WASHINGTON • The steep, narrow flight of 75 stone steps in the United States capital's Georgetown area are part of Hollywood legend - in The Exorcist (1973), a priest falls to his death in one of the film's most memorable scenes.
Now, Washington's so-called "Exorcist Steps" could soon achieve historic landmark status.
Mr Andrew Huff - a self-proclaimed "student of the horror genre" and a huge fan of The Exorcist - is spearheading the effort to have the site classified as a landmark.
"When I have friends visiting, I prefer to take them here, rather than to the Capitol or the White House, especially at the moment. They have become a tourist attraction for the city, " he said.
A community association has petitioned Washington's historic preservation review board to designate the steps as a landmark - in part to keep the construction of a new condominium building from encroaching on them.
The steps were built in 1895, next to a brick trolley-car storage building known as the Car Barn.
In the famous movie scene on the steps, Father Damien Karras hurls himself from a window and falls to his death down the stairs as he becomes possessed by a spirit haunting a young girl.
A decision from the historic preservation board is expected on Nov 15.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
