It’s that time of year again, when the spooky and unsettling get just a little more attention and we recognize the value of embracing everybody’s bad end. While there are plenty of people who don’t like the horror genre at all and there are others who are fascinated by any terror more extreme than the last, I tend to err to somewhere in the middle. I love the mysterious and romantic aesthetics that come with that little prickle of suspense. Add a little humor and you’ve hit my sweet spot.

Disney’s classic Haunted Mansion theme park attraction has done a great job of immersing guests in light-hearted Victorian age creepiness since its original version opened in Disneyland in August of 1969, making use of era-appropriate stage magic and up to date ride vehicle technology along the way. The Haunted Mansion has attracted a large and faithful fan base and has become a “must” for inclusion in each primary Disney park that has been built, with each version being either just a little different (Tokyo Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is almost identical to the Orlando version of thirty years ago), or changed significantly to appeal to the locals (as was done with Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor). The version of the Haunted Mansion we’ll be touring today will be the one which I’ve visited the most often, which opened with the Magic Kingdom in Florida in 1971 (pictured below).



Although most of the show scenes featured inside this version are the same as or similar to the original in Anaheim, California, there are plenty of differences too. Most notably, the attraction’s facade in Florida is fashioned to be more appropriate to its location in the Northeastern theme of Liberty Square. Imagineers dug into architectural research to find the best look for this locale and were apparently inspired by an engraving of a stone mansion they came across, with no specific model such as the Shipley-Lydecker house which was copied almost verbatim for the Anaheim Mansion. The exterior of the Florida-based Mansion has a more obviously imposing and spooky look, but you’ll find plenty of people on both sides of the aisle about which is preferable.

In 2011 the imagineers at Walt Disney World decided to add an interactive queue in hopes of keeping guests in line entertained while they wait to be admitted to the Mansion. I won’t be covering that here because I don’t like it and I skip it whenever possible. Much like the Star Wars prequels, I find myself fully capable of pretending that it doesn’t exist. We’ll start instead just outside the basement doors where we enter, where we can often faintly hear a foreboding wind.



Just to the left is the attractive gravestone of Leota, accompanied by a stone griffin, with a darkly humorous engraving which is traditional for Haunted Mansion memorials. The Leota tombstone was added in 2001, with some fans objecting to the character being buried at the house, suggesting that she was a member of the family that owned the Mansion, but I’ve personally never had a problem with this. Every rich family has its black sheep, as we will find during our visit.



Every minute or so, you’ll notice that Leota opens her eyes and looks around, an effect that was initially often noticed first by kids who had a hard time convincing their parents they weren’t making things up.



The Haunted Mansion is one of the most consistently requested work locations for Disney parks employees, and many who are lucky enough to be cast there take on the role more seriously than the more repetitively cheery cast members at other attractions. Their green butler and maid outfits are iconic enough to fans that some have chosen to reproduce them for Halloween festivities. When a gloomy cast member dressed in Victorian green opens the double doors and invites you in, you know you’re in for a slightly different experience than in the rest of the park.



Shortly after entering the Mansion’s finely appointed foyer, you are greeted by a more mysterious voice, that of our “Ghost Host,” spoken by Paul Frees.

“When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight.”

You’ll notice over the fireplace in the foyer, the first of many changing portrait effects in the Mansion, this one going through several steps as a handsome young man gradually ages.

Fans came to know this young man as Master Gracey, but there’s nothing in the attraction’s script identifying him this way. A previously extant headstone outside the Mansion making reference to Master Gracey as tribute to one of the ride’s original imagineers, Yale Gracey, was intended to refer to a younger man. Fans, however, misinterpreted it to mean that this character was master of the house and assumed that the man given a place of honor above the fireplace just as we enter the Mansion must be this same person. The name stuck, and has been used in marketing, licensed products, the terrible 2003 Eddie Murphy film and in the regrettable interactive queue that was added in 2011.

The Ghost Host invites us further into the house-

“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your Ghost Host.”

We are led into an adjoining octagonal room and admonished by the attending butler or maid to “drag (our) bodies to the dead center of the room”



“Our tour begins here in this gallery, where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now.”

