HM secret

[clara]

Hi

Some bits of the story that I know:

Master Gracie built the mansion as a gift for his new bride, and on the night of the wedding was planning a huge ball (the "swinging wake").

Madame Leota was in love with Gracie and determined to have him for her own so she placed a spell on the mansion.

She then locked his bride in the attack in a trunk. Then when you encounter the bride (with her red beating heart, still alive for Gracie) she is upset that you are living and she no longer is, so she pushes you out the window. (Note: this is why you "fall" in your doom buggy, backwards down a slope. If you notice when you look back towards that room you can see you've left the house) and are headed for the grave yard.

I don't remember how the ring actually got into the cement (in the story!) but seem to remember something about Master Gracie tearful of losing his bride planting in at the gates? Near the coffin wagon? Don't remember all that ...

That's all I have ... I think!

- Clara

[Conceited Ape]

Years back, I was gettin' chummy with one of the HM castmembers. Her name was Athena (it was the roses I was carrying around for Jasmine. She ultimately scored one off me). Last I heard, she retired last year, and I hope she's doing well wherever she may be now.

Get on track, alright, focus kid--she shared with me an entire printed collection of pages detailing the back stories; both the 'official' ones and the ones castmembers themselves had come up with on just about every spook in the place, and one of the sordid tales was of the "ring" (I had never noticed nor heard about it before that day, and I needed her to point out the spot to me when she got a break). According to this printout, Gracie lobbed it from the attic, yadda yadda, and the hearse permanently made it part of the pavement when it rolled over the band.

[lovedisprinces]

This weekend i went up to a cm to inquire about his version of the ring. well he went on to tell me how he really didnt like that people said it was a ring and that it was just a pole and that the story was really pointless. I was really surprised that he actually started tlaking like that. But then the next day over at Epcot my friends and i got to know 3 HM CMs and they liked the whole ring thing which made me feel oddly better about the story even though i found out more behind the scenes stuff than story stuff. They had some really interesting stories to tell.

[Minnie_Mouse007]

I have to ask the CM's next time about the ring!!!(Also, a LITTLE bit off topic, but, isn't there a "real" ghost on the HM ride?) I remember hearing about a little boy and another ghost named George. There might have been some threads on it, but I have NO CLUE where they are. Can anyone help?

[Conceited Ape]

The way I heard it (this absolutely reeks of urban legend), but there is indeed at least one spook in the Florida version of the mansion that the imagineers didn't count on. According to the castmembers I've spoken to, sometime in the early '80s, a little boy died somehow, and the family opted to have him cremated. Knowing how much her son loved the mansion, she respectfully requested to have the ashes sprinkled inside. The powers that be naturally were disinclined to acquise to her request (I guess they figured it'd have been a PR disaster if word got out about it, and it would have). Undaunted, the mother hopped on the ride, and stealthily spread the ashes herself.

There were a few castmembers several years back who claimed that on certain nights after the rush was over, it was possible to glimpse a sad, lonely looking boy riding in the space between the doom buggy loading and unloading areas. From what I've heard, the poor little guy always appeared to be pretty unhappy. I suppose that makes sense--I know I wouldn't have wanted to have ridden the Haunted Mansion alone at his age.

Again, I'm not sure how much veracity there is to this tale. It could have just been a story the castmembers of the 1997-1999 era liked to pass on to curious geeks like myself.

Not sure if this has any connection to the one about the young boy, but Athena (the castmember I became the friendliest with) confided that during her tenure, some of the guys were goofing around with a camera in the buggy unloading zone one night after hours, and when the photos were developed, there was something white and vaguely humaniod in among the crew. No one could offer a good explanation for it. I honestly wish that I could have seen the shot for myself.

Happy hunting!

[the7thAve]

I think I heard once (maybe on doombuggies.com) that a plane crashed near where the HM is now and that the pilot, who was killed, is one of the supposed real spooks in the place.

[Dragonrider1227]

The way I heard it (this absolutely reeks of urban legend), but there is indeed at least one spook in the Florida version of the mansion that the imagineers didn't count on. According to the castmembers I've spoken to, sometime in the early '80s, a little boy died somehow, and the family opted to have him cremated. Knowing how much her son loved the mansion, she respectfully requested to have the ashes sprinkled inside. The powers that be naturally were disinclined to acquise to her request (I guess they figured it'd have been a PR disaster if word got out about it, and it would have). Undaunted, the mother hopped on the ride, and stealthily spread the ashes herself.

