“My goal was to take inspiration from all the backstories created by the artists at WED [the name of Disney’s Imagineering division] and stitch it into one, giant narrative,” Tindle tells Cartoon Brew. “The story would span several years and focus on different characters, but add up to one big, interconnected story.”

Tonally, the series would have had “a lot of fun and silly elements to it,” he explains, but it would be contained within a larger story in which viewers entered the show through the eyes of a character struggling with grief over a recently-lost loved one. “I love playing with tone,” Tindle says, “and animation (particularly a property that has ghosts as part of its DNA) is particularly good at weaving broad fun with deeply emotional stories.”

While it currently seems unlikely that Disney will produce the project, Tindle’s teaser received a strongly enthusiastic reaction after he posted it on Twitter. As for Tindle himself, he remains enthused, too. “I’d still love to jump back in and make this thing!”

Below are a couple of ghost designs that Tindle created during the development of the project:

A couple of Hitchhiking ghosts I designed for that little thing I was developing. #hauntedmansion pic.twitter.com/hOdKLJn6Qo — Shannon Tindle (@ShannonTindle_1) January 1, 2018

Haunted Mansion Teaser Credits

Voice: Marsai Martain

Backgrounds: Sunmin Inn

Animation: Matt Williames

Motion Graphics: Daniel Hashimoto

Character Design: Shannon Tindle

Character Color Styling: Rachelle Reyes