Credit: ABC screenshot

If a meeting takes place in the woods and no one hears it, did it really take place?

Well-played, General Hospital. ABC’s soap got its whole audience talking after the June 15 episode found Austin sneaking off in the woods to talk to…

Well, that’s the question, now isn’t it? We don’t know who interrupted his evening of smores and campfire songs. We didn’t see the individual that the doctor was so displeased to have stalking him while he was hanging with Maxie and the gang.

austin gh howarth

“Who could ask for anything smore?”

Credit: ABC screenshot

Many a fan suspected that Ned or Valentin had armed himself with bug spray and ventured forth to discuss with Austin the latest skirmish over ELQ. Others ventured a guess that maybe he was being paid a surprise visit by Jonah, the half brother we’ve yet to meet. Still others floated the possibility that maybe pop Jimmy Lee wasn’t as dead as he was said to be.

After all, once a person’s drunk the water in Port Charles, can they ever really die?

GENERAL HOSPITAL, (from left): Steve Bond, Sherilyn Wolter, (ca. mid-1980s), 1963-. © ABC / Courtesy Everett Collection

Could Jimmy Lee, macking on cousin Celia here, still be alive… and hiking?

Credit: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

That, in turn, brought us to an option about which few and far between were excited. What if somehow the person Austin was so unhappy to see was… Peter? “Please not He Who Shall Not Be Named,” exclaimed BlackCat in the comments that followed Soaps.com’s recap. DeElva seconded that emotion, crying simply, “No! Nooo! Please no!”

At that, a reader named Bonny warned posters to be careful. “If you say his name one more time, you might just conjure him up.”

gh peter ghost

“Anybody got an Advil?”

Credit: ABC screenshot

What do you think? Was it Peter who surprised Austin in the woods? Weigh in in the comments, and while you’re here…

Find out which General Hospital couples are sticking together and falling apart — and which are next — in our new photo gallery dedicated to Port Charles’ dynamic duos.