Bad Guys

I need a way to make the bad guy threatening to my main character. I want her to be in real danger at some point. The problem? The bad guy is a murderer from the past who, if he was still alive would be around 90 years old. Should she be in danger from an angry poltergeist-like ghost, or  from a real-life 90 year old man with a secret worth killing for? How freakin' scary can an old man be? Actually, that just reminded me of the scene in Exorcist 3 where some possessed old lady scurries across the ceiling- BLECH- really disturbing. I'm probably going with an angry ghost though, lets not make the kids afraid to visit Grandpa at the old folks home.

Doldrums

Why are my characters going nowhere? Why do they just sit around and make smart-ass comments to each other? Why is romance creeping into my ghost story? Why do I have no control over my own plot right now? WHY?