It is now that one of the signature effects of the Mansion begins, as the room slowly gets larger and the featured paintings begin to reveal macabre fates for their self-satisfied subjects. I’m sure you can create a passable version of the portraits’ changes by just using the bottom of your computer screen and scrolling appropriately. I remember seeing this effect for the first time as a kid and feeling just a little bit threatened.



These characters have also been assigned names both by Disney and by fans, but I prefer the mystery of not knowing.

In the Disneyland original, the stretching room effect is accomplished with the entire room moving downward as an elevator, while in Florida the ceiling travels upward. To my eyes, the elevator effect works better, but it’s a fun show scene either way.

“Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination? And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out! Of course, there’s always my way.”

And here is the moment when the Mansion loses quite a lot of the little kids who had been convinced to accompany their family into what is clearly a scary place. The lights go out with a thunderclap and lightning, revealing a dead body hanging from the rafters above our heads. Obviously, our host is telling us that he attempted to escape the madness of the Mansion by committing suicide…but it didn’t work.



His body is still hanging there.

The hanging body seemingly appears out of nowhere, but this is, in fact, an old stage trick using a painted scrim (a very lightweight fabric) that is lit from behind to reveal whatever is hidden there. The painted scrim is what we are looking at when we first see the plain octagonal ceiling as we are focusing on the room stretching. The original imagineers were real stage magicians.

Then things go black again and there is a blood-curdling scream and a loud sickening thump. And cue the crying babies whose families will hopefully be seeking out the “chicken exit” which will soon be available.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to frighten you prematurely. The real chills come later. Now, as they say, “look alive,” and we’ll continue our little tour. And let’s all stay together, please.”

A hidden panel slides aside, allowing guests to escape the stretching room. If you hang back from the crowd you’ll be able to hear the candle-bearing gargoyles muttering and chuckling.



I keep hoping these little guys will be fitted to have a very subtle look around someday, turning their heads ever so slightly.

Upon exiting the stretching room, you find yourself in a dark hallway which leads to the ride part of the attraction and features plenty of fun stuff to look at. You’ll notice in this photo that the ceiling is painted a flat black, which looks a little weird in a picture, but in person has the effect of focusing your attention on the other details nearby.



For example, practically everything in the Haunted Mansion is fashioned to look like a face. Despite claims that the Mansion houses “999 Happy Haunts,” if you count each hidden face as a captured soul, we could be looking at even more than that!



One noticeable difference between the California and Florida mansions is the inclusion of the so-called “Sinister 11” portraits. These were featured in marketing for the Disney World Mansion when the park opened and have been moved around from time to time. Currently, only nine of the 11 paintings are hung where they can be easily noticed, with seven taking up residence in the loading area.



You will see on your left, a mysterious stranger who had been planned to transform into a werewolf (right), a portrait of the notorious Jack the Ripper (left), and of a fearsome mariner (below) who has already crossed over into the spirit world.



If you haven’t noticed them yet on your first trip down, take a look beneath your hand and see the bronze bats peering up at you from the top of the stanchions helping to guide you. These are the sort of delightful details that not only add to the theme and humor of the mansion, but are also very appropriate to the “more is more” aesthetic ethos of the monied class in America during the Victorian era.



On the wall behind the ride vehicles there are four more of our Sinister 11 portraits, first the ghost host himself, closely modeled after an EC Comics horror character of the 1950s. As you can see, he has used a hatchet to cut himself down from his spot in the rafters, and just in case there was any doubt about his identity, if you get close enough to see the clothes on the skeleton hanging above the stretching room, you’d find that they match what’s in this painting. This won’t be our last glimpse of him either.



Next along on the wall is a portrait of a very serious and imposing looking man with a beard who was initially identified in the attraction’s plans as Rasputin. This identification was dropped in any official way in fear that the real Rasputin might still have living relatives. He was also originally going to be a multi-step changing portrait with his eyes gradually getting bigger and becoming one large eye, as you can see in the image below.



