Paul Bateson, From “The Exorcist” To A Murderer

In addition to receiving a 20-year prison sentence for Addison Verrill’s murder, Paul Bateson is also known to have confessed to the murders and mutilations of six other men in 1970s New York.

CONTENT WARNING! The following story contains information, which some readers may find disturbing.

Paul Bateson was just a Greenwich Village radiology tech with an affinity for leather bars when he became part of the cast in the iconic 1973 horror film “The Exorcist”. But only a few years later, his late-night adventures would take a sinister turn, leading to one death in New York City, if not more.

The Person Behind The Screen

While looking for extras for his coming movie, The Exorcist, in 1972, director William Friedkin happened to walk into the radiology department at New York University and see an angiogram being performed. He knew he had to include the bloody spray that was created during the process in his film as soon as he saw it in action. Radiology technician Paul Bateson was among the medical professionals he recruited to appear in the movie as an extra.