The Backstories and Magical Secrets of Walt Disney World

by Christopher E Smith

  The Bicentennial and Walt Disney World

  When the Disney company moved forward with its massive Florida project, the old Liberty Street idea was taken off of the Imagineering shelf and added to the park’s plans in the form of Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom. One of the key factors that contributed to Liberty Square being included in the Magic Kingdom’s plans was the upcoming American bicentennial celebration. The Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971, only five years ahead of the bicentennial. Including Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom provided Disney executives and Imagineers with the opportunity to not only get a head start on celebrating America’s bicentennial, but also gave Walt Disney World a completely unique land that provided guests with another reason to make the trip to central Florida and visit the new theme park.

  Liberty Square has undergone the fewest changes of any land in the Magic Kingdom. In 1971, guests who visited Liberty Square experienced the Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents, and the Liberty Square riverboat (in the form of the Admiral Joe Fowler), and dined at the Liberty Tree Tavern. While several small shops and restaurants have come and gone during the past half century (some of which will be discussed in the following chapters), the quaint streets of Liberty Square look much like they did in 1971.

  chapter five

  The Haunted Mansion

  Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion! I am your host, your ghost host… Kindly step all the way in, please, and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now.

  —Ghost Host, The Haunted Mansion

  The Haunted Mansion is a classic Disney “dark ride” that opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. This popular attraction combines a richly detailed and interactive queue, dedicated cast members, wonderful theme music, both classic and cutting-edge special effects, and numerous storytelling elements to create perhaps the most thematically detailed attraction in all of Walt Disney World.

  Every guest who experiences the Haunted Mansion notices at least a few of its storytelling details. After all, breathtaking moments like ghosts eerily appearing and disappearing in the famous ballroom scene are hard to miss even for the most unobservant guest. But the story of the mansion goes much deeper than just the headliner moments that we all know about. Every light fixture, every painting, every piece of furniture, every window, and even the dust that covers those objects all contribute to this tale of antebellum mansions and Dutch Gothic manor houses, a headless horseman and a bloodthirsty sea captain, singing busts and stretching rooms, Little Leotas and hitchhiking ghosts, creative differences and Imagineering amalgamations. So join me as I take a look at the story (both real and imagined) behind one of Disney’s most beloved attractions.

  And one more thing. Don’t forget to bring your death certificate… There’s no turning back now…

  Backstory

  Disney has not released an official backstory for the Haunted Mansion. Given that the attraction has operated in the Magic Kingdom for almost a half century, that official backstory will probably never come. At first glance, that seems surprising. After all, if Imagineers took the time to create backstories for attractions like the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and for restaurants like the Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe (both of which will be discussed in later chapters), then surely they did the same for one of the most popular attractions in the entire park. The reality, however, is that the Disney company struggled for decades to decide what the Haunted Mansion would be from a storytelling perspective. The end result that we enjoy today is an amalgamation of numerous ideas and concepts pulled from the differing standpoints of some of Disney’s most famous Imagineers, including Ken Anderson, Rolly Crump, Yale Gracey, Marc Davis, and Claude Coats.

  Notwithstanding the lack of an official backstory for the Haunted Mansion, a number of different versions have arisen organically by virtue of the attraction itself and by virtue of heavy fan speculation and theories that have arisen due to the overwhelming passion that guests across the world have for this classic Disney experience. In addition, I can’t help but to include a few of the creative backstories crafted in the early days of the Haunted Mansion’s development that never made it off the drawing board.

  A Ghostly Retirement Home

  The Haunted Mansion is, broadly, a retirement home for ghosts. Walt Disney first conceptualized this backstory during the 1950s when he referenced a “haunted house” project as a ghostly retirement home during an interview with BBC in London.

  This backstory was “resurrected” in 1963 when Disneyland’s version of the Haunted Mansion was still in development. At that time, the exterior façade of the Disneyland attraction, a beautiful antebellum-style mansion, was complete. However, Imagineers were still struggling to decide what form the attraction inside the beautiful structure would take. During this time, a sign written by Imagineer Marty Sklar was hung on the wrought-iron fence surrounding Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. It read:

  Notice!

  All Ghosts

  And Restless Spirits

  Post-lifetime leases are

  now available in this

  HAUNTED

  MANSION

  Don’t be left out in the sunshine! Enjoy

  active retirement in this country club

  atmosphere the fashionable address for

  famous ghosts, ghosts trying to make a name

  for themselves…and ghosts afraid to

  live by themselves! Leases include License

  to scare the daylights out of guests

  visiting the Portrait Gallery, Museum of

  the Supernatural, graveyard and other

  happy haunting grounds. For reservations

  send resume of past experience to

  Ghost Relations Dept. Disneyland

  Please! Do not apply in person.

