'We ain't afraid of no ghost!': Maryland couple discover they unwittingly bought the house which inspired The Exorcist story - and realize that's why it was SO cheap

• e-mail

A Maryland couple learned that the reason they got such a great deal on their dream home was because it was the house where a Catholic priest performed an exorcism on a teenage boy, events which inspired the hit 1971 novel and 1973 movie The Exorcist.  

Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris said they stumbled across the three-bedroom house last year in Cottage City, Maryland, which they said was going for cheap at $377,000, more then $50,000 lower than its estimated value, as previous buyers bailed out. 

Witt and Rockey-Harris said they saw it as their lucky break and closed on the home in August, only for them to later learn of the home's haunted history through an online search. 

'Honestly, the first thing I thought was, oh, God, this is going to tank our resale value,' Witt joked on NPR. 

Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris bought the Cottage City, Maryland, home after months of searching for a place to settle down, only to later learn it housed the real-life exorcism portrayed in the horror classic The Exorcist

The Washington Post reported the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy occurred on On August 20, 1949. While the Post claimed it occurred in Moutn Rainier, Maryland, a historian found it actually took place in the nearby Cottage City

'And then the next thought I had was, maybe I better rewatch that, start learning more about what it is that we just bought. And also, I had no idea that that was even based on a real story.' 

Witt and Rockey-Harris' new home is different from the nearby Washington D.C. home used for the exterior shots in the movie.

According to Washington Post reports at the time, a 14-year-old boy had been possessed by a demon at the home in 1949, with a Catholic priest being called in to conduct the rare exorcism ceremony. 

During the event, ministers witnessed furniture sliding across the floor and the teen yelling and cursing in Latin phrases as the priest shouted, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, I cast thee (the devil) out,' the report read. 

The couple said they were not afraid of the home's history, with Witt noting that she was knowledgeable about the occult and that demons haunt people, rather than properties.  

Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris, who married in 2017, thought they were just lucky when they found the home for sale and bought it for more than $50,000 less than its valued

Local ministers and a Catholic Priest arrived at the home more than 70 years ago to conduct an excorsims ritual for a 14-year-old boy.  

 The home has three-bedrooms, although it is not known which one housed the possessed boy 

Reports said the boy cursed and shouted in Latin during the ceremony

Ministers said they witnessed furniture slide across the floor during the exorcism

Frightening beginnings: How a Maryland home entered into folklore as the birthplace of The Exorcist legend 

On August 20, 1949, the Washington Post printed an article claiming that a Catholic priest freed a 14-year old possessed by the devil in Mount Rainier, in Maryland.

The boy broke into a violent tantrum of screaming, cursing and voicing of Latin phrases-a language he had never studied-whenever the priest reached the climactic point of the ritual, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, I cast thee (the devil) out.' 

The story and rumors made its way to the nearby Georgetown University, where William Peter Blatty had spoken to a Jesuit priest that talked to him about demonic possession at the house. 

The Washington Post recounted the story of the exorcism that took place in 1949

In 1971, Blatty published a novel based on the story, setting it in Georgetown.

Two years later, he wrote the screenplay, with Frank Friedkin serving as the director, and The Exorcist film became a major blockbuster in 1973. 

With the Washington Post setting the house in Mount Rainier, many believed the true address to be 3210 Bunker Bill Road, which is now a gazebo with a parking lot named 'Satan's Lot.' 

William Peter Blatty wrote the novel and screenplay for the Exorcist. He is pictured by the iconic Georgetown steps seen in the movie 

Many in Mount Rainier believed in the legend, with reports of hauntings carrying on in the area in the 1980s. 

In 1999, historian Mark Opsasnick investigated the claims and found that the house where the exorcism took place was not in Mount Rainer or Georgetown, but in the nearby Cottage City, at. 

One long-time resident added that the family had in fact lived in the Cottage City where the event took place and later moved to Bunker Hill Road. 

Cottage City home, pictured, is said to be the real site of where the exorcism happened

Advertisement

Instead, the couple seems to want to embrace the home's status for Halloween. 

'I thinking I'm going to get a Catholic priest Halloween costume this year and get an amplified speaker and have The Exorcist soundtrack just playing on a loop on our front porch for trick-or-treaters,' Rockey-Harris told NPR.    

William Peter Blatty a student at the nearby Georgetown University, became captivated by the stories of what happened in that house and later wrote the novel that the 1973 movie was based on. 

Although the report referred to the teen as a 'Mount Rainier boy,' historian Mark Opsasnick found that the home was actually located in Cottage City, where movie fans have been known to show up, reports the Washingtonian.   

The director, William Friedkin, had been at the house himself in 2018 when he returned to Georgetown to film a documentary about the movie. 

The couple's new home is different from the one used during the filming of The Exorcist. The home in the movie matches the nearby Georgetown home's where director William Friedkin first learned of the story

It was not until 1999 when historian Mark Opsasnick found that the home where the exorcism took place was not in Georgetown or Mount Rainer, but in Cottage City.

Although they are not without their reservations. 

Witt said that when a friend offered to bring over a Ouija board to recreate one of the scenes from the movie, she declined. 

'The last time someone did that, they made a movie about my house.'