One more spot down the line is a curiosity, not in that it features a witch character, but in that it is the only witch character in the entirety of the Haunted Mansion attraction. She’s known as the Witch of Walpurgis, one of the bits of research into witches that artist Marc Davis did which stayed. For those of us who did not know before, Walpurgis Night is sort of the Springtime version of Halloween and is the anniversary of the founding of the Church of Satan. She was originally planned to transform into a goat-headed person. That there is family entertainment, isn’t it?



Last in line is another Halloween standard-bearer whose brethren are not given a whole lot of coverage inside the mansion, a pretty standard looking vampire who is either just returning to his coffin, or just leaving it. There’s no reason he shouldn’t have put a burning candle on top of it either way, but that seems more like something you do if you want to burn down a vampire’s home if he gets out of his coffin.



These portraits often go unnoticed because Mansion guests are busy loading into their doombuggies, as instructed by the ghost host himself. This part of the script has varied over the years and at times is doubled in Spanish nowadays, but below is one version.

“And now a carriage approaches to take you into the boundless realm of the supernatural. Take your loved ones by the hand, please, and kindly watch your step. Oh yes, and no flash pictures, please. We spirits are frightfully sensitive to bright lights.”

You have to watch your step in part because the Mansion’s ride system typically is in constant movement, matched by a moving walkway beneath. This system allows for loading and unloading of riders without stopping and is the primary reason that the Haunted Mansion, despite being a very popular attraction, only rarely sports an unreasonable wait time.

The name “doombuggy” is one piece of evidence of the era in which the Mansion was designed because it is a spoof on the dune buggies which were popular sport vehicles during the late 1960s. Although some Mansion fans want to quantify what these things actually are, I’d say you’re meant to ignore them as much as possible once you’re seated in them. They are that same flat black color that tends to disappear into dark environments, they are not shaped like anything in particular, and if you pay attention to their movements you’ll find that they closely resemble those of a frightened and alert person wandering through a haunted house. My solo ride of the Mansion with no other guests nearby in December of 2012 drove this home for me.

Also, I must agree with mister Ghost Host on the issue of taking flash pictures. The attraction relies on darkness to deliver the wonderful effects it does. Do not ruin them for yourself and other riders. If you do, most of your photos won’t come out very well anyway

“Do not pull down on the safety bar, please; I will lower it for you. And heed this warning: the spirits will materialize only if you remain quietly seated at all times.”

Once you’ve left the loading area, your doombuggy passes beneath some stairs and a balcony on which an independently floating candelabra appears and then takes a turn down a dark hallway with windows on the left and a series of glowing paintings on the other side. This is the changing portraits hallway which appears right after the stretching room in Disneyland, but is the first show scene after loading into your doombuggy in Florida where we are spending our time today.As lightning flashes from the windows on your left, the portraits on the right reveal darker versions of themselves. This is achieved through the use of a simple double slide effect projected from behind the wall and timed with the lightning effect from across the hall. There are four different changing portraits hung, including…

…a woman who changes into a white tiger…

…a handsome sailing vessel that becomes a ghost ship…

…the Black Prince, whose eventual fate is revealed…



…and a haughty young woman who is transformed into a terrible Gorgon, yet another moment in which the Mansion reminds us to keep our egos in check. We all fall to bones eventually, and none of us is immune to tragedy. This medusa character was another of the Sinister 11 originally, but without her transformation, the character didn’t make much sense, so taking a place in the changing portraits hallway is completely appropriate.

“Our library is well stocked with priceless first editions, only ghost stories of course, hmhmh. And marble busts, of the greatest ghost writers, the literary world has even known.”



Here’s a scene that originated with the Florida Mansion, taking a simple haunted house effect and building an entire environment around it. Moving books and ladders help to accentuate the bit, along with another hidden face, this time on that ornate red armchair. This particular photo was perhaps taken while the lights were on, considering the bright colors (and fire extinguisher) that can be seen.

The busts sitting on the shelves there seem to turn and watch you ride by, using a decidedly low-tech effect that works for every guest at the same time. Putting the busts on revolving pedestals would not do that job. Instead, what we’ve got here are inverted pieces created by imagineering which your mind is convinced are traditional three-dimensional busts. Because your perspective changes, the bust appears to turn while it is, in fact, standing completely still.



