Email Correspondence with Dr. Eric Anderson
Dublin Core
Title
Email Correspondence with Dr. Eric Anderson
Subject
Indigenous burial grounds, ghost stories
Description
George Mason students have often shared stories of dorms built on Indigenous burial grounds through word of mouth and online forums. This email follows up on these claims with Professor Gary Anderson, an Associate Professor at George Mason University.
Creator
Eric Anderson
Contributor
Megan, Haunted Mason, HNRS 360 Spring 2025
Language
English
Type
Email
Email Item Type Metadata
Email Body
Hi Megan,
Your group archival research project sounds really interesting. I haven't taught a 200-level horror class for a few years, but in those classes, my students share ghost stories. For me, the big takeaway about Mason campus ghost stories is that the newest buildings often turn out to be the most haunted . . . so maybe the trauma lies not in the building but in the location.
I'm not sure about Rogers Hall specifically. But I *do* know that the haunted campus buildings my students told stories about were dorms. As for Indian burial grounds, I'm skeptical. You've probably already gotten a sense of this from your research, but the spooky Indian burial ground is a white idea, not an Indigenous one. It's mostly about colonialism (white people thinking that they're haunted by Indians and Indian land after stealing said land from them). So I would push back against the idea that an Indian burial ground is behind a Rogers Hall haunting. It could be a white burial ground, or maybe something weird happened in a house that stood on that spot, or something else.
Hope this helps. Thanks for writing and see you in the spring!
Best,
EA
Your group archival research project sounds really interesting. I haven't taught a 200-level horror class for a few years, but in those classes, my students share ghost stories. For me, the big takeaway about Mason campus ghost stories is that the newest buildings often turn out to be the most haunted . . . so maybe the trauma lies not in the building but in the location.
I'm not sure about Rogers Hall specifically. But I *do* know that the haunted campus buildings my students told stories about were dorms. As for Indian burial grounds, I'm skeptical. You've probably already gotten a sense of this from your research, but the spooky Indian burial ground is a white idea, not an Indigenous one. It's mostly about colonialism (white people thinking that they're haunted by Indians and Indian land after stealing said land from them). So I would push back against the idea that an Indian burial ground is behind a Rogers Hall haunting. It could be a white burial ground, or maybe something weird happened in a house that stood on that spot, or something else.
Hope this helps. Thanks for writing and see you in the spring!
Best,
EA
Subject Line
Re: Archival Research Question
From
Eric Anderson
To
Megan Cobb
CC
Sandra Arias, Haya Al Bana
Files
Citation
Eric Anderson, “Email Correspondence with Dr. Eric Anderson,” Mason History, accessed July 27, 2025, https://masonhistory.gmu.edu/items/show/280.