  Years later, Imagineer “X” Atencio would write both the attraction’s theme song and its general script. In doing so, Atencio was essentially painted into a corner from a creative standpoint by Sklar’s 1963 ghostly advertisement. Jason Surrell explained this situation in his book The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies (2009):

  Almost by default, X. returned to Walt’s original concept of a retirement home in which displaced spirits could spend their afterlives happily haunting any unsuspecting guests who came calling.

  “The main reason for that was the sign that had been sitting out there for six years,” Atencio explains. “We had been out gathering ghosts for all this time.” And so in one final, ironic twist of fate, one of The Haunted Mansion’s numerous delays had backed X. into a makeshift storyline. Marty Sklar’s sign, inviting “all ghosts and restless spirits” to enjoy “active retirement” in these “happy haunting grounds” had presold Disneyland guests on the story. So that was what X. decided to give them.

  The backstory for Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion was carried through to Disney World’s version. In the “Preview Edition: Walt Disney World ‘The Vacation Kingdom of the World’” (1970), an early marketing booklet for the park, Disney described the Haunted Mansion as “an active retirement home for 999 happy ghouls, ghosts, and goblins.”

  The most obvious nod to the backstory of the mansion being a ghostly retirement home comes from the attraction itself, and specifically the narration by the mansion’s famous “Ghost Host.” In fact, the entire attraction consists of the Ghost Host’s “sales pitch” to guests to join the other deceased retirees. When guests approach the Library, the Ghost Host explains:

  Our library is well-stocked with priceless first editions. Only ghost stories, of course. And marble busts of the greatest ghostwriters the literary world has ever known. They have all retired here, to The Haunted Mansion.

  Actually, we have 999 happy haunts here, but there’s room for 1000. Any volunteers? If you should decide to join us, final arrangements may be made at the end of the tour.

  In the Corridor of Doors, the Ghost Host does his best to “sell” guests on staying at the Haunted
Mansion: “We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat. Every room has wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills.”

  At the conclusion of the attraction, one of the mansion’s most famous characters, “Little Leota,” eerily beckons guests to: “Hurry back…hurry back…be sure to bring your death certificate…if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We’ve been dying to have you.”

  A Doomed Love Triangle

  Because of the overwhelming passion that thousands of fans have for the Haunted Mansion, many “unofficial” backstories for the attraction have arisen over the years through creative stories told by guests and imaginative cast members that have been passed down throughout the Haunted Mansion’s history. Although it would be impossible to list them all here, I can’t help but to share a few of my favorites.

  One of the most popular fan-created backstories centers on a romance between Master Gracey, the supposed owner of the mansion for purposes of this particular story, and Emily, the love of his soon-to-be short-lived life. Another woman, Madame Leota, also loved Master Gracey. Following his engagement to Emily, Leota developed a sinister plan to prevent that engagement from becoming a marriage. Driven by madness, Madame Leota murdered Emily on her wedding day and disposed of the body by placing it in a trunk in the least-visited area of the mansion, the attic. Although Leota thought that Master Gracey would then fall in love with her once Emily was out of the picture (and in a trunk), Gracey instead fell into a deep depression and hung himself (the figure that guests see in the Portrait Gallery). Madame Leota also died in the years that followed due to old age. As a curse for her many sins, Leota’s spirit is trapped inside the eerie manor house and continues to haunt it today.

  As you can imagine, different iterations of that story have also been told and passed down throughout the years. Some versions have Master Gracey leaving Emily for Madame Leota, and Emily thereafter hanging herself. Other versions refer to Master Gracey’s fiancé as Constance, rather than Emily (as I will discuss later, the character of “Constance” is a big part of the Haunted Mansion today). Still other versions tell that Madame Leota pushed Emily out of a window instead of placing her in a trunk.

  Another fan created backstory claims that the Haunted Mansion was first built hundreds of years ago. Throughout the centuries, all of the former owners of the mansion were killed or died in mysterious and haunting ways, and their spirits are now trapped within its Dutch Gothic confines. According to this story, Master Gracey was only the last of these many owners who are now trapped inside the mansion. This story explains both the large number of spiritual inhabitants (999) and the various time periods represented by the ghostly inhabitants (from Great Caesar’s Ghost to a medieval knight).

  A Mansion Built on Sacred Indian Burial Grounds

  Although unnoticed by most Magic Kingdom guests, another brief backstory for the Haunted Mansion can be heard on the Liberty Square riverboat. As the Liberty Belle travels around the Rivers of America and approaches the mansion, narrator Sam Clemens provides the following hilarious backstory:

  Do you see that brick mansion back over yonder there in the woods? I’ve heard folks hereabouts say it’s haunted. They say it was built on sacred Indian burial grounds so now it’s filled with spirits. If you ask me, I’d say the ones telling those tales are the ones filled with spirits. If you want proof, just ask ’em. They got it. About a hundred proof, I reckon. And whatever you do, don’t strike any matches if they aim to breathe in your direction, or you won’t just be seeing ghosts, you’ll be joining them.