As we pull away from the library we begin to hear an increase in piano in the soundtrack music. Then…

“They have all, retired here to the Haunted Mansion. Actually we have 999 happy haunts here, but there’s room for a thousand. Any volunteers?? If you should decide to join us, final arrangements, may be made at the end of the tour.”

The banging piano notes come even further to the front of the soundtrack and as we pass the offending instrument we notice that there actually is someone or something playing it. This is a simple effect and elegant scene that also originated in the Liberty Square Mansion. Jason Surrell’s book “The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies” claims that this shadowy character is actually the Ghost Host, but I don’t think there’s any really strong reason to believe this.



But I do know that just past the music room on the right there is a finely carved griffin figure at the bottom of a set of stairs you’re about to go up.



The stairs first take you into another show scene that is unique to Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion. There used to be a simple scene with a large spider web, but in 2007’s substantial refurbishment, the imagineers again showed the ability to make subtle and effective additions to the attraction, even when those additions are relatively large in scope. The M. C. Escher-style staircases they installed are exactly in the sweet spot that the Mansion owns, with an instantly understood concept, a gentle retreat from reality, and a simple, but effectively executed stage effect.



Down the up stairs go those footprints…and then…poof! They’re gone.

This is one of those scenes I really missed when I visited the Disneyland Mansion this past summer.

Heading further up the staircase and into the darkness, the spirits in the house continue to exhibit aggressive tendencies, as a multitude of leering, glowing eyes appear out of the darkness, hissing at the passers-by. Then just as they seem to be crowding around you…

…the iconic Haunted Mansion wallpaper fades into view.

“We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat, every room has wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold, running chills! Ssshhhh, listen…”

At the top of the stairs we veer to the right and come upon the endless hallway, a simple scrims and mirrors gag making it seem that we’re looking down a hallway of doors too long to see to the end of, with a floating candelabra denoting yet another hidden ghost.



But we are not destined to travel down this hallway into infinity, perhaps in part because it is being guarded by a pair of spirits inhabiting large items on either side of it. On the right side is a silly, but in this environment, intimidating suit of armor, trembling slightly in warning, its huge hooked proboscis equal measures foolish and fearsome. Meanwhile, on the left, we see another armchair featuring embroidery which suggests it is home to a watchful spirit.



Back in 1985 a cast member was outfitted in a suit of armor not far from here, both to provide an added scare and to watch out for riders who were being…erm…inappropriate. A few startled guests took a swing at the guy in the armor and the experiment was discontinued after just one summer.



Further down on the left is one of the more disturbing images in the Mansion, taking place in the fancy conservatory. As a raven raises the alarm, someone is in the process of breaking out of a coffin which has been abandoned in this spot long enough for most of the surrounding greenery to wither and die. Those bright living roses on top of the coffin in the above gif are not always there. What is most confusing about this scene is that it appears to exist outside of the context of the rest of the Mansion’s happenings. To this point we haven’t actually seen any ghosts, have we? Just evidence of them. So who is that guy with very physical arms and hands pushing up on the coffin lid? He’s screaming “Let me outta here! Lemme Out!” over and over. Is he a very chatty zombie? Or is he just a guy who got mistaken for dead and nailed into a coffin before the previous homeowners deserted the place? If so, that was some time ago, judging by the decaying floral arrangements that flank him.

Thankfully, we manage to speed past before he emerges completely, so we don’t have to find out what the poor fellow’s sad tale involves. We are now in the chamber of doors, where even more spirits are trying to escape from their physical confinements. Doors breathe…



…knockers pound repeatedly…



…and doorknobs rattle loudly from all sides. Obviously, the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion are upset at being shunted away, unable to reveal themselves fully to you. I’m sure that some will disagree, but I think this is the most frightening sequence in the attraction. The ghosts are frustrated and aggressive.



Just take a look at the macabre faces that are sure to greet you if they escape their earthbound prison. Even our pal, the Ghost Host, sports a threatening shadow in his second portrait. Take a moment and compare his clothes not just to those of the corpse in the rafters, but also to the butler who may have greeted you into the Mansion!

