Elon University is said to be haunted by Mary, who resides in the West Dormitory and is known for talking to students while they’re sleeping. Mary also is blamed for swinging light fixtures, footsteps, electrical anomalies, apparitions, and shattering mirrors. According to campus legend, Mary died in the Jan. 18, 1923 fire that destroyed much of the campus. She was trapped on the third floor, and jumped out the window to her demise. Some say the legend is just that, a legend—no one died in the fire, and West Dormitory wasn’t one of the buildings that burned. But the legend of Mary lives on, and students continue to have ghostly experiences.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 100 Campus Dr
Elon, NC 27244
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 36.10194591044986, -79.50538212053289
- County:
- Alamance County, North Carolina
- Nearest Towns:
- Elon, NC (0.1 mi.)
Glen Raven, NC (1.8 mi.)
Gibsonville, NC (2.1 mi.)
Burlington, NC (3.8 mi.)
Whitsett, NC (3.9 mi.)
Alamance, NC (4.7 mi.)
Ossipee, NC (4.9 mi.)
Altamahaw, NC (5.7 mi.)
Graham, NC (6.3 mi.)
Sedalia, NC (6.9 mi.)
Contact Information
- Web:
- http://www.elon.edu
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
What is now known as “Faucette House” in Elon, the big white house on E. Trollinger behind the post office, is very much haunted. My Mother, Aunt, and Uncle all own businesses in Faucette House, and my Aunt and Uncle own the actual home. Many paranormal things have happened here, ranging from items inexplicably moving during the night, to voices being heard. Pots and pans have been heard banging together from the kitchen, despite the fact that there are no pots in pans in the kitchen, or in the building at all. A children’s tricycle used to move over night, every night from one room to another. A local group of Ghost Hunters came to Faucette House, and they got numerous EVPs, including a child clearly saying, “Mommy, when are they leaving?”, and a man escalating this simple statement, “no. no. noo. nooo. NOOO!” and breathing heavily. I could go on and on of all of the things that have been experienced, to which I can only draw one conclusion: Faucette House is most certainly haunted.
How can we contact the owners to do another investigation? We are a team from Virginia.
On 8 May 1921, Mary Alice Smith, 22, died of “some undiagnosed heart condition, while a student at Elon College. Her death certificate was signed by Dr. Walter Walker of Burlington, NC. She is buried in the Hebron Methodist Church Cemetery in Hightowers, NC. A link to her grave is: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54075475.
The proximity of dates and the name may account for the genesis of the myth.
Behind Oaks C dormitories where my friends and I would go to have a smoke there was a lamp post that did some very eerie things. The first time we experienced things was at 2 am when myself and a friend went to have a smoke and talk and we were talking about scary experiences when all of a sudden the light in the lamp went out. It was the only lamp post that went out. My friend and I froze in place and looked at each other. We began to talk about what just happened when the light came back on all of a sudden. We were spooked but shrugged it off as a coincidence. A couple weeks later we come back, again late at night, this time around midnight. This time we came with a few more friends and as we are explaining what had happened a couple weeks back, I kid you not I was mid sentence “and then it turned off..” the light goes out. One of my friends decides to mess with the light as he must have thought it a coincidence and gives the lamp post a light tap. As soon as he touches it the light starts going crazy flickering on and off at a rapid pace faster and faster. All of us spooked by the experience run inside. to this day it was one of the most frightening experiences I have ever witnessed and cannot think of any explanation for what had occurred. After that everytime we mentioned the light while in front of it, it would turn on or off. We learned to not talk about it and it stopped the activity after we stopped bringing it up.
West Dormitory did not burn during the fire and was, in fact, the only surviving building of the original structure. This does not stop it from being haunted. There’s a piano in the foyer that has been known to play itself. The chandeliers definitely move on their own, and if you’re on the font stoop at 3am, a ghost might come by to talk to you.
The entire old College has an aura of something inside the original wall, but West is where it’s centered.
I’ve had knocking on my door and a strange whistling noise in my living room