There doesn’t seem to be a lot of concrete rules for ghosts. Some of them seem to haunt specific places, and others move around. Some appear to follow people, or items, and some show up at certain times of year. They all behave a little differently, which leads to some interesting situations.

Some people will say that this is not very scientific. Your average chemist, for instance, will tell you that science should be replicable — If you do the same thing each time, the same thing should happen. And that’s true — That’s good science. But paranormal investigation isn’t like chemistry. It’s a lot more like psychology.

Ghosts are people. They’re dead people, but people nonetheless. And people don’t all behave the same way. If you put 10 people in the same situation, you’ll get 10 different responses. People don’t have matching behaviors, so why should ghosts?

I’ve given this a lot of thought lately. It’s October.

This all leads into a question I get asked a lot, which is, “So if a haunted building burns down, is it still haunted?”

Short answer: It depends.

Longer answer: I have a column to write, so I’m gonna just elaborate on this for another 600 words or so.

Throughout the county, there are examples of interesting haunted spots that don’t exist anymore. Buildings that were destroyed, places that have changed. A good example is the Lockport Hotel.

Across the river, just west of the Jay Street Bridge, there used to be a huge hotel. Built about 1844, it was described as “one of the most delightful locations on the West Branch,” and it had “bedrooms and parlors, table and bar.” It even had a three-story outhouse, and don’t ask me about the mechanics of that. It stood in present-day Riverview Park, right at the bend in the road.

It was said to be haunted. According to the stories, a man was killed on the stairs during a bar fight. His body was buried under the floorboards, and there was a blood stain on the stairs that never did come out. In the early 1900s, after the hotel was abandoned, the locals wouldn’t go near it at night because they believed a ghost was in there. The hotel was torn down years ago, and the question is, is the ghost still at the location? It’s hard to say.

A few miles up the road, the Queen’s Mansion in Farrandsville was also said to be haunted. Henry Shoemaker told a story about the ghost of the Spanish princess inhabiting the place. When the building got new floors for a new owner, some of the children gathered around, watching to see what happened when they ripped up the floors, believing there to be a body under them. (Yeah, I know. I defy you to find a building on the north side of the river without a dead body under the floorboards.) The children left, disappointed, when the workmen just installed the new floor right on top of the old one.

The Queen’s Mansion also went through a fire, and was torn down, a few windows and fireplaces moved to other locations, such as the Griffin Building on Water Street. And I have to wonder about that, too — Is there a ghost roaming Farrandsville near the train tracks, where the mansion used to be? Or did the ghost maybe follow the leftover building parts, moving into a new home?

Nobody knows, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers.

Great Island Cemetery is another good example. Great Island Cemetery used to stand along the south side of Bellefonte Avenue, near the top of the hill. It was established in the 1700s, and believed to be haunted — Two women, one in black and one in white, lurked throughout the cemetery. Also thought to haunt the place was the headless ghost of criminal John Michael Conley, who was killed in 1820 and buried there, and his skull later used in a college class.

Are the ghosts still there? Well, maybe. The cemetery had fallen into disrepair and was moved in 1918. Bodies were taken to other cemeteries, including Highland, Dunnstown, Flemington and Cedar Hill. Maybe some of the ghosts followed along, or maybe they stayed where they were, like some of the bodies did.

Oh, yes. Not all of the bodies made the trip. Many of them were listed as “unfound.” One of these was Conley, who may still be haunting the place. Some of the people living in that area say their house is haunted, which isn’t all that shocking, as they’re all built on a partially moved cemetery.

But maybe some of the ghosts moved away. Up in Flemington, there have been sightings of two female ghosts in the cemetery. When Great Island Cemetery was moved, two of the bodies were said to be “petrified,” turned to a hard, stone-like substance that weighed 800 pounds. These were Madeline Yost and Catherine Phillips… And both were moved to Flemington.

So maybe some ghosts stay, and haunt the property. And maybe some move away.

As with so much about the paranormal, nobody knows the answers. But if you happen to see me with my ghost-hunting equipment in Riverview Park, looking around for the remains of an old hotel, cut me some slack. It’s October.

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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at loulhpa@gmail.com or 570-660-4463.