A ghost will follow you everywhere
For half of a century, the Haunted Mansion attraction has enthralled, motivated and inspired people of all backgrounds and ages to create art; to pursue career paths in creative directions; to embrace their spooky sides; and to study or simply enjoy the incredible work of Walt Disney's Imagineers. Let's take a look at some of the ways that the Haunted Mansion's mystique has spread beyond its queue and into the larger world.
Tributes, homages, and influences on popular culture
One sure-fire way to tell the Haunted Mansion has made it into the public consciousness is the fact that it once was the answer to a "Wheel of Fortune" puzzle; a telling barometer of pop culture.
The Haunted Mansion has subtly crept into pop culture over the decades since its creation. A few examples? Well, the popular games of "Clue" and "Life" have been remade in the theme of the Haunted Mansion. The Mansion was also once the answer to the puzzle on "Wheel of Fortune." More recently, in "1408," the 2007 film adapted from a Stephen King novella, horror novelist Mike Enslin (performed by John Cusack) claims that the best place in the world to find real ghosts is the "Haunted Mansion, Orlando." And in 1964, Disneyland Records' own ubiquitous "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" record album, which is discussed in the media section of DoomBuggies, helped create anticipation for the Haunted Mansion by creating a lasting connection between the Disneyland brand and Halloween spooks. Following are just a few examples of notable fans of the Haunted Mansion, and their impacts on popular culture.
Whuffie - The Haunted Mansion meets nanotechnology
In 2002, author Cory Doctorow published his breakout novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" (which was repackaged and rereleased in 2018) which takes place in a Walt Disney World of the future. Doctorow, who has since been compared to authors no less than Philip K. Dick and Robert Silverberg, ended up creating a world so engaging that The A.V. Club called the book a "prescient, wholly entertaining yarn that's short enough to be read in a single sitting, and involving enough that it almost inevitably will be."
But what's the story about? Entertainment Weekly describes it like this: Doctorow takes the scariest scientific advances - cloning, medical immortality, an inter-networked world in which social standing is based on eBay-style ratings ["Whuffie"] - and sets them inside a Disney theme park. More specifically, these techno-possibilities are the backdrop for a battle over the Haunted Mansion. Members of the governing "Ad-hocracy" want to preserve the attraction's animatronic innards, but a techno-populist team from Disneyland Beijing has developed a way to flash-bake experiences directly on visitors' brains. The resulting tug-of-war leads to on-line insurrections, fan-led coups, and an assassination... Doctorow's debut is a sci-fi ride worth lining up for. A-
In fact, Doctorow's idea of "Whuffie" or "reputation economies" was deemed significant enough to become the basis for an article in the Utne Reader. The book was inevitably declared a finalist for the 2004 Nebula Awards, and won the Locus Award in 2003. A special note: Haunted Mansion fans can thank Doctorow for allowing them the ability to own email addresses at the HauntedMansion.com URL, since he donated the domain to DoomBuggies.com in 1998. Doctorow, who also can be found on the masthead of magazines such as Wired, MAKE, and Popular Science, is a lifelong Haunted Mansion fan, as regular readers of his blog probably already know, due to his fairly regular postings about the Haunted Mansion in culture.
Doctorow wrote a piece about his nascent Haunted Mansion fandom exclusively for DoomBuggies.
Comics, cops, and rock 'n roll
In 2004, cartoonist Bill Amend told DoomBuggies that the Haunted Mansion had made a huge impression on him as a kid, much as it did to Jason, the character in his comic strip "Foxtrot" with whom he identified. "I remember writing to Imagineering back in my own 'Jason' days asking for the blueprints to the Haunted Mansion because I wanted to build my own," Amend recalled. On March 22, 2004, Bill commemorated the attraction in his popular comic strip - following in the footsteps of Bil Keane, who had also commemorated the Haunted Mansion in his popular "Family Circus" in August 1978, just days after the attraction's ninth anniversary. The Haunted Mansion was also featured on an episode of "NYPD Blue" in a storyline (episode 196, May 21, 2002) in which Andy Sipowicz' son Theo begs to go to Walt Disney World, and later claims to have loved the ghosts that follow you in what Andy refers to as the "haunted house."
