The Haunted Mansion boasts 999 happy haunts, roaming its chilly halls and dancing through its ballroom. But what started the haunting? Why is the Haunted Mansion haunted?
During development for the attraction, Imagineers floated tons of different ideas. There were tales of murder, abandonment, jealousy, limbo…all the ingredients for a great ghost story. But in reality, no one ever settled on one concrete tale. Instead, the Mansion became a medley of different little ghost tales, all blending together to form one mysterious mansion.
Here’s a look at the main stories that helped shape the mansion.
THE 1000th HAPPY HAUNT
The first tale actually transforms you into the 1000th Happy Haunt. When you arrive in the mansion, you become terrified by the mysterious halls and corridors. As you attempt to find your way out, Madam Leota summons the spirits to further scare you and perhaps draw you into the realm of ghosts. In the attic, the Black Widow Bride pushes you out the window, and you fall into the graveyard. By the end of the ride, you appear in a mirror alongside another ghost; you have become a happy haunt. You may have the ability to leave the mansion, but a voice reminds you to “hurry baaaaack” to your new home as soon as you can.
CONSTANCE HATCHAWAY
You’ve seen the axe-wielding bride in the attic. The heads of at least five different husbands vanish from the frames as you pass by, and then you see Constance eerily grinning with her sharpened weapon.
According to this legend, Constance’s fifth and final husband was George Gracey, caretaker of the Mansion. In the stretching room, she’s seen in a portrait sitting atop George’s grave. When she murdered Master Gracey, her soul became trapped in the mansion, alongside many other wandering spirits.
THE PIRATE CAPTAIN
The third tale of the Mansion fits the home with its land: New Orleans Square. According to the legend, the mansion’s owner married a young woman and brought her to the mansion. Upon her discovery that he was in fact a pirate captain, not an ordinary sailor, the captain murdered his young bride. Feeling remorse for his actions, the captain hanged himself from the rafters of the mansion, which had become haunted by the spirits of those he killed in his life as a pirate.
A “RETIREMENT” HOME OF HAUNTS
None of these are the “real” story of the Haunted Mansion, because there isn’t a single story to be found. Imagineers took pieces of different tales, and wove them together to create the attraction we know and love today. If you ask me, it’s way better that the Mansion doesn’t have one concrete story. You get to decide for yourself what happened there, and having so many unknowns makes it all the more exciting and mysterious.
I have also heard in previous that the mansion was home to a runaway bride. She fled and when she left, her husband and all the servants became trapped inside, waiting for her to come back.
That’s a cool story too! Although there is a bride in the attic, and in the exit elevator. So does that mean she did come back, after all?
I’ve heard the first one before, that seems to be the most common. But the other ones are cool too!