  Captain Gore, Bloodmere Manor, and the Headless Horseman

  In the early development stages for Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, Disney executives and Imagineers considered a number of backstory concepts. The first of these potential backstories was developed by Imagineer Ken Anderson and focused on the legend of Captain Gore, a sea captain who mysteriously disappeared many years ago. “Beauregard the Butler” would have led a tour through Gore’s mansion. According to the story, Captain Gore brought his beautiful bride Priscilla to the mansion in 1810. When Priscilla snooped around her new home, she opened a hidden treasure chest that belonged to the captain. The chest revealed that he was really the notorious pirate Black Bart. Enraged by his wife’s discovery, Captain Gore murdered Priscilla, whose spirit thereafter haunted the mansion and, eventually, drove Gore to suicide.

  Ken Anderson’s next iteration of a backstory for the Haunted Mansion centered on Bloodmere Manor:

  This is the lakeside estate of the unfortunate Blood family. Our house had a tragic and bloody history of unlucky owners who died sudden and violent deaths, which resulted in their unhappy ghosts remaining behind to fulfill the uncompleted missions of their lives. We started the work of restoration as soon as it arrived at Disneyland, but strangely enough, the work of each day was destroyed during the night. It mysteriously remains always night within the house. So we recommend you stay close together during your visit, and please, above all, obey your guide’s instructions…

  According to this backstory, a construction worker was unfortunately walled up inside the manor during its restoration. Because of this tragedy, work on the structure was halted, but the spirit of the construction worker continued to haunt the manor. This backstory was particularly appealing, given the substantial delays between the time the exterior façade of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion was revealed to guests and the actual opening of the attraction several years later.

  At one point, Anderson even looked to the 1949 Disney animated “package film” The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad for inspiration. This version of the Haunted Mansion storyline would have climaxed at “midnight” in a conservatory overlooking a graveyard when “[t]he distant sound of pounding hoofs signals the approach of the Headless Horseman, who finally crossed the scene just outside the windows as his horse gallops through the tops of the trees.” The arrival of the Headless Horseman commenced a wedding party for “Monsieur Boogyman” and “Mlle. Vampire.” Other monstrous attendees of this wedding would have included classic monsters such as Dracula and Frankenstein.

  Mini-Stories

  The Haunted Mansion is unique in that, even aside from an over-arching backstory, it also includes two “sub-stories.” One is the mystery of the Dread Family that guests encounter in the exterior portion of the mansion’s queue. The second is the story of Constance the Bride and her many husbands, which is told in the attic scene of the attraction itself. Both of these stories are discussed below.

  STORYTELLING ELEMENTS

  The Queue

  The queue for the Haunted Mansion is one of the best in all of Walt Disney World, and immerses guests in a storytelling experience long before they actually step inside the spooky house...beginning with the ominous façade of the mansion itself.

  THE ATTRACTION FAÇADE

  A haunted antebellum mansion, while appropriate for a New Orleans Square-themed area in Disneyland, would have been completely out of place in Liberty Square, a land themed to the U.S. colonies during the time of the American Revolution. In looking for inspiration, Imagineers turned to a famous short story by American author Washington Irving.

  “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was first published in 1820 as part of a collection of thirty-four essays referred to as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The story is set in 1790 in an isolated valley near the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town in a bend of the Hudson River. Given the time period and geographic location of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” as well as the Disney connection to that story by virtue of the 1949 package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Disney Imagineers found the perfect inspiration for the Florida version of the Haunted Mansion. As Disney described the connection: “On nights when the moon is a ghostly galleon and the sky is a cloudy sea, one might well imagine Ichabod Crane riding this way on his fateful journey through Sleepy Hollow.” With this inspiration, Disney Imagineers looked to the stately manor houses of that era and that
region, and developed plans for a dramatic Dutch Gothic-style mansion, incorporating characteristics such as strong arches and significant stone foundations and cornerstones.

  The Walt Disney World version of the Haunted Mansion is distinctly more menacing and foreboding than its Disneyland counterpart, with an architectural façade that literally towers above guests. Its imposing presence is amplified by the fact that the mansion sits on a hill, towering over the Rivers of America and the nearby shops of Liberty Square. This was a deliberate design decision, as in Disneyland, many guests assumed that the attraction was appropriate for people of all ages. Imagineers wanted to make sure, with the Disney World version, that the façade conveyed to guests that the mansion might be too scary for younger children. While there are no explicit references to Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, or any other character from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in the attraction, the decision of Imagineers to draw architectural inspiration for the Haunted Mansion directly from “Sleepy Hollow” and the resulting mysterious, unsettling atmosphere it exudes, is perhaps an even greater tribute.

  In addition to the “Sleepy Hollow” influence, Disney Imagineers also drew inspiration from the Harry Packer Mansion in designing the exterior façade. The Harry Packer Mansion was built in 1874 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, by railroad tycoon Asa Packer. Its dramatic Gothic architecture is similar to that of the Haunted Mansion.