10 Most Shocking And Strange Facts About Famous Horror Movies

Considered the greatest horror movie of all time The Exorcist also carries a lot of baggage as another cursed movie with a number of accidents and deaths surrounding the film. First an unexplained fire burned down the set, destroying everything apart from the room where they'd film the exorcism scenes. Actors Linda Blair and Max Von Sydow both lost members of their family during the shoot and Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaros died soon after filming wrapped.

There are many more odd occurrences surrounding this film, but the most disturbing might be its connection to a series of gruesome murders.

For the scene where Regan receives a cerebral angiography, director William Friedkin recruited real-life radiographer Paul Bateson as the technician who performs the procedure. Incidentally this is the very part which tended to cause some audience members to faint, an occurrence exploited in the movie's marketing.

Years later Bateson was convicted of murdering a film journalist and served twenty four years in prison. During this sentence he allegedly confessed to the Hudson River "Bag Murders" which took place in the late '70's.

In a strange coincidence these crimes inspired Friedkin's 1980 thriller starring Al Pacino and it was only after signing on to make the movie that Friedkin learned of the connection. The director was so intrigued by this he went to visit Bateson in prison and found him to be the same mild-mannered character he'd worked with years before.

Bateson was later portrayed in an episode of Mindhunter. He was released from prison in 2003 and his current whereabouts are unknown, although it is believed he may have died.