You play the role of Mick, a young vampire hunter out to destroy five vampires (or "Draculas" as the instruction book calls them) in each stage before proceeding to the next.
Everything is out to stop you from completing this tasks and making your way out of the mansion. You just have to punch, or jump on, your enemies to defeat them. Arrows will be flying from either direction and will attempt to hit you on the head, and you must either duck or jump on them for extra points. You can jump or touch lights to freeze everything on screen for a few seconds. Rather than punching, you can collect a sword on the lower level by jumping on it as it flies past you.
The sword is useful when you fight Dracula or getting rid of Fire Blowers. You start the game with three lives, and receive an additional life every 50,000 and 150,000 points. You also have an energy meter. You lose energy when you touch one of the monsters. When you run out of energy, you lose a life. You gain energy by collecting treasures scattered throughout the mansion, and it is restored when you kill a Dracula.
Source: Wikipedia, "Ghost House (video game)", available under the CC-BY-SA License.