And what a character the ghost really is. Even though we the audience are meant to sympathize with the circumstances of the young boy's death, he's by no means sympathetic in his quest for not only justice but vengeance. Most people would never go to the lengths that George C. Scott seeks in enabling the spirit's catharsis from beyond the grave, but he is a special case due to the unique pathos generated by the death of his own wife and child. One gets the sense that he was drawn to this house specifically to seek a form of justice he was unable to take for his own family. We empathize with Scott's loss, frustration and occasional mania in searching for the truth, even as we wonder whether he shouldn't just get the hell out of there.