After months of trying to buy property in Washington, Ben Rockey-Harris and his wife finally found a small house with a price they could afford. They made a quick offer, so as not to miss the opportunity. Only after the couple happened to discover that they had purchased the set of one of the country’s best-known demonic possessions — the case that inspired the movie “The Exorcist.”
“We were shocked and worried,” says Rockey-Harris, 39, sitting on her porch. Not a fear of the evil being who, for many, can still haunt the property in search of souls — the software developer calls himself an atheist. The fear, he explains, is that of not being able to sell the house in the future.
This kind of conversation has taken place frequently in Washington. Like other parts of the US, the capital is experiencing an escalation in prices that frightens, like a horror movie, potential buyers. It is common to hear stories of those who paid too much on a property or gave up on the dream of owning a home.
The home office imposed on many residents by the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in the flow of people who wanted to exchange apartments in the center for small houses in the suburbs. This was the case of Rockey-Harris and his wife, who lived in the hubbub of the American capital.
In June, the median home price in the Washington area reached R$3.8 million for the first time in history. The median is the middle point in a sequence of numbers, not the average—that is, there are an equal number of homes sold below and above this price. The value grew 17.8% in the comparison between August 2019 with the same month in 2021.
A house like the one in the supposed exorcism, in the suburbs of the capital, currently costs around R$ 2 million. The property is in Cottage City, half an hour’s drive from the centre. It is a building reminiscent of a cottage, with a beige wall and gray roof, built in 1924, with three bedrooms. All the houses on the street, marked by oak trees, are similar. Nothing in the surroundings suggests a diabolical presence.
The situation was different in 1949. According to reports at the time, a 14-year-old boy who lived there was possessed by a demon. Rooms were suddenly freezing cold. Furniture toppled over. It is said that the boy, in the meantime, began profaning in Latin—a language he had not studied.
The boy was taken to hospital but did not improve. A priest decided it was time to try the rare ritual of exorcism. It took almost 30 attempts until the itch left his body.
The story may seem preposterous today, but at the time it received extensive press coverage. The Washington Post newspaper printed the story on the cover, with a text without too many qualms: “A boy was freed by a priest from the devil’s possession, Catholic sources reported.”
The case caught the attention of William Peter Blatty, a student at Georgetown University, who told the story, fictionalized, in 1971 in the book “The Exorcist” — which, in turn, became a film in 1973. The house that appears on the screen, however , is in the Georgetown neighborhood, as is the haunted staircase.
None of this impresses the couple who bought the Cottage City cottage in August 2020, after months of searching. Rockey-Harris gets more excited when he talks about the housing market than about the devil who is said to have lived in his house.
He says he has watched the movie for years and hasn’t had time to see it again since it came to inhabit his inspiration. And he insists: he doesn’t hear macabre sounds at night. “Demons don’t own property, they own people,” he suggests. “Even though the diabolic creature was real, it left with its host.”
The initial fear that the house would be devalued seems to have passed. The couple now even assumes that the story may appeal to some buyers. In the meantime, however, they realized the embarrassment of living in an iconic place. Cars pass slowly, people photograph the facade. Some, like this reporter, knock on the door, causing visible displeasure.
Despite agreeing with the interview, Rockey-Harris prefers not to show the interior of his home. It also asks that the facade photos not show the house number. Although the address is not public, fans of the film know it because the information was revealed by journalist Mark Opsasnick in 1999 — but you have to scour the internet for the exact location.
The software developer says he didn’t expect to have to deal with all this attention, but despite rejecting the story, he at least tries to have fun. He named his home’s internet network “Pazuzu”, the demonic entity’s name “The Exorcist”. (The other Wi-Fi signals in the neighborhood have more prosaic names, like “Mike’s house”.)
This Sunday morning, a group of cyclists promises to ride from the house in Georgetown where the film was shot to the Rockey-Harris residence, where the demon supposedly lived. Later, when night falls, the current owner will dress up as a priest to celebrate Halloween. It is the moment, in American tradition, when the dead can roam the world of the living.
Did you know?
deaths 
During and after filming, several deaths were linked to people from the movie ‘The Exorcist’. Actor Jack MacGowran, who played the film director in the feature Dead on a Staircase, passed away after complications from the flu shortly after filming. Actress Vasilik Maliaros, mother of Father Damien Karras in the work, also died before the film was released. In all, the death of nine people linked to production is accounted for.
Fire 
There are stories about a mysterious fire that would have hit the film set over a weekend, destroying the scene.
Famous dinner 
​One of the most iconic parts of the film is when Regan, possessed, projects her vomit on Father Karras. The scene only took one take to record. The vomit was supposed to hit Jason Miller, the cleric’s interpreter, in the chest, but the plastic tube ended up aiming for his face. The reaction of shock and disgust is genuine, and the actor himself has admitted to being irritated by the mistake.
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