The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion

by Jeff Baham

  The singing was recorded as a master soundtrack to which the faces would be separately filmed while lip-synching to the tape. Originally, five actors were to be selected to portray the busts on film, but when musical director Allen Davies saw the men recording the parts with lots of expression and character, he suggested that they be considered for the filmed roles as well. Photos of the singers were taken and sent to WED for reference during the sculpting of the busts, and the filming took place on February 21, 1969. In Persistence of Vision magazine, singer Jay Meyer recalls being placed in a harness (to restrict head movement) and being made-up to look like a statue. “You could wiggle your mouth, and your eyes…but don’t move your head, or you’re off camera,” Meyer said. [4]

  The graveyard also presents the ride’s largest display of Audio-Animatronics creatures. In the case of the Haunted Mansion, many of the robots were created with translucent materials, allowing patrons to actually see their inner-workings, which gave the beings a skeletal appearance. Some of the ghosts also share expressions created with the same basic forms as animatronics from other Disney attractions. Tremblay explains:

  There are several facial profiles, and if you look closely, you will see that the facial features of a figure in one show can often be seen in a character in another show. In other words, Disney makes the most of the molds they designed. It is very costly to make these molds and face skins, so by making certain generic designs, they need not make an individual mold for every single human figure in all of the parks. So what sets them apart? Wigs and costumes. By varying hair and face hair styles, and with the differences in costumes, the WDI people can mix and match, and when the finished product is unveiled, you couldn’t guess that any two were the same .

  This is not to say that there are only a few different facial styles. There are many, but when a mold can be utilized to make a face for the Carousel of Progress figure, and the same mold to make the face of a Pirate, then it is good sense to do so.

  Tremblay goes on to speak about other differences in the animatronics’ features. “The shapes of various body sizes are created by the plastic body beneath the skin and clothing. The facial molds for the skins utilize a certain ‘skull’ type, and they are molded to tightly fit that skull. Inside the skull and body plastic are installed the framework and mechanisms that give the figure life.” Other details are covered in the “finishing” process. Tremblay continues: “Our artist preparators maintain the skins and animal furs, such as the raven’s feathers, the caretaker’s dog’s hair, the owl feathers, and the like. Then our costuming department manufactures and maintains all the outfits you see throughout the park, including the Haunted Mansion ghosts. This refurbishing is done on a weekly basis, as the costumers and artists make periodic show checks of their own and schedule their work as needed.

  “So when people squawk about the cost to spend a day in the park, it is too bad they don’t have a clue as to what it takes to keep a place like this going,” Tremblay points out.

  Despite the rather dry description, the Imagineers and technicians that work with Audio-Animatronics day in and day out can still get a little chill from working with them. “One of the things that always bugs me, and this is true of all the rides that have automated figures in them,” recalled Imagineer Tony Baxter, “is that occasionally they still have a little bit of power in them, and they’ll [make slight motions after being turned off]—and that is really frightening!” [5]

  In the case of the Haunted Mansion, the characters are also quite unique in appearance because of the ultraviolet lighting and fluorescent coloring used on the features. “We have special UV mercury lamps to bring out the black light painted features,” Tremblay said. “The painting of figure face skins, props, animals, and other things is the job of the artist preparators. They have a special room lit with black light, and this is where they do most of their work, under the same conditions as in the shows so that they can see how their artistry will look there.”

  The UV illumination does present its own set of problems, however. Tremblay explains :

  Because the figures are exposed to ultraviolet rays from the lamps all day, year after year, the paint fades and the effect dims. When this occurs, then they must be redone. The skins are stretched over a figure part made of Butyrate plastic. When a skin is to be refurbished, a clean knife cut is made, just long enough to remove the polyvinyl chloride skin from its animatronic form. Upon completion of the renewal, the skin is returned, placed back on the head, hand or whatever, and “buttered” back in place. “Buttering” is the process of cauterizing the cut halves together with a buttering iron, which is nothing more than a soldering iron with a special butter-knife-shaped tip. While holding the two halves together with one hand, the other passes the hot buttering tip between the halves, and the halves are held together until the melted cut surfaces cool and weld themselves together. It is really an art form, because the skins are very valuable, and when the buttering is done, you are not supposed to even see the seam where the cut was made So as you see, there is a lot more to maintaining an animatronics figure or prop than just replacing bad bearings and actuators.

  As the Doom Buggies prepare to leave the cemetery through the opening in a large crypt (under the watchful glare of the ember-eyed raven), the Ghost Host returns for a final send-off:

  Ah, there you are! And just in time. There’s a little matter I forgot to mention: beware of hitchhiking ghosts! They have selected you to fill our quota, and they’ll haunt you until you return!

