The Story of ‘The Exorcist’s Cursed Set Is Way Scarier Than the Movie

Fear is a subjective experience, but every now and then, an artist creates something that universally shocks and horrifies audiences. One of the best examples of this is The Exorcist, which terrified viewers when it debuted in 1973 and remains a horror classic today. The American Film Institute names it the third most thrilling film of the 20th century.

If you haven’t seen it, The Exorcist follows the ordeals of Regan MacNeil, a 12-year-old girl possessed by the demon Pazuzu. When she becomes increasingly vulgar, self-mutilating, and violent, two priests are called to perform an exorcism. One of the priests, Father Damien Karras, struggles with his relationship with God but ultimately convinces the demon to leave Regan and take him instead, before taking a climactic leap of faith.

Between the plotline, performances, and special effects, it is a deeply disturbing movie. But like other horror classics like The Omen and Halloween, the behind-the-scenes story is far more frightening. From before it was even released, there have been rumors that The Exorcist was cursed, and the full details behind that “curse” are enough to make your blood run cold.

The Exorcist’s Real-World Inspiration

While many people are aware that The Exorcist was based on William Peter Blatty’s 1973 novel, the inspiration behind its conception is far more obscure, despite potentially providing evidence that the source material was inherently corrupted. In 1949, a young boy known publicly as “Roland Doe” was apparently possessed and underwent dozens of exorcism attempts before finally being freed.

Blatty had seen a Washington Post article on the subject while he was in college and decided it was worthy material for a novel. While he changed the main character’s gender, many of the story’s key plot points are directly based on the events from 1949. In addition, the film’s director gathered diary entries and eye-witness accounts of Doe’s possession to better represent the event.

According to the original article, an expert in the supernatural said that Roland Doe’s possession manifested “the most impressive” poltergeist activity he had ever seen. For those who believe in demons and spiritual hostility, there is always the chance that the demon cast out of Roland Doe found its way to Blatty, finding new life and new victims through the novel and movie. In that vein, evangelist Billy Graham destroyed the book and refused to watch the film, announcing that to do so would be “opening myself up to satanic forces.”

Trouble on Set

Many of the problems that earned The Exorcist its “cursed” title began during the film’s production. According to director William Friedkin in his discussions with Castle of Frankenstein magazine, it took nearly 100 days longer to film than expected and consequently went “$2K million over its budget.” This delay was caused by numerous eerie events that some suggest were driven by demonic forces conspiring to keep the film from being completed.

Some of these incidents, while inconvenient, were relatively mild. The statue of the demon, which was supposed to arrive in Iraq for filming the opening scene, instead wound up in Denmark. The MacNeil house set burned down, delaying filming by six weeks, and then the sprinkler system broke, delaying a further two weeks. Later on, industrial air conditioning units caused it to snow on set.

Other supposed signs of the curse were more troubling. While filming in Iraq, half of the crew had to stop working because of dysentery or sunstroke. They might have been the lucky ones, because others developed lifelong injuries. One crew member reportedly lost a toe, while another lost a thumb.

Both Linda Blair (Regan MacNeil) and Ellen Burstyn (Chris MacNeil) acquired permanent back conditions due to the extreme stunts Friedkin demanded. Adding insult to injury, Friedkin used the takes where both were harmed in the final cut, since their cries of pain and desperation were so realistic.

In addition to the many delays and injuries, Mercedes McCambridge, the voice of the demon, sacrificed her hard-won sobriety to produce the ideal sound effect. She would drink raw eggs, chain-smoke, and drink massive amounts of alcohol to get the right guttural, multitonal sound. But after completing a take, she would often have emotional breakdowns, taking comfort in the priests she demanded be on-set for support.

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Misfortune Stalked the Cast and Crew Beyond the Set

While it might have been reasonable to see these incidents as a sign that something didn’t want the movie made, the most chilling events happened off-set.

The 1998 documentary The Fear Of God: 25 Years Of The Exorcist claimed that there were nine deaths connected to the production. In addition to actors Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaro, who died shortly after filming, Burstyn noted the deaths of several crew members and their families. Production was also delayed due to deaths in the families of actors Max von Sydow (Father Merrin) and Blair.

