As I recall, each time I tried, I walked right up to the altar on the right with the hourglass on (so the angel was chasing me) and then over to the opposite one and could look back and see the light still over the first altar. I tried turning the hourglass off as well and doing the same thing.
I certainly never noticed the lights following me.
Not sure what was going on for me. It sounds like other people weren't really having problems.