As you dash past these doors and portraits, there on the right at the end of the hall, you notice a curious upright clock with demonic features. Its face sports numbers which go up to the unlucky number thirteen! Not only has space been distorted here, as we saw with the M. C. Escher staircases, but so has time.



Here, the threats of the spirits seem to reach their apex, as a shadowy hand raises and swipes at you, apparently just missing you as your doombuggy speeds into the next darkened room.

What you find there is a séance circle, complete with a spell book, a floating green spirit, and the disembodied head of the medium Madame Leota, whose alert tombstone we saw just before entering the Mansion. Using the stately and ominous voice of actress Elanor Audley, who spoke for Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, Leota hovers around the room in her crystal ball and recites an incantation meant to gain contact with the spirit world.



“Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat; call in the spirits, wherever they’re at. Rap on a table; it’s time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond. Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween: awaken the spirits with your tambourine. Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond; let there be music, from regions beyond! Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!”



As we circle around Leota’s séance, we wonder at the effect allowing for a fully articulated head to appear in three dimensions, from all angles, as it floats above the table and chair. When the Mansion was first built, she appeared inside the ball by being projected there onto a blank face shape from an old-timey “spirit cabinet” placed in the rear of the scene. The effect has been altered several times over the years, with the current version eliminating a previously unavoidable light spot on the crystal ball’s side by being projected from inside the blank head in the ball. This new technology even allowed the ball to lift off from the table and float like it currently does. Haunted Mansion traditionalists sometimes urge the imagineers to get Leota back sitting on the table, but honestly, that part of the effect does not matter to me one way or the other.

Look behind you and you’ll see floating instruments as well, a reference to the magical spook shows of the Davenport Brothers, famous illusioneers of the mid 1800s who made floating trumpets, bells, and tambourines a part of their well-received act. By the way, they were also the originators of the magical spirit cabinet as a prop, which medium frauds used to make figures appear out of “nowhere” and stage magicians used for the projection of disembodied heads. Nice research, imagineers!



We steadily retreat from the séance circle, as we are rejoined by the voice of the Ghost Host.

“The happy haunts have received your sympathetic vibrations, and are beginning to materialize. They’re assembling for a swinging wake, and they’ll be expecting me. I’ll see you all, a little later.”

…and he disappears again as quickly as he had returned.

So what does all of this mean? Well, if the following scenes are any indication, the ghosts who were once frustrated to the point of violence by their inability to fully escape the cages they had inhabited, — you know, the wallpaper, the paintings, the chairs, the doors — are now free to roam about in full company and can now be seen by anyone who might stumble onto the scene. And this is plenty cause for a big party!



We are now witness to such festivities, as we trundle across a balcony and look down upon the grand ballroom of the Mansion and see one ghost celebrate her birthday…

…while others stream in from a wrecked hearse outside…

…and still more literally hang from the chandelier!

As the Ghost Host told us before, many of the spirits “retired” here, apparently dropping in from around the globe and from across the sands of time. Notice here a Medieval soldier and an Egyptian lady having a little vino together, as the Charles Dickens character Pickwick leans away, using his cane for support.



Not everyone is in a great mood, as these duelists seem to be trapped in a never-ending loop of pride and vengeance. We watch them turn and fire on one another over and over again. Did they both manage to murder the other? Ghosts are often said to be those who died with unfinished business, reliving the key moment of their lives forever. All I know is that this effect looks cool.



If you ask me, I’d much rather spend eternity dancing with a pretty lady…even if she is actually leading. This is a mistake made by the imagineers who failed to account for the mirror part of this effect when building these happy dancing couples.



Another iconic image from the Mansion pops up in the Ballroom, as a ghostly musician provides the organ-heavy soundtrack of the moment, resulting in the expulsion of still more spirits from the pipes.

So how does this effect work? How do we get obviously substantive figures with transparency who then can appear and disappear from their surroundings? Like many of the effects in the Haunted Mansion, it’s because of an old stage trick. This one is called “Pepper’s Ghost,” and has been used in entertainments for centuries, but was popularized by scientist John Henry Pepper back in the 1860s. The effect is accomplished through the introduction of a large reflective piece of glass, presumably without the audience’s knowledge, and the precise manipulation of lighting to place those reflections appropriately. Why do you think you’re up on a balcony for this scene? Those reflected ghosts are actually located below and above you.



