Author William Peter Blatty Had No Intention to Make THE EXORCIST Scary

In a recent interview with the LA Times, 'The Exorcist' author and screenplay writer William Peter Blatty revealed that he had no intentions originally to write a scary novel.

He told LAT: "I am going to tell you something now that may stun you and you may think I'm making this up - but I'm not. When I was writing the novel, I thought I was writing a supernatural detective story that was filled with suspense with theological overtones. To this day, I have zero recollection of even a moment when I was writing that I was trying to frighten anyone."

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The Exorcist is a supernatural suspense novel by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. The book details a demonic possession of a girl named Regan MacNeill and the consequent effort to exorcise the demon. The novel was the basis of a highly successful film adaption released two years later. The novel was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school.