Sometime-Guns-'n-Roses guitarist Buckethead has also claimed a fondness for the Haunted Mansion, which his many die-hard fans probably already knew since he often improvises on the Haunted Mansion's theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" during his live performances. Years before his gig with Guns 'n Roses, Buckethead spent some time touring with Primus, during which time he discovered DoomBuggies.com and reached out as a huge Haunted Mansion fan. In conversations with DoomBuggies, Buckethead has talked about a planned solo album consisting of only Disney cover tunes, as he is a huge fan of Disney soundtracks and the Disney parks.
In fact, in 2007, Buckethead released a solo album called "Pepper's Ghost" which is undoubtedly a reference to the Haunted Mansion's ghostly effects - a fact made even more apparent by the cover art on the album, in which two people riding in a carriage that looks suspiciously like a "Doom Buggy" are surprised to find a ghostly Buckethead appear between them. In 2015, Buckethead released a 2-song jam album titled "Project Little Man," almost certainly named in honor of the origin of Audio-animatronics at WED Enterprises.
Enjoy this live recording of famed avant-garde guitarist Buckethead performing "Grim Grinning Ghosts" at one of his concerts.
In 2005, Slave Labor Graphics, under the friendlier title of SLG Publishing, obtained the license to create a number of comic book titles based on Disney properties, one of which is the Haunted Mansion (and the others being "Gargoyles," "Alice in Wonderland" "and "Tron.") The Haunted Mansion comic featured art from many notable independent comic book artists, most notable probably being Roman Dirge of "Lenore" fame. Other popular artists working regularly on the title are Christopher (who created the cover art pictured at right for issue #3), D.W. Fryendall, and Bean. The Haunted Mansion title, which is printed in black and white, offers consistently fresh takes on the various scenes and characters found in the actual attraction, paying close attention to established fan mythology, and offering clever inside jokes. "The ride's elements really lend themselves to an anthology comic book," commented SLG Publishing president Dan Vado. "There are 999 ghosts living in the Mansion, so that means there is potential for 999 different stories."
Professional haunters hearken back to their roots
Many professionals in the special effects and Halloween industries cite the Haunted Mansion as a huge influence on their decisions to enter the fields in which they now work. Make-up artist extraordinaire Rick Baker, who has worked on some of the greatest genre films ever (such as Star Wars, An American Werewolf in London, and Planet of the Apes), claimed that simply being able to walk through the Mansion and inspect it with the lights on was enough reason for him to take the job as a creature creator for the filmed version of The Haunted Mansion. "They asked if I was interested, and of course I said yes. I love the Haunted Mansion!" This is apparent from the concept art Baker created for the film, which echoes the attraction very strongly.
Pictured above: Rick's concept art for the Hitchhiking Ghost characters, and his appliance for "Ezra," one of the Hitckkiking Ghosts. Pictured at right: One of Rick's zombies from the movie. Appliance photos are from the Prop Store Rick Baker auction held in 2015.
The Halloween business may be considered a "niche" industry, but as the second-largest commercial holiday in the United States, Halloween has created opportunities for all kinds of artistic ventures and creative companies. Dark Imaginings' "Ghoulish Gallery," a business that creates eerie changing portraits, is one such company that has direct roots in Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. Founder Tim Turner, who has worked on films as a special effects artist, admits to the Haunted Mansion roots behind "The Ghoulish Gallery." "Having taken a cue from Disneyland''s Haunted Mansion attraction, I'd made a home version of a changing portrait years earlier for a haunted house I'd built for the Downtown Business Association in Long Beach, California," Turner said. "Clearly, this had all the markings of a great Halloween product for the home consumer market."
