A Creepy Entrance Sets the Tone	Through the Gates of the Mansion	The Spooked Groundskeeper

vital stats

personal preference

stars: 4.5 (out of 5)
Another masterpiece of Imagineer art. Not quite as good as Pirates but on a scale of 1,000, it rates 999.

free association

. . . This is the one ride that I was truly terrified of when I was young. I always waited outside with my grandmother when my brother and mom went in. . .

. . . My brother always told me that a real person in armor with an ax sometimes hid in hallway, when the doom buggies face backwards. This freaked me out. Everytime the buggies would turn around, I would peak behind me to make sure there was no one there. (I admit that I still do). . .

I received this response from David Wilson, 24 January 1999.
I saw your story about how your brother told you that there was a man inside the suit of armor in the Haunted Mansion and [how] you always looked back to see if there was a person inside. Well I was riding with my father in the doom buggy and I said "that isn't scary" when I saw the suit of armor then I looked away and it grabbed me. There was a person inside. Then, you probably won't believe this but, it got in my mom's doom buggy that was behind me and my father's doom buggy and rode [until] the end. That was the scariest time I ever had in the Haunted Mansion, but I never saw the suit of armor move again. Pretty weird huh, I wonder if that has happened to anybody else? Well anyway, I thought I would tell you. So talk to it next time, it might talk back, ha ha.

I received this response from Wendy Garza, 10 October 1999.
Hey i was reading the stories on the site about the guy in armour in the Haunted Mansion. It reminded me of one time when i was very young and went to Disneyland with my family. I must have been about six or seven years old and terrified of going on the Haunted Mansion. Well finally my brother and father convinced me to go on with them. We all sat in the same buggy with me sitting on the extreme right side on the edge, my father in the middle of both my brother and myself. Well we got to the part with the knocking doors and we were going backward at the time, well we had past him up and he reached out and grabbed my arm. I screamed and started to cry while him and both my father and brother started laughing. I never saw the guy in the ride ever again.

I found this confirmation about real spooks in the Haunted Mansion from Disney Magazine, Summer 2002 in the "Ask Dave" column.

From time to time, The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland added actual people to the attraction. One was in a suit of armor. These cast members scared even the most jaded guests who had been through the Mansion many times.

Beware, Hitchhiking Ghosts!

pointless trivia

• Imagineer Marc Davis, who also worked on Pirates of the Caribbean, did much of the conceptual drawings and situation humor for the Haunted Mansion, including the stretching paintings and the "changing pictures." (The E-Ticket, Summer 1989)
• An early plan called for a haunted mansion attraction to be built on Main Street, this idea later evolved into the current Haunted Mansion. (The Disney Magazine, Winter 1994)
• A week after its opening, the mansion set a Disneyland attendance record of 82,516 that stood for eighteen years. (Ibid)
• The structure for the Haunted Mansion was finished in 1963 and was based upon a Civil War-era building in the South. It stood eerily vacant, however, for six years before the interior attraction was finally opened to the public. (The E-Ticket, Spring 1993)
• The clamshell-shaped "doom-buggies," the Haunted Mansion's transportation system are nearly identical to the "Atomobiles" that once took guests through Adventure Through Inner Space. This system, called the Omnimover System, allowed Imagineers to physically direct people's attention to desired scenes in the attraction. (Ibid)
• Everyone knows that the ghostly clock in the long hallway perpetually strikes "13" but few notice that its face is being "eaten" by a demon whose tail is the pendulum. (Ibid)
• The late Paul Frees, a prolific voice actor for over forty years, is the voice behind the Mansion's Ghost Host. Known as the "Man of a Thousand Voices" for his skill behind the mic, he also gave voices to the Disney character Ludwig Von Drake, Boris Badenov of "Rocky and Bullwinkle," and was the original voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy. (The Internet Movie Database)
• Speaking of coporate spokesmen, the original voice of Tony the Tiger (They're GRRRRReat!), Thurl Ravencroft, plays the "broken bust" in the quartet of singing statues in the graveyard. His face is often mistaken for Walt Disney's. (Ibid)
• In 1995, the Haunted Mansion was extensively renovated. A new addition to the ride can be seen in the "attic" scene opposite of the ghostly bride. It is a broken piano, played by ghostly fingers, from which an equally broken version of "The Wedding March" can be heard.
• TEST: What is the name of the medium in the seance room and the tiny talking figure at the end of the ride? (Both were modeled after the same person) Answer Below

related links

• Jed's Haunted Mansion Page
• Doombuggies.com
• The Disneyland Haunted Mansion

Answer: Madame Leota (modeled after imagineer Leota Thomas) (Disneyland, Dreams, Traditions and Transitions) - search for it on amazon.com

		pirates of the caribbean