There were a few castmembers several years back who claimed that on certain nights after the rush was over, it was possible to glimpse a sad, lonely looking boy riding in the space between the doom buggy loading and unloading areas. From what I've heard, the poor little guy always appeared to be pretty unhappy. I suppose that makes sense--I know I wouldn't have wanted to have ridden the Haunted Mansion alone at his age.

Again, I'm not sure how much veracity there is to this tale. It could have just been a story the castmembers of the 1997-1999 era liked to pass on to curious geeks like myself.

Not sure if this has any connection to the one about the young boy, but Athena (the castmember I became the friendliest with) confided that during her tenure, some of the guys were goofing around with a camera in the buggy unloading zone one night after hours, and when the photos were developed, there was something white and vaguely humaniod in among the crew. No one could offer a good explanation for it. I honestly wish that I could have seen the shot for myself.

Happy hunting!

I thought that happened in Disneyland's version. Hmm, I could be wrong.

[Conceited Ape]

I thought that happened in Disneyland's version. Hmm, I could be wrong.

That's entirely possible, too. Or, it could be bunk (caught myself searching for a 'shrugging' smiley off to the right, no dice). But as most any fan of Disneylore knows, good stories die hard.

[epcot_fan_wayne]

your all crazy

[kylewhit89]

ok
we were on our keys to the kingdom tour
and our guide (jeff) told us that the story behind the ring is not true

because the amount of people coming off the ride they had to remove a gate (fence post- all the same) and after they removed there were things stuck in the ground and that person stuck a screwdriver in it to get it out
but the suceeded in getting one out
but the other("the ring") broke the screwdriver and gave it the diamond looking part of the "ring"

did that make sense???

[Dragonrider1227]

ok
we were on our keys to the kingdom tour
and our guide (jeff) told us that the story behind the ring is not true

because the amount of people coming off the ride they had to remove a gate (fence post- all the same) and after they removed there were things stuck in the ground and that person stuck a screwdriver in it to get it out
but the suceeded in getting one out
but the other("the ring") broke the screwdriver and gave it the diamond looking part of the "ring"

did that make sense???

makes sense. But it's fun to pretend.

[kylewhit89]

makes sense. But it's fun to pretend.

yes at times
it is funt to ur imagination ......

[lovedisprinces]

Yea, thats the story the HM CM told me when I asked about the ring. The one that I got annoyed with.I still wanted to know the fun story but he went and told me the truth about the ring. I proboly should've said that whole story earlier but now ill just confirm it from a CM at the place.

[epcot_fan_wayne]

wdw is awesome

[Conceited Ape]

Yeah, I'd agree that one is just a story, as well. Just a couple of things don't hold water. The concept of "crucifixion of a dog on an upside-down cross" in order to release a demon would probably make the couple of devil worshippers I've met laugh out loud (ironic, but most of this country's devil worshippers and Satanists (there is a difference, but I don't know all the details and wouldn't particularly care to get into them if I did) can be found down in the Bible-belt southeast. In some places, the mainstream society is so fundamentalist, it seems to actually push folks to the other team, so to speak). Basically, there's no need to get that extreme, and frankly, that stereotypical; if you're out to spring some blackness into this world (and as long as we're rollin' on this subject, that demonic grandfather clock at the end of the hallway of doors in the Mansion always seemed to really be pushin' the limits of a "family friendly" attraction to me; excluding maybe the Manson family, but I digress).

The other detail that had me sort of raise an eyebrow is the idea of CMs pulling a stunt like this in defiance of the ever-present Disney security. Maybe it wasn't this good a decade back, but take it from me: at Disneyland, smile--you're on camera pretty much everywhere you go (exception is inside a stall in the restrooms). Not too long ago, two CMs who worked in the French Market Grill got their pink slips when the cameras caught them getting intimate in one of the massive walk-in freezers (as if this wasn't bad enough for all involved, I understand that every bit of food in there was declared unfit to be served, and was tossed, all as a result of two kids who just couldn't wait until after their shift. What a waste. On the bright side, it's kinda comforting to know that Disney takes food sanitation as seriously as they do).