Townhouse Spirits
Not all Mason students live on campus. In fact, GMU has one of the largest commuter populations due to its strategic placement in the heart of Northern Virginia. The homelife of Mason students helps to create a culture of story sharing on campus, and ghosts further spur this.
One Mason student, Gwen, shared that their townhome across from campus was haunted by numerous spirits [10]. Gwen moved into the townhome five years ago, but they recall that they first encountered a spirit, Agatha, in the Fall 2020 semester.
“I was walking out of the bathroom, hallway lights off, just a sliver of light from my room illuminating the dark stairs, and I see someone sprinting up the stairs at me. I about have a heart attack, twitch, and blink, and she's gone.”
Agatha appeared to have long dark hair and clothing reminiscent of 80s fashion, which is when the townhouses were built. Gwen remarks that, “She didn't seem see-through, but she definitely wasn't fully corporeal either.”
However, Gwen doesn’t believe Agatha to be a ghost. Whatever she is, Agatha eerily resembles a friend of theirs that passed before Gwen came to Mason. They stated, “I think whatever that thing is trying to use my memory of my friend and sensitivity about her to lure me in somehow.” Adding to this eerie tale, Gwen recalls that when discussing Abigail, their roommates had named her after Gwen’s deceased friend without having known about her.
Gwen has seen Abigail many times since this first encounter, and adds that she is not the only spirit occupying the townhome. They and their roommates have reported glowing eyes, eerie faces in screens, and mushrooms rapidly growing and dying within 24 hours.
Despite these occurrences, Gwen has been amused at the spirit's presence and lightly jumpscared. They like to joke with the ghosts calling, “if the things in the townhouse stay out of my room I won't call an exorcist”. The spirits respect this boundary, and stay outside the room, waiting, watching.
Gwen's full narrative can be read here