harry potter - Where can ghosts go?

So there are quite a few ghosts in Harry Potter, but none of them seem to go anywhere exotic. They mostly hang around familiar places or decide to haunt some building (the Hogwarts ghosts "haunt" Hogwarts).

Is this because they can't go anywhere strange, because they don't want to, or because we don't hear about the ones that do?

In various fictional settings there are different rules. Sometimes, it's "a ghost can only go where they've been while alive." Is this true in Harry Potter?

If not, are there any other limitations? Could a ghost float to the core of the Earth? Into outer space? To infinity, and beyond?

Answer

In the Goblet of Fire (chapter "The Egg and The Eye"), Myrtle explains how her body was found by Olive Hornby after her death:

'And then she saw my body … ooooh, she didn't forget it until her dying day, I made sure of that … followed her around and reminded her, I did, I remember at her brothers wedding –'

[…]

'– and then, of course, she went to the Ministry of Magic to stop me stalking her, so I had to come back here and live in my toilet.'

Assuming Olive Hornby tried to get rid of Myrtle before she went to the Ministry, she likely moved someplace Myrtle has never been alive (which couldn't have been hard considering Myrtle died when she was a teenager).

So Myrtle has likely visited some new place – although it is also possible that Myrtle stalked Olive Hornby only when she visited Diagon Alley or other public places where Myrtle has been while alive.

Comments

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