  As the Doom Buggies move into the dark crypt, they pass a chamber in which three hitchhiking ghosts wave their thumbs at the passing carriages. The three famous ghosts have become unofficial mascots for the ride, and are often the most common recollection guests will have from their trip through the Haunted Mansion. The trio of animatronic characters includes a stumpy, hairy bearded ghost holding a ball and chain; a tall, skeletal ghost; and a portly, grinning ghost toting a large handbag. Turning away from the hitchhikers, the Doom Buggies face a series of large “mirrors” on the walls of the crypt. Inside each mirror, which is actually just a glass window, each patron can see himself or herself sitting with one of the hitchhikers, the ghost grinning wildly and turning his head back and forth until the carriages pass the last mirror, and the ghost vanishes. According to an interview X. Atencio gave to Storyboard magazine in 1989, the hitchhiking ghosts effect came together at the last minute: “My favorite is the exit. That’s a real great topper. It was kind of an afterthought, though. It didn’t come until the ride was practically put in there.” [6] Though the ghosts that will “follow you home” were not actually an afterthought, as they are referenced both on blueprints and in the recorded narration, the effect wasn’t ready to be viewed when the attraction first opened, and some early riders have reported seeing a hazy ghostly effect in the mirrors, rather than the hitchhikers, which is most likely what Atencio is remembering.

  The hitchhiking ghost gag is a distant relation to the Pepper’s Ghost technique used to make ghosts disappear and reappear in the Grand Hall scene in the sense that it involves the viewer’s perception of reflection blended with reality. While the dancing ghosts are only reflections in the Grand Hall scene, the hitchhiking ghost you see in your carriage is an actual mechanical character that you are looking at through a false mirror. Due to the dim lighting in the crypt, you see yourself reflected in the glass of the “mirror,” but you also see the illuminated animatronics moving behind the glass, as they follow a track that is synchronized with the Doom Buggies. This effect was first described in relation to the Haunted Mansion by Ken Anderson, when he created notes relating to the staged presentations he developed for the Headless Horseman in the 1950s.

  X. Atencio poses with the hitchhiking ghosts in front of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion in 2008. Photograph by Liana Kilgore.

  The hitchhiking ghosts are built in much the same way as the other graveyard ghosts: a transparent plastic frame is placed around the raw, mech
anical innards, and semi-transparent plastic clothes are placed on the ghosts to give them a see-through, skeletal feel. The original sculpt for each of the hitchhiking ghosts was created by WED Imagineer Blaine Gibson, and it is Gibson who was responsible for the disproportionate, bug-eyed, leering skull-like visage that we have seen a few other times in the attraction, most notably in photographs on the walls in the corridor of doors. This head was also the one used for the short-lived Hat Box Ghost.

  With the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion’s 2011 transformation, the mirror effect was modernized to use digital animation rather than simple reflection. Guests at the Florida attraction are treated to fully animated hitchhiking ghosts that are completely produced from a computer, and they interact with the guests’ “reflections,” climbing around the Doom Buggies and even swapping heads with the riders.

  You may also notice torches hanging from the walls in this cavernous room—torches held aloft by bony human arms mounted to the walls. Thank Rolly Crump and his wonderfully weird predilection for this surreal send-off, inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film Beauty and the Beast , which featured a mansion outfitted with all sorts of human body parts.

  Buddy Baker and X. Atencio’s clever song gives the Haunted Mansion its pacing and momentum. But unlike most attractions, which aim to leave you humming the theme song while it reverberates away in your head, Baker and Atencio leave you with a different feeling as you exit the darkness of the Haunted Mansion. By recording one final track in a mournful, melancholic form with a simple a capella quintet, the Haunted Mansion leaves you a bit disquieted, with perhaps a twinge of curiosity. Did you really just see all those amazing things? How did they do that? As Atencio’s final lyric proclaims in an understated manner:

  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...

  Leaving the hitchhiking ghosts behind, you find yourself passing a sign that proclaims that you’ve reached the “Dead End,” and will soon be rejoining the living world—at least until that sign vanished some years ago and joined the rest of the Haunted Mansion’s residents in the afterlife. “Now I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!” the Ghost Host says, finally ending his possession of your carriage and freeing you to leave his haunted abode .

  Looking around as you prepare to exit your Doom Buggy, it becomes apparent that you are in a large stone crypt. As the eerie chorus hums the melody to the Mansion’s theme, you leave your Doom Buggy and walk toward the exit, stepping onto a moving walkway. But before you escape, you’ll be treated to a final eerie effect, as you pass a miniaturized ghostly woman with flowing robes, no more than two feet tall. “Hurry back…hurry back,” she pleads. “Be sure to bring your death certificate if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We’re just…dying …to have you...”

  This miniature “Ghost Hostess” consists of a small prop body positioned on a ledge of the crypt, about ten feet from the walkway. Hidden fans blow its draping costume around, creating billowing robes and giving the scene a mysterious, windswept feeling. The projector, which projects only the face, is hidden out of sight as well. The face of the miniature ghost is of WED Imagineer Leota Toombs (as was the face of Madame Leota—and because of this, this ghostly character goes by the name of Little Leota). In this case, the voice of the Ghost Hostess is also that of Leota Toombs, whose sultry delivery suited the character. In the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion, the Doom Buggies pass by Little Leota before guests finally disembark.

  The Little Leota prop doll as it appears without animation. The hands are positioned to hold a bouquet of decaying flowers. Photograph from the DoomBuggies.com collection.

