Assignment II: The Visual Project: Supernature Composition and Frame [OLD PROJECT]

I lived in the Mary Foust dorm on UNC-Greensboro’s campus for three years, which gave me a great opportunity to learn about its rich history. Throughout the years, its reputation of being a haunted dorm has grown, embraced by its residents as something to be proud of.

"Scary" Mary Foust

The unvanished portrait of Mary Foust

The major legend concerning the hauntings surrounds the namesake of the dorm, Mary Foust, whose ghost lingers on the premises. However, Mary Foust Alexander died in childbirth, two years before the building named after her was built. Nevertheless, people blame strange noises, slamming doors, and missing objects on this wandering spirit. In fact, some of this mystery revolves around the portrait of her that hangs in the dorm’s parlor. Some years ago, the painting disappeared, which many people blamed on Mary Foust herself. Today, a new painting is in the parlor, but earlier this school year it mysteriously vanished once again. For the month that it was missing, residents began to get into minor accidents, and everyone blames a general bad mood that swept through the dorm on its absence. It reappeared again with no explanation as to where it had gone, and things are reported to be back to normal.

A dorm room in Mary Foust; Notice the high ceilings

Another rumor surrounding haunted Foust is that in the 70s, some frustrated students hung themselves during exam time. The information is conflicting on whether they hung themselves in one of the corner rooms on the third floor or in the attic. Either way, these rumors help explain some peculiarities about the dorm, such as why the third floor has such high ceilings, so no one will be able to reach anything that they would be able to duplicate these actions.
The attic has always been a place of mystery, and the door to it is always locked. Residents claim to hear strange noises coming from above, accrediting it to either the ghost of Mary Foust or the ghosts of the nursing students.

Mary Foust's attic

While residents of Mary Foust may complain about their spectral dorm-mates, they obviously relish in the idea of living in a haunted building. They’ve latched onto their nickname "Scary Foust," and further embellish the dorm’s spooky nature by setting up a haunted house every October around Halloween.

Participants in the annual Haunted House; this year's theme was "Dante's Inferno"

These images certainly reflect contemporary ideas about ghosts on film in that thanks to many films, people are generally afraid of older buildings and will accredit strange phenomena as evidence of ghosts. Certainly stories involving Mary Foust’s resident ghosts influenced me in choosing my project, as I have been an avid collector of this dorm’s growing folklore. New stories seem to pop up every year. I do believe I have also tried my best to make these images "spooky," as Mary Foust is really a charming place. However, by only showing "part-of-the-whole," I may have manipulated how exactly others may view the dorm. Photography is an excellent example of magic media, because the cameraman has control of what will be perceived by her audience.