William Friedkin He died this Monday at the age of 87 at his home in Bel Air, in Los Angeles (California), as confirmed by his wife and former producer Sherry Lansing. Although in 1971 he had already won the Oscar for best film and best director with The French Connectionthe filmmaker became known thanks, especially, to his work in The Exorcist (1973).
That horror movie classic continues to talk about today. Curious is the story of Danielle Witt y Ben Rockey-Harrisa marriage that, without knowing it, was forever linked to the mythical feature film.
It all started in 2020, when they both visited a house on the outskirts of Washington, in Cottage City, with the intention of buying it. Learning that its price was $377,000, well below the $500,000 estimated market value, they made their offer to purchase the property.
The owners accepted his offer and once they moved, things began to change. The surroundings were filled with onlookers taking pictures, some came to the door and others did so from the other end of the street with terrified looks. So, Danielle searched the internet for her home address and discovered that her property had been the scene of an exorcism in the 1940s. Precisely, the exorcism that inspired the novel The Exorcistof William Peter Blattywhich was adapted to the cinema by himself and directed by William Friedkin.
“The priest frees the boy from Mount Rainier, reportedly in the hands of the devil,” reads the headline of the news item dating from 1949 about that real case. Inside, they explained that a priest had performed an exorcism on a 14-year-old teenager to “cast the devil out of the child.”
“Demons aren’t attached to places. They’re attached to people. They’re things that roam. Frankly, my house is just as likely to be demonically possessed as anyone else’s house. For me, that was always the scariest part of life.” the movie The Exorcistis that this could happen to anyone, “Danielle declared to an American media outlet. To this day, she admits that the curious or fans of the film continue to come there.