  The moving walkway ends as the light grows brighter, until finally, the Haunted Mansion’s patrons emerge from the dank crypt into the sunlight and Disneyland’s New Orleans Square (or Walt Disney World’s Liberty Square), near the waters of the Rivers of America rippling under a steamboat. As the smells of churros and popcorn again fill the air, the patrons prepare once more to immerse their senses into the next magical Disney experience.

  A Haunting Discovery

  At the celebration for the Haunted Mansion’s 40th anniversary at Disneyland in 2009, Imagineer Tony Baxter recalled stumbling into a fascinating discovery:

  The movie The Haunting is set a short drive from New York. Well, I was in England near Shakespeare’s Stratford-Upon-Avon, minding my own business, driving along, and over here in the woods is the most amazing, haunted-type house you’ve ever in your life seen. So I pull off the road, drive up, and it’s a sort of gentleman’s retreat thing. I check in, and the butler says “Sir, would you like to take the ghost tour?” An 85-year-old butler comes out of retirement each night to do this tour, and he comes out holding a lantern...

  It turned out that Baxter had stumbled across the same property which Robert Wise had used to film The Haunting . “I was in nirvana!” Baxter continued. “I’d found Mecca…the Haunted Mansion!”

  Tony Baxter at Disneyland in 2012. Photography by Carrie Vines.

  Chapter Eleven

  Needful Things

  When Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion finally opened its creaking doors in 1969, it was with great fanfare, since the attraction had been gaining notoriety in the public eye after having an empty façade that sat forlorn and waiting for almost a decade. When it was finally opened to the ghost-seeking public, it became the cornerstone of improvements and additions made to Disneyland park-wide, and it was promoted heavily via radio and print advertising.

  Upon entering the park, guests cross under the Disneyland Railroad station via two tunnels that display circus-style “attraction” posters advertising the various experiences they might wish to undertake during their stay. Disneyland created a new attraction poster for the Haunted Mansion, and included cartoon images of the hitchhiking ghosts, characters from the attraction which would go on to become its unofficial mascots.

  Earlier, we noted the “I Scream Sundae” that Disneyland created to sell at its Carnation Company ice cream parlor on Main Street in honor of the Haunted Mansion’s grand opening. The promotion was advertised inside the park with special handmade silk-screened posters (as all of Disney’s early attraction posters were made). Those posters are also extremely rare examples of early marketing materials for the Haunted Mansion that are highly valued today. Similar posters might fetch thousands of dollars from avid Disneyland park memorabilia collectors.

  Disneyland souvenirs were a popular means of promoting the park and making a bit of profit on the side, so Walt Disney Productions did not hesitate to capitalize on the new attraction with clever gadgets and mementos that would woo the public’s continued interest. One of these was a Haunted House Mystery Bank which didn’t contain any Haunted Mansion-specific graphics, but did contain beautiful tin lithography in the form of a haunted house, and a battery-operated ghost that floated out the front door to capture loose change. This bank was most likely an item that Disneyland found on the wholesale market and appropriated for the park.

  Another popular souvenir was the Secret Panel Chest, a wooden puzzle box that had a colorful illustration of the Haunted Mansion on the top that could only be opened by using a secret combination of movements. The boxes were constructed by a small company in Hikone, Japan, using many types of wood for each box. They were available in three different sizes. Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions of the Secret Panel Chest were created, with different graphics for both parks.

  A less expensive souvenir was the glow-in-the-dark Changing Portrait, which consisted of an illustration of a typical man or woman, pasted on black cardboard with a gold sticker proclaiming it a product of Disneyland’s (or Walt Disney World’s) Haunted Mansion. The illustrations were printed over with phosphorescent paint that would glow in the dark, changing the
placid illustration into some type of demonic visage when the lights were turned off. A sample in good condition might cost a collector as much as $250 today. There were both Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions of these souvenirs, which were available in many different designs.

  Disneyland’s Main Street Magic Shop was also a natural tie-in for the Haunted Mansion, so for a dollar, visitors could purchase a book called Magic from the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland with common tricks themed to the attraction. The park also sold the requisite postcards featuring scenes from the Haunted Mansion, and super-8 film spools, ViewMaster reels, and Pana-Vue slide sets from the ride.

  The Randotti Company, well known in the 1960s for creating various plaster skulls, tikis, and totems, entered into an arrangement with Disney in which they made a number of exclusive items, including skulls and plaques. Most popularly, they also created a line of small plaster tombstones, approximately four inches wide by eight inches tall, with various pithy epitaphs and a blank space where the purchaser could personalize his tombstone with his own name. “Here Lies (blank), Gone to Happy Haunting Grounds,” was a popular stone, as was “Here Lies (blank), Loaded—So Was the Gun.” Disneyland Cast Members would apply rub-down lettering to customize the tombstones right at the kiosk where they were purchased.

  Randotti collectibles were also themed to the Pirates of the Caribbean and Adventureland areas of the park, and all such collectibles are highly valued today. The line of Randotti skulls remain extremely popular collectibles, and they had versions with long hair, versions with jewels in the eyes, even versions with snakes coiled around them. All of them were specially treated to glow in the dark .