Although I feel like I have always been aware of the thirty foot tall piece of glass in the Mansion, the effect is done so well that it wasn’t until I read an explanation of how it works that I realized the glass had anything to do with it. It is just human nature to look for evidence as close to the item of mystery as possible.

The ballroom is so stuffed with things to look at, much of it using this wonderful ghost effect, that most guests never bother to look for the framed picture just to the left of the ballroom as you pull away. This is yet another of our Sinister 11 portraits, known sometimes as “Opera Glasses Lady.” This painting appears to have developed as an offshoot of art which went in a different direction and eventually became another Mansion character who we are just about to meet.



We leave the balcony behind and duck around a dark corner to find ourselves in the Mansion’s attic. This show scene and its central figure have been through more changes over the years than any other part of the Mansion without ever becoming anything substantially different from what it originally was. The current version of the scene was installed during the same 2007 refurbishment that added the excellent M. C. Escher-inspired stairs, but while that addition is an example of WDI expanding the breadth of the ride while remaining true to its spirit and using fully appropriate technology in a fun way…this is just a little short of that.



What was previously just a bunch of junk appropriate to the attic of a Victorian era home had become thematically consistent with a very specific story the imagineers were intent on telling. A series of areas dedicated to five different weddings all with the same bride in common. With each set of memorabilia is a wedding portrait in which the head of the husband disappears and reappears repeatedly. The look and detail of these secret and apparently enchanted items are extremely well executed. The paintings are definitely more naturalistic than anything else we’ve seen, but not to the point that it is jarring.

Then there’s the new bride herself, given the name Constance Hatchaway. The story being told here is that she was quite an accomplished “black widow bride,” marrying and killing five different husbands and inheriting their fortunes. Her remaining spirit seems pretty pleased with what she pulled off, too, treating us to a series of self-incriminating bon mots while brandishing a hatchet. For example-

“I do…I did!”

Nearby, there is a hat stand with five chapeaus hanging from it and a stack of five hatboxes placed next to it. Not too subtle, eh? It even seems to make reference to the notorious Hatbox Ghost, who I won’t be going into here because they never even attempted to install him in the Florida Mansion as far as we know.

But the attic bride was not always clearly identified as a homicidal maniac. In fact, since the one guy who we might have assumed she’d done in, the guy who became the Hatbox Ghost, was never present in Florida, it was easy to argue that a character stumbling around in the dark with a candle was more of a forlorn figure, worthy of our pity. That said, the attic was often plenty frightening over the years because it was dark and the soundtrack tended to put you on edge. Check out this video of the bride who would have been in place the first time I experienced the Mansion.

Lighting, soundtrack, and surrounding props were futzed with over the years, and as you can see in the image below, Constance was the fourth different bride in the Disney World Mansion since its opening in 1971.

The first bride on the far left, which appeared from opening day in 1971 until sometime in the mid ’70s, is an artist’s rendition because nobody ever took a really good picture of her in Florida. Next came the version I first saw with the dark face and sleek dress which lasted from the mid ’70s until 1995, when she was replaced by what some people jeeringly referred to as “the smurf bride” because her more visible face was a strange shade of blue. Finally, we get the axe murderer Constance from 2007 ’til present.

As with any popular piece of artwork, when you make changes there is going to be a divisive response, but if you were looking for a rant on this particular topic you came to the wrong place. While I do kind of prefer the ambiguous nature of the bride character prior to the advent of Constance in 2007, the quality of the set dressing the imagineers did in the attic leaves me feeling like we traded ambiguity for thematic detail…and I like both of those things. Despite the disappointingly in your face and flat projection effect used to produce Constance, it really can’t be said that the character was ever one of the more convincing effects in the Mansion to begin with.

Having come face to face with this disquieting presence, your doombuggy backs out of the nearest window and descends to ground level. Is that description vague enough for you?