Computer modeler and theme park designer Ray Keim is another Haunted Mansion fan who has added some amazing contributions to Haunted Mansion fandom in the form of 3-D computer models of the Mansions' facades, which he then converts into paper models which fans can download and build for free from his website, "Haunted Dimensions." Besides very faithful interpretations of both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Mansions, Keim also offers paper models of the entrance gates, various tombstones, and even the conservatory coffin. Keim credits his love of the Haunted Mansion for helping him get through some very hard times during a fight with cancer. "That was when I found DoomBuggies.com and used my recovery time to produce some Haunted Mansion art," Keim said. "The work took my mind off the nagging, dark thoughts which came from worrying about my health, and redirected the energy into something I really enjoyed."
Former Disney contractor built his own Haunted Mansion
Mark Hurt, a theme park engineer and former Disney contractor, has built a 11,000 sq. ft. replica of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion of his own in which he actually lives in a gated community in Georgia. While he designed the home himself and tried to be as faithful to the original Mansion as possible, he had to make minor modifications to make the place liveable - such as adding a cat door and a mailbox. Hurt plans to add singing busts, a talking head in the foyer and a ghost-projection system to the roof of the Mansion someday. But the dimensions and architectural details of the Mansion Hurt created match those of the real Haunted Mansion. Even the wrought-iron fencing on Hurt's front terrace came from the same Alabama foundry that Walt Disney used to create the iron details for the original Haunted Mansion.
Occupy Wall (to Wall) Creeps
In October 2004, Disneyland held a charity auction to raise funds for the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club. The prize? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a part of the Haunted Mansion attraction by being "interred" as the honorary "1000th Ghost" to occupy the Haunted Mansion. The winner was Cary "Jay" Sharp, a doctor and medical lawyer. Cary, who hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was given a special midnight "burial" at Disneyland Park on the porch of the Haunted Mansion, at which time his tombstone, which now rests inside the attraction's graveyard in front of the ghostly band, was unveiled. Sharp was presented with a miniature replica of his tombstone and a "Death Certificate," and he officially became a permanent resident of the Mansion. Over 60,000 people visited the online auction by the time the final bid was tallied. "I was stunned when I realized I had actually won," Sharp said. "To see this clever reference to me in this famous attraction - it really is a special honor."
In 2007, as part of the Disney Parks' "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion, Disneyland and CareerBuilder.com hosted a contest in which participants could apply to be a Disneyland character for a day as a "dream job." Potential applicants could choose to try out for the role of Jungle Cruise Skipper, Princess-in-waiting, Pirate, Parade performer, or Haunted Mansion maid/butler. After thousands of applicants uploaded video resumes to YouTube as the contest required, three of the five grand prize winners in the Haunted Mansion category were members of the DoomBuggies.com forum community: Richard Brigante, Timothy Dunne (seen in the video above), and Gordon Free. Also living out their dream (or should that be "nightmare?") job in the Mansion were Michael Hemphill and Karen Lemker.
The ghostly work of Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily
Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily are two designers who have worked for many years at Disneyland, first working on the varied shows and parades at the park in the Entertainment Art Department for over a decade, and then moving on to form their own company for which they create all sorts of Disney-related projects, from souvenirs and limited-edition artwork to Disneyana and even parades, such as the Pixar Play Parade at Disney California Adventure and the Soundsational Parade at Disneyland Park. Following are just some highlights from their contributions to the Haunted Mansion oeuvre.
Pictured at right are Jody Daily, Jeff Baham and Kevin Kidney at the Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Event at the Disneyland Resort in September, 2009.
Many Disney fans know Kevin and Jody because of the limited edition artwork they create for sale at the Disney parks. In 2004, Kevin and Jody were responsible for creating a wildly successful line of Disneyana celebrating Disneyland's 50th anniversary, which included many Haunted Mansion-related items and was sold exclusively through the Disney Catalog (see photos, above and below). In early 2005, the duo invited select members of the media and online Disney fan community to a non-descript building at Imagineering's Glendale campus to display the new line of collectibles to a very intrigued audience. Disney had simply never released a collection of such intricate detail before, and we (yes, DoomBuggies.com was in attendance) were eating it up.
