I believe I chose the right pendulum (I can't remember the color off the top of my head) on my first run and was able to open the door. Second run I chose left and teleported. After that I alternated between each pendulum a couple times and from what I can tell I could do either. I would see the teleport glow and then go through the door, for example. I used continue each time, so it probably is related to the inventory persistence bug.
One last thing I just remembered. The two ghosts weren't able to hurt me after the second run (I'm not sure if they could before that since I was too spooked to do anything but mash F and C).