Actually, this is one of my very favorite portions of the entire attraction in part because of the sudden appearance of what seems to be vast space. As you pass through the surrounding tree branches you can hear the distant strains of a lively version of the musical motif that has been presented at every step along the way…

What this scene has going for it is one of the great pleasures in life: anticipation. Often looking forward to and planning an event can be even more rewarding than the event itself. As I lean back in my doombuggy and notice the raven peering down at me as I fall, there is a bit of a break in direct contact with the supernatural and I get to look forward to what is clearly a heaping helping of ghostly activity outside of the Mansion itself.

Some Mansion fans interpret the fall as a fatal one and assume that you are now getting set to join the ghosts at their party as one of their own. Balderdash I say. The following events go a long way to disproving this idea.



For one thing, the caretaker of the place is obviously plenty concerned with the appearance of ghosts in the neighboring graveyard, but he doesn’t pay any attention to you even though you pass much closer to him than any of the spirits raising hay inside that fence.

The caretaker is a unique character in the Mansion because he is the only audio animatronic figure appearing in the entire attraction who is patently not supernatural or an animal of some kind. See that look on his face? He’s been around for a while, but he sure hasn’t seen anything like this before.

What he’s seeing in real world terms is a huge show scene that uses forced perspective to look like it stretches into the distance, and is populated by audio animatronic figures who are lit by black light to emphasize their “ghosti-ness.” There are also several large floor-to-ceiling scrims that help soften the edges and create more of a sense that you are outside where a slight haze may have appeared.



He needn’t be worried, though, because the ghosts out here seem to be in really good spirits (get it?). This crowd has assembled to provide a little music for the spooky celebration.



The traditional pop-up ghosts who jump from behind tombstones to startle you might be the one true scare in the Mansion, but I’d say it’s all in good fun. After all, they don’t actually attack you, do they?

Still not convinced? Well, just listen to the lyrics of “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” the song you’ve been hearing in different forms since the moment you stepped in the doors of the Mansion.

“When the crypt goes creak,

And the tombstones quake.

Spooks come out for a swinging wake.

Happy haunts materialize,

And begin to vocalize.

Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

Now don’t close your eyes,

And don’t try to hide.

Or a silly spook may sit by your side.

Shrouded in a daft disguise,

They pretend to terrorize.

Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

As the moon climbs high o’er the dead oak tree,

Spooks arrive for the midnight spree.

Creepy creeps with eerie eyes,

Start to shriek and harmonize.

Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

When you hear the knell of a requiem bell,

Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell.

Restless bones etherialize,

Rise as spooks of every size.

If you would like to join our jamboree,

There’s a simple rule that’s compulsory.

Mortals pay a token fee.

Rest in peace, the haunting’s free.

So hurry back, we would like your company.”

It’s all right there, sung to you by a group of cheery busts on the right just down from the above band. This is the central joke of the whole attraction. You thought the ghosts were going to be scary and aggressive, but once they’re free to take their natural forms and spend a little time together, they’re pretty good-natured overall. Sure, that creep in the attic was pretty awful, but the rest of the ghosts don’t hang out with her, do they?

By the way, that’s the voice of Tony the Tiger and the singer of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” Thurl Ravenscroft leading the singing busts with his famous basso profundo.

Forward into the merry fray!



Even royalty is finding the time for a little lighthearted fun, teeter-tottering on a makeshift see saw.

This crowd has reacted to getting stuck in the mud by organizing a spontaneous tea party.



This odd scene of a mummy trying to make himself understood to a codger with an ear trumpet is apparently a take on the Victorian mummy craze, in which rich enthusiasts would pay to have mummies brought into their parlors and unwrapped. An Edgar Allen Poe story called “Some Words With a Mummy” also appears to be an inspiration here. Mummies were thought to hold fascinating secrets that everybody wanted to be privy to, but this time around the mummy’s words are falling on deaf ears.



The midnight jamboree is open to all, allowing a couple of opera singers a chance to chime in with their own take on “Grim Grinning Ghosts” It’s a good thing these two were buried near one another.