For example: the lamp shown at right was a preliminary version, and you can see how the paint job differs from the one that was sold, as shown in the catalog page above. Originally, the paint was an overall bronze look, but the final version was painted to appear like a stone monument on a wooden base. Kevin has since shared that he and Jody had a hard time convincing Disneyland Park that the merchandise would find an audience. The park was simply not interested in trying to figure out how to market such a line, so the memorabilia, intended to celebrate Disneyland itself, was sold originally only through the direct-mail Disney Catalog. Of course, the items sold extraordinarily well, and Disneyland tried its best to get into the game after seeing how well the material was selling, so a later wave of merchandise by Kevin and Jody was released both through the catalog and the park as well.
In 2009, Kevin and Jody created the first ever lifesize reproduction of the Haunted Mansion's Hat Box Ghost (pictured at left), a piece they made with an original casting from the attraction, which was sold at auction at the first D23 Expo for $9,300. Kevin and Jody premiered the life-sized Hat Box Ghost at a special DoomBuggies.com event held at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney the day before the Expo, at which time they said that they even kicked around the idea of placing the prop into the Haunted Mansion for a night (for Disneyland's special Haunted Mansion 40th anniversary event), but the timing of the auction just wouldn't allow it. Here's a related story to die for: at Comic Con in 2010 - the year after the first D23 Expo - Disney announced that they had entered into an agreement with Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro to re-visit the Haunted Mansion on film. Insiders shared with DoomBuggies.com that as part of the deal, Guillermo asked Disney to provide him with one of everything Kevin and Jody had ever created for the company. Undaunted, the company came to Kevin and Jody for many of the pieces, also hunting some limited editions down via private sales and auctions. However, one piece that Guillermo really wanted was the life-sized replica Hat Box Ghost the duo had created in 2009. Since they created that auction piece as a one-of-a-kind item, they didn't feel good about reproducing it, even for Guillermo. A compromise was made, and Kevin and Jody created another life-sized Hat Box Ghost, but this one had a aged, rotted-looking face via the paint job, where the Expo version was painted ghostly white to match the original as closely as possible. Guillermo was pleased, and the ghost can be seen in Guillermo's book "At Home with Monsters," a catalog of his private "Bleak House" collection which was displayed at the LACMA in 2016. Pictured below: Details of two Hat Box Ghost faces by Kevin and Jody; the 2009 D23 Expo version (left) and a 2017 painted version reminiscent of the version created for Guillermo del Toro (right).
Listen to Kevin Kidney discuss the Haunted Mansion memorabilia he and Jody Daily have created over the course of their career at the 2009 DoomBuggies.com "Bridal Bash" at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney, Anaheim in 2009. Kevin discusses their work and tells some behind-the-scenes stories of the creation of their popular collectibles. Kevin starts by talking about their full-sized Hat Box Ghost re-creation for the D23 Expo.
In 2011, Kevin and Jody have gone back to the drawing board, to create something special for the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion's 40th anniversary event, which was called "Room for 1 More." The piece, which was offered at auction, is another version of the Mansion's legendary Hat Box Ghost - but this time, the sculpture is designed to look like the famous Collin Campbell illustration of ol' Hattie that was published in the 1969 "Story and Song of the Haunted Mansion" record album that was sold across the country by Disneyland Records. "We decided on a unique interpretation of the Hatbox Ghost - a one-of-a-kind maquette," said Kevin Kidney. " There was - and still is - something deliciously disturbing and exciting about Collin Campbell's illustrations." To add an eerie effect, the team placed the 8-and-1/4 inch maquette under rippled, hand-blown glass. "It distorts him slightly as you walk pass. You may notice that his hand may seem sometimes large or the whole figure will seem slightly squished," Jody Daily said.
Pictured at right, in a photo exclusive to DoomBuggies.com, is the Collin Campbell-inspired version of the Hat Box Ghost, standing atop Kevin and Jody's antique pump organ. Click the photo for a larger version. Kevin and Jody did make another similar maquette to this one for sale at the POPzilla "Foolish Mortals" art show in 2017.