Some believe that two other deaths haunted the film, as both Friedkin and Blatty’s mothers had died just a few years before production began. While they were not directly connected to the film, the Yale Review claims that Blatty was attempting to contact his mother’s spirit during filming, which is the same paranormal fixation that supposedly caused Roland Doe’s initial possession.

In addition to the deaths, there were a concerning number of murders connected with the film. In 1977, a radiographer named Paul Bateson, who had a small part in the film, killed entertainment journalist Addison Verrill. He was also a key suspect in the serial murders of six other men between 1975 and 1977. 10 years later, Mercedes McCambridge’s son killed himself and his family in a murder-suicide after his illegal financial practices came to light.

Less deadly but no less chilling, Jason Miller (Father Karras) was reportedly contacted by a priest who gave him a medallion and told him:

Reveal the devil for the trickster that he is, he will seek retribution against you or he will even try to stop what you are trying to do to unmask him.

His 5-year-old son was later struck by a motorcycle and put in critical condition for weeks. These all may have been coincidences, but the number of tragedies was staggering. While an extended production time would increase the likelihood of any kind of crisis, there were far more connected to this movie than is common.

The “Curse” Became a Popular Phenomenon

The idea that the movie itself was somehow cursed spread before they even finished filming. To calm the cast and crew’s fears, Friedkin asked Father Thomas Bermingham, a Jesuit priest who consulted on the film, to perform an exorcism of the set. Bermingham refused, claiming he didn’t believe there was anything demonic afoot, but he did agree to bless the set and everyone working on it.

While he claimed that nothing else happened on set afterward, there was an eerily timed fire at the Jesuit residence in Georgetown around that same time.

Furthermore, hysteria about the supposed curse exploded around the film's release. The New York Times reported that audience members were physically impacted by watching the movie, from vomiting at certain scenes to reports of heart attacks and a miscarriage.

Theaters reported mysterious injuries and deaths of their employees, and cities reported that they had spikes in mental health crises for those who had seen the film. One man even broke his jaw after collapsing during a viewing, suing Warner Bros. for his injuries.

While much of this craze seems like a well-crafted publicity stunt, there were some more extreme examples. Its debut in Rome was supposedly interrupted by a lightning strike, causing an ancient cross to crash through the theater. A 16-year-old British boy died the day after watching the film, but medical evidence suggested it was entirely unrelated. Nevertheless, it became an easy scapegoat, being blamed for the suicide of a 19-year-old in West Germany and the murder of a 9-year-old, whose killer claimed, “There was something inside me… ever since I saw that film The Exorcist.”

So, Was The Exorcist Really Cursed?

It’s undeniable that a lot of eerie things happened during and around the production and release of The Exorcist, but does that really mean there was a curse? Probably not. As Max Von Sydow said in the Fear of God documentary, “If you shoot something for a year, people are going to get hurt, people are going to die.” Much of the “evidence” can be explained by coincidences and an extended shoot schedule.

Others can be explained by an abusive set and a clever marketing team. It was William Friedkin’s dedication to getting the perfect shot that injured Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn, and several of the other injuries may have developed from similar circumstances. The publicity team likely hyped up the behind-the-scenes stories and certainly encouraged the idea that the film had an impact on viewers unlike any other.

While we can’t know for certain how the publicity team handled the idea, Friedkin has spoken about the “curse" many times over the years. He rejected the idea of supernatural intervention in 1973, yet spoke openly about how the set was “plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning” and that “after all I've seen on this film, I definitely believe in demonic possession” in 1974.

He certainly seemed to understand the economic benefits of the film being cursed, whether he believed in it himself or not.

In the 52 years since The Exorcist debuted, the horror landscape has changed drastically. While still an effective film, it is not nearly as shocking as it was in the ‘70s and would likely not be as captivating a concept to theorize about if it had premiered today.

All the same, knowing the full background of what was happening on and off-set adds something unnerving to the film, whether it’s a story of abuse and coincidence or a truly malevolent force at work.