If you’re ever lying awake at night wondering what Elon University was like before the fire of 1923, you could always go to West Dormitory and chat with Mary.
She has a track record of talking to students during the night, especially while they’re asleep. Mary is also known for making occasional appearances, shattering mirrors, turning computers on and off, flickering lights and swinging chandeliers.
Mary’s story is one most Elon students have heard before. On Jan. 18, 1923, the night of the fire that destroyed most of Elon’s campus, Mary, a young student, was trapped on the third floor of West Dormitory. She couldn’t find an escape, so the story goes that Mary leapt from a window and plummeted to her death.
Past and present Elon students say Mary’s spirit has lingered on the third floor of West Dormitory. In a short documentary about Mary called “Haunted Oaks,” one student reported he woke up in the middle of the night to see his girlfriend talking in her sleep to a mysterious figure who was crouched in front of her. Other students claimed they saw lights flickering or a ghost-like figure wandering the halls.
Freshman Courtney Sola, a current resident of West, lives in the room where Mary is reported to have once lived. She has no doubt Mary haunts the room. Sola says most people on her hall agree strange and unexplainable things happen in her room. Her friends claim they hear peculiar noises in her room that they don’t hear anywhere else.
Sola has had two personal encounters with Mary. The first occurred when her mirror fell off the wall and shattered on the floor. She said the mirror was completely secure on the wall, and there was no way it could have fallen. Sola doesn’t doubt Mary was responsible.
Her second encounter occurred when she was alone in the room one night. She was asleep in her bed and woke up to find a figure staring into the mirror. The figure was wearing a dress, and her hair was in a bun. Figuring it was her roommate coming back from a night out, Sola rolled over and went back to sleep. Moments later, her roommate walked into the room wearing pants and her hair down around her shoulders.
At first, Sola said she was “absolutely petrified” of Mary. But now, she and her roommate laugh about it.
“We joke that she’s our third roommate,” Sola said.
Tom Mould, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, said Mary is considered a benevolent ghost because the way she was said to have died is so tragic. People tend to view her with pity instead of fear.
[quote]I was the only person on the third floor, and I could hear footsteps out in the hall, but no one was there. --Alex Robinson, sophomore[/quote]
But historically, Mould said, there is no way the legend of Mary is true. West did not burn in the fire, and there were no reported deaths.
Mould said when West residents talk about Mary, it’s a way of social bonding and a form of entertainment.
“Everyone in West has a shared tradition of having the ghost,” he said.
Mould also explained when students report being afraid of Mary, it could serve as a way of expressing the anxieties and fears that go along with transitioning into college life. If a student finds he or she is homesick, expressing fear about the ghost is a way to unload those emotions without feeling shame or embarrassment.
Sophomore Alex Robinson, resident assistant of West’s third floor, said she has not had a personal encounter with Mary. During the summer, she had to move into the building before the other residents, and while she was there alone, she says she was extremely frightened.
“I was the only person on the third floor, and I could hear footsteps out in the hall, but no one was there,” Robinson said.
West Dormitory, which is the oldest building on campus, is known to have creaky floorboards and slanted hallways. Residents often complain the doorframes are crooked and the rooms smell like dust, and everything in West looks slightly different from other buildings on campus.
Robinson admits the overall sensation of West Dormitory is unnerving. Once in a while, she feels a cool breeze in the otherwise stifling bathroom and thinks of the story of Mary.
Now, Robinson tells her residents Mary is just there to keep an eye on them and protect them.
The legend of Mary can also be seen on the wall of third floor West. Several years ago, the residents of the third floor painted a mural depicting Mary’s death. Robinson says several of her residents have asked if they can paint over it because they think it’s scary.
The Shadowlands Haunted Places Index recognizes West Dormitory as one of North Carolina’s haunted locations. But even if West truly is haunted, Mary doesn’t seem to be causing too much trouble for Elon students — just the occasional fright.