In 2016, Marvel Comics published "The Haunted Mansion," a five-issue series under the Disney Kingdoms imprint. The series tells the story of young Danny Crowe, who is seeking to be reunited with his deceased grandfather who Danny suspects is an occupant of the Haunted Mansion. The books were written by Joshua Williamson (Ghosted, Nailbiter, Justice League, The Flash), another Haunted Mansion fan who has taken a deep dive into every detail of the existing Haunted Mansion to find the right set of circumstances and characters to create an exciting story that fits comfortably within the Haunted Mansion attraction that we all know. As a special treat, there were variant covers printed for the issues of the book, and Jody Daily painted a special cover exclusively for Pop! Comics, a comic book shop in Anaheim, California. The shop hosted an artist signing in April 2016 with Jody and Imagineers Tom Morris, Josh Shipley and Brian Crosby, all of whom were involved with the Disney Kingdoms imprint and worked as liasons between Imagineering and Marvel.
Speaking of Pop! Comics in Anaheim - in November 2017, the shop hosted a small but mighty unofficial art show dedicated to the Haunted Mansion. Hosted by POPzilla, the event, titled "Foolish Mortals - a Tribute to the Haunted Mansion" drew lots of people in on the night, which happened to fall on one of Anaheim's regularly scheduled "art crawls." Kevin and Jody had a number of pieces in the show, including original work they created purely for the show as well as artist's proofs that they had left over from 2005's Disneyland 50th anniversary line of merchandise they had designed. DoomBuggies.com was able to add one of Jody's miniature "Family Portraits" to our permanent collection.
Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily are two of the Haunted Mansion's biggest fans, so it only makes sense that they would have lent their creative prowess to the body of collectibles, memorabilia and souvenirs related to the Haunted Mansion over the past two decades. "We hope that the majority of our collectibles do not reflect our own personal style. We work very hard to keep own 'fingerprints' hidden and really showcase the original design of the item we are replicating," Jody told the Disney Parks Blog in 2010. "The opportunity to research and create a new item within the original design esthetic is enormously fun," Kevin added. "It’s the next best thing to traveling back in time to our own childhoods."
A visit to Le Salon Nouveau
Did you know that there is another Haunted Mansion-related changing portrait in New Orleans Square, outside of the attraction? Unfortunately, not too many people get a chance to see it in person. In 2014, New Orlean's Square storied Club 33 was remodeled, and a jazz club was added to the upper floors of the storefronts in New Orleans Square. Members of Club 33 can now enjoy an afternoon or evening in their own exclusive lounge, which they may enter without making reservations, unlike the Grand Salon of Club 33, which remains a dining room available by reservation only. Le Salon Nouveau, as the lounge is named, contains many Imagineered magical moments which were included for the guests to discover, but one of the most intriguing places in the salon is the hallway that connects the wine cellar to the main lounge - a hallway with four intimate candlelit booths inserted into nooks in the walls, each of which can seat four guests. Each nook contains a wall display which tells a particular story, the most infamous being the nook dedicated to the Haunted Mansion.
The Haunted Mansion nook features a few somber stauettes and candle-shaped lamps, along with intricate Victorian-era woodwork, all apropos of the Haunted Mansion. Most stiking is the centerpiece - a painting of the Haunted Mansion by Leslee Turnbull, a scenic artist and production designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. Leslee (whose scenic design work has also included the films "Scream" and "Ghostbusters 2") created a portrait that tells its own story over time, almost subliminally, as the transformation through the cycles takes most of an hour to complete.
At first, it appears that you are sitting in front of a painting of the Haunted Mansion as it might appear in the middle of the night, with the moon just peeking over the horizon. But as the night wears on, the moon rises, illuminating the night sky. Smoke begins to pour from the chimney as a fireplace casts a faint glow through the windows. Someone carrying a lantern seems to be walking room to room, as the windows light up one after another, until finally the front door opens, spooking the horse hitched to a carriage outside the home. A lone figure peers out of the attic window, when suddenly, the whole house is lit up by lightning as a huge rainstorm blows through the painting. Finally, calm returns as the painting seems to settle back into an image of the house dimly illuminated by the setting moon.
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