Gordon Van Ness’ thesis gives a new meaning to the term ghost writer.

Van Ness, a graduate student from Richmond, Va., is penning a thesis about campus ghostlore called “Haunts of the Hill.”

“Being a human, I’m curious about the afterlife,” he said.

Van Ness said ghostlore can create a unique history and culture.

He can rattle off many Western-related ghost stories, including James Duvall’s story.

Duvall, who was a resident assistant, died inside one of the Barnes-Campbell elevator shafts during the fall break of 1968, Van Ness said.

Exactly what happened remains unclear.

The story goes that after showering, James was walking along the fifth-floor corridor barefoot, planning to return to his room on the sixth floor. He got to the elevator, and it was stuck, Van Ness said.

Either he reached inside the elevator shaft to mess with the control box, slipped with wet feet and fell to his death, or he got the elevator working again and was crushed when he was unable to get out of the way in time, Van Ness said.

The tale of the Potter Hall ghost is Van Ness’s favorite Western ghost story, though, and it’s perhaps the most well-known.

Van Ness says there are also variations of this tale — some name the ghost Penny and others call it Diane or Allison.

Diane was the real name of the girl who came to Western in 1978 and lived in Potter Hall, which had been an all-girls dormitory since its opening in 1921, Van Ness said.

As the story goes, Diane was quiet, unhappy, unpopular and suicidal, he said.

She tried to throw herself out of the window on the fourth floor and was then moved to the basement. Another time, Diane bashed her head against the window in an attempt on her own life, he said.

One day, two men saw Diane’s body hanging from a noose, Van Ness said.

No one knows why she committed suicide, he said.

It’s said that, when Diane lived, she rolled pennies down the hall for fun, and Van Ness said some people still claim to see pennies mysteriously roll down the halls of Potter.

Van Ness said students continue telling ghost stories throughout the years because it’s fun to tell them, and the tales often stick around because of the truth behind them.

Franklin senior Chip Gillock, who co-founded the Kentucky Paranormal Underground, agrees.

“A lot of people are very curious about the paranormal, about what happens after death,” he said.

The story of the Van Meter Hall ghost is Gillock’s favorite.

He said a man who was working on Van Meter lost his balance and fell to his death when he was surprised by an airplane flying overhead.

His fall left a large bloodstain on the stage that reappears during events inside the auditorium, Gillock said.

Indianapolis freshman Stephenie Graves said she doesn’t believe in ghosts, but Radcliff sophomore Tameia Higgins thinks differently.

“My next-door neighbor died, and I know she came into my house,” Higgins said.

Cincinnati sophomore Kye Price doesn’t take ghosts as seriously, though.

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen ghosts,” Price said. “I’ve seen Casper.”

Van Ness will give a lecture at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at the L&N Depot. He will talk about local ghost stories and railroad ghost stories.