Does Fairfax County have more things-that-go-bump-in-the-night?
When Alex Matsuo was standing in the Lee Chapel cemetery in Burke a few years ago, she felt something eerie that gave her the impression of the supernatural. She’s been a paranormal investigator for years so it didn’t make her want to run, but to investigate.
This experience was captured in her book "Haunted Northern Virginia," a book she recently wrote and
Alex Matsuo
“I was having a feeling of someone standing next to me,” she said of her Lee Chapel cemetery experience.
Through her investigation of the Burke area and paranormal events, she found information on “a young girl named Ava Roy that was murdered,” she said. According to local lore, Eva Roy, 14, disappeared back in August 1918 when she was checking on the family cows, and they found her body the next day tied to a tree. She is thought to be buried in Lee Chapel cemetery near her father Peter Roy. Her murder was never solved, they say but some have seen her ghost near Lee Chapel Road, Matsuo said.
Another spirit Matsuo investigated was the ghost of a woman in Arlington Hall. As the story goes, this woman named Mary had taken her own life when she found out she was pregnant. Sightings have her in a flowered dress. “Women started reporting the bathroom stalls locked from the inside,” Matsuo said.
The book is full of stories that include sightings and noises in the Manassas Battlefield Park and the Remy Mausoleum in Lorton that many locals know as "The Lorton Crypt." She's investigated that one too. "There's a guardian still watching over the place, some sort of guardian," she said. Matsuo works with a folklore club from George Mason University on some of the legends she pursues.
In October, she’s had some interest in the book and has done book presentations at Spooky Boozy Book Fair at Audacious Aleworks in Falls Church, and another at the Courthouse Library in Arlington. There are more coming up in the next few weeks.
Paranormal Tales
Come hear these tales and more from Alex Matsuo:
Nov, 7, 2024: Elaine's Book Event 6pm-9pm (Alexandria)
Nov. 18, 2024: Cascades Library Event 7pm (Potomac Falls)
Nov. 22, 2024: Manassas Park City Library 5:30pm