but the house towering over the long stairway.
I got startled as I took a picture standing at the bottom of the steps looking up. All of a sudden, as I was about to photograph the steps, a jogger appeared at the top and started running down towards me. I felt uneasy and thought the steps were cursed. I was afraid to touch them. I snapped three photos of the eerie steps. It was a clear, hot, summer night so the pictures should have come out perfect. However, this was not the case.
When I went to pick up the film, I was anxious to see the steps. I was shocked when I realized that all the pictures of the steps weren’t there. They were never developed and appeared to be all black. There were no images present. At first I thought it was the film. Sometimes the end of the role gets exposed and doesn’t develop properly. In the beginning of the role of film were pictures of the Washington monuments, then the steps, and then there were pictures of scenery at the end of the role. All the photos prior to and after the steps came out very clear and in focus. I thought that it was strange that the only pictures that didn’t come out were the eerie steps that were in the middle of the role of film. I was disappointed because I was hoping to show my friends at work evidence of paranormal activity.
It seemed something didn’t want me to photograph these steps. Was it just a coincidence or was it the same evil energy associated with the movie causing the film not to be developed? This strange phenomenon adds to the mystery of the bad luck surrounding the making of the movie.
FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
ELECTRICAL DISTURBANCES
JUNE 2008
During the writing of this book, the son of a close friend of mine passed away suddenly. It was very traumatic. He died in his sleep from an accidental overdose of a combination of prescription drugs. He left behind a wife, whom he was separated from and a two year old daughter.
When his father found out what happened he was grief stricken. It was very sad and shocking to me, even though, I didn’t know him very well. He was more of an acquaintance but I did talk to him a few times. It was very sad because he was young and finally started getting his life together.
That day, a few hours later after I heard the horrible news, my cell phone rang. The display on the cell said call from UNKNOWN. I answered it after the second ring, thinking maybe it was my friend Jenna, with some information about the sudden death. I thought maybe she used Quinn’s cell phone to call me and his new number wasn’t programmed into my cell. That would explain why the number didn’t come up. However, when I answered the cell I heard static, then silence, then it sounded like someone hung up the receiver. I checked the cell phone’s history of incoming calls but no numbers appeared. I thought this was strange because usually a number will appear, even if the display says UNKNOWN. It just usually means that the number is from an outside phone number and is not programmed into my phone. Then I would be able to click on the number and it would redial the person who called me. In this case, there were only the words UNKNOWN without any number. I thought the incident was strange, but I soon forgot about it.
Hours later my friend Jenna, called me and told me about a weird thing that happened to her and Quinn on the way to the airport. She said they were on their way to pick up Quinn’s daughter, when the car radio blasted on and off really loud. Quinn doesn’t listen to music very loud so he felt like his son was trying to get his attention and perhaps send him a message. I found out later that this happened around the same time that I received the strange phone call.
Four days later, the cell phone rang again, with the display reading the words UNKNOWN. I answered and heard static, then silence, then someone hang up. Once again I checked the history of incoming calls but there was no number.
About a month later, I was getting ready to go to a concert. I couldn’t find my concert tickets anywhere in the house. I spent 2 ½ hours looking for the tickets but I never found them. I knew I put them on the bookshelf on top of my other concert tickets. I only had them for a week. So I knew where I put them. They seemed to vanish into thin air.
Four days later, my friend Val found them. They were sticking slightly out from under my stereo. I felt a slight chill because I knew I did not put them there. The bookshelf is on the other side of my room. There is no way they could have fallen there. Someone would have had to place them over there. Was Quinn’s son, Paul, trying to get my attention? He knew I was interested in the paranormal and would believe that his spirit may still be lingering around trying to make contact. Perhaps he was trying to relay a message.
Another strange thing that happened to me was that I had a dream about Paul, and he was trying to tell me something. When I woke up, I couldn’t remember what the message was. I thought it was odd that I dreamt about him because I didn’t know him very well and I wasn’t thinking about him at the time.
A few days later my friend Jenna said that when Quinn was home alone and thinking about his son Paul, a strange thing happened. He was sad and feeling depressed and then he heard the stereo blast on and off very loud. Then the lights in the garage flickered on and off.
I then asked Jenna when the incident occurred. I figured out it was the same night that I had dreamt about Paul. This was about a day or two before Quinn’s birthday. Was Paul trying to wish his father a happy birthday? Turning on and off the electrical appliances could be a way that he may be able to contact Quinn and get his attention. After all he still may have some unfinished business. He never got to say goodbye to his father or his daughter.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. Quinn’s wife died three years earlier and there were similar occurrences.
One night, about 3:00am the living room stereo blasted on and off very loudly waking up