Still more macabre characters join in on the fun, with even the executioner and his apparent victim lending their voices to the chorus. Speaking of voices, the executioner’s was produced by another notorious set of pipes, one Candy Candido, who was well-known for a time as a regular on Jimmy Durante’s radio program and had a vocal range few could match, stretching at least three octaves.



Only a Greta Garbo type could resist getting in on this party…but it looks like we’ve got one.

Candido also leant his versatile voice to produce the caws of the raven who greets you one last time as you enter a large crypt. This is a repeating character seen previously in the conservatory, the seance room, and as you exit the attic and head down toward the graveyard. While this might seem innocuous enough, its presence all over the Mansion is actually leftover from a previous version of the script in which the raven was a second character addressing the attraction’s guests. The idea got ditched, but the raven remained in most of its planned locations. Notice, if you will, that just as the raven appears for the final time, our old pal the Ghost Host chimes in again.

“Aaahh, there you are! And just in time, there’s a little matter I forgot to mention, BEWARE OF HITCHHIKING GHOSTS!!”



Here we get perhaps the most iconic image in the entire attraction– the hitchhiking ghosts, named by fans from left to right, Phineas, Ezra, and Gus. (try to ignore that junk piled up around them, I’m hoping it’ll disappear eventually)



They are the longtime stars of the attraction’s beautiful poster…



..and have been reproduced and lampooned many times over, here by Jack Black, Will Ferrell, and Jason Segel. And why not? They are the topper on the whole ride, delivering one more funny fright.

We turn a corner to go further into the crypt and take a look into some mirrors hanging there, and…

“They have selected you to fill our quota, and they’ll haunt you until you return, HAHAHAH!!!”

For forty years, the Florida Mansion used simple two-way mirrors and rod puppets to put a mostly static ghost into your doombuggy with you. It looked a little bit like this–



Pretty cool. It was a memorable effect that surprised and delighted folks. The only real weakness of the gag was that if you were sitting in the wrong place, the ghost would just sit right on top of you and you would lose the effect. There were benefits to being thin and single.

But in 2011 the imagineers at Disney World installed a new version of the effect, using high-tech wizardry to make sure the ghosts wouldn’t sit on you, and what’s more they each had a silly prank they would play on you. Here’s Ezra’s–



Also pretty cool, right? Well, yes and no. I appreciate that they were thinking of a way to improve the gag, but I think they went a little busy with it. Simplicity would have been preferable. Also, take a look at the CGI involved and compare it to the audio animatronics above. The match is not great. These are quibbles, because I think they can fix such problems by having somebody write a little more code (and hopefully one of these days CGI will look as real, will acquire the heft, of actual wood and cloth. As things stand, my brain still knows the difference between pixels and paste).

As a sort of post script, a tiny maiden figure appears on the left, entreating riders with a series of phrases meant to encourage your participation as ghost number 1,000 –

“Hurry ba-ack…hurry ba-aack.

Be sure to bring your death certificate if you decide to join us.

Make final arrangements now.

We’ve been dying to have you.”



This is “Little Leota,” a nickname given to the diminutive figure because she has both the face and voice of imagineer Leota Toombs, who also provided the face of medium Madame Leota. Sometime between the building of the Mansion in Anaheim in 1969 and the 1971 construction of the one we are touring in Florida, the name became official, appearing on the floor plans.

Why is Little Leota little? Well, maybe she’s one of those dangerous Gaelic faeries, I don’t know. As long as you’re willing to believe in ghosts and faeries, why not ghosts of faeries? She’s no more puzzling to me than that guy trying to escape the coffin in the conservatory.

With Little Leota behind us, the unloading area comes into view –

“Now, I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home, kindly watch your step please, watch your step…”

Take a look on the back of the doombuggy in front of you now and you will see a crooked green arrow showing you which way to exit your own ride vehicle.



This tour is now over, but let’s stop outside and thank the brilliant imagineers who created it…and thank some of the sources I couldn’t have written it without. Sources such as Doombuggies.com, Daveland.com, and the wonderful Long Forgotten Haunted Mansion site were invaluable to helping me bring you a little Halloween fun.



Now it’s time for another tour.

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