Dan on the age thing I will at least for now, concede the point to you. I think I was imagining the Hall painting before the current one which makes her look a lot older IMO. However if there are former owners as retirees this would set up a strange precedent. Not that former owners would not haunt there but the whole retierment issue.The natural logic would follow that the ghost of the former owner would still claim ownership post mortem. And indeed the ghosts do seem to claim ultimate ownership or perhaps possession is a better word. But these ghosts, the ones of former owners, haunt as owners not necessarily as retirees. The retirement aspect appears to refer to those ghost from other places outside the Mansion's gates.This not only harkens to Walt's old radio description but to Marty's old sign outside offering "post-lifetime leases." The GH himself states, "There are several prominent ghosts who have retired here from creepy old crypts from all over the world."This indicates again that the ghosts came here from some other haunting ground. How odd it would be then to attempt to haunt one's own manor only to find out you are but one ghost in hundreds eventually 999 of them. Part of me wonders can we even suggest that the owners retired there in the same sense of the word? The answer appears too murky to give a conclusive explaination. As to the bulk of the spirits the former owners could have been sympathetic to other poorer souls and opened the flood gates themselves to the supernatural though I do not know of anything to support such a claim. They make no real presence in the Mansion if that is the case which seems counter-intuitive. George if a former owner, is only seen as one part of the two painting featuring him. He is in a supporting role in both. This only adds to the founder mystery to who began it as a ghostly retreat is the real question mark I suppose, in both the Connie version and in the original premise. To which the Constance thing I might add only serves to complicate matters. But not knowing does not take away from the experience of the ride. Just as the Ghost Host having a simple literary device for a name/title does not take away from his dark mysterious charms.  As to the word "guest" being used subjectively by the GH and thus understood relativley to us mortals, this does not fully explain the usage of that particular word in accordance to Constance. The term guest(s) do indeed have a temporal quality to it. Yet Constance is not temporary. She is by the very fact of her story and that she even has a story connecting her to the Mansion makes her a long term player. She still resides there stupid smerk and all. No she is disqualified as simply a guest because she never left, not in life or in death. At some point after one checks in but never checks out, one ceases to be a guest and becomes a resident. There is also the potential problem that the first of the former owners views the rest as squatters. Actually one would think the ghosts in gerneral would view mortals including Connie as squatters rather than guests. It is just as likely then that the GH's used the term "guest" as a euphemism. Like when a mob boss says he is going to, "take care," of someone. But this is about the only way that term can be applied to Connie and still like the room it is stretching it. As to the "our" this is more easily understoond as referring to ghosts in general and not to any specific group of ghosts.

Then there is the active haunting problem. Why wouldn't they activly haunt while Connie was there? Both the ghost involved with her (former husbands) and the ghosts who reside there generally. The old sign read, "enjoy an active retirement." And if some of the ghosts have issues with one headhunting mortal this is all the more reason to kick up the haunting. Old ghost lore is filled with this kind of restless spirit. They will not allow her to forget. The "Tell-Tell Heart," drove its killer nuts. The ghosts may have watched for a while but to assume they would do nothing about her or wait until after her death to get spooky is far-fetched at least to me. But ultimatly I still think as I did before, that having to extend one's cognitive powers and imagination to try to make this plot work in a manner that is reminiscent of connecting the dots is far beyond the capacity. It very well may have a logic of its own but it is a sloppy logic that too heavily relies on technicalites and inductive reasoning. And even then only after diving headlong into the boundless realm of speculation, and to found anything on such a place is not sound. But I too would vote for Heart Beat perhaps even a combination of the two. Say by giving Heart Beat a hatchet. But I miss the days when I got to choose who she was and didn't have enter into long speculative observations and rantings to have to justify her, she simply was.