If you spend enough time inside the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, you’re going to have a good ghost story to share.
One of my first jobs at Disneyland was an attractions host (ride operator) at the Haunted Mansion. And as an overly enthusiastic 17-year-old, I was eager to look around behind the scenes and to ask the old timers to share their stories.
I quickly realized that everyone had a ghost story. At first, I thought they were just goofing around with the new guy. But soon enough, I realized that these people weren’t kidding. When you spend eight hours a day in a dimly lit building (that is now more than 40 years old), you begin to see and hear things. With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share a few of the best stories.
The boy on the stairs
A very common ghost story, especially among the women who work at the Haunted Mansion, is seeing the little boy sitting on the stairs. When you board the ride vehicles (Doom Buggies), there is a cast member at the end of the speed ramp who checks to ensure your lap bar is down. Every now and then, the person working that spot will turn and see a little boy playing along the steep incline that is themed as a staircase.
Most people say that they see the little boy sitting on the stairs, crying. When they approach, he will stand and run into the attraction. Others have seen him stand and jump between the cars, vanishing on the other side. I vividly recall one night where a coworker saw the boy run into the ride and hit the emergency stop button because she was so convinced that a little boy was loose inside the attraction.
Update: Mental Floss has an article that quotes a story about a family scattering ashes inside the Haunted Mansion of their deceased 7-year-old son. This seems like a probable source for the little boy story.
The old man at the exit
When you step out of your ride vehicles, there is a cast member who helps you disembark. Often times, there is a gap between groups of riders, especially at night. For these periods of time, the worker is left alone, walking in place on the treadmill.
If you happen to turn around when you get off the ride, you’ll see a large mirror on the wall. The employees use this to see behind them while walking on the treadmill. It is an easy way to spot the occasional teenager who thinks it would be fun to jump back on the ride. But often times, the employees see mysterious people in the mirror.
The old man is one of the most common sights in the mirror. I had coworkers tell me that they would see the elderly man walking around confused, as though he didn’t know how to exit the ride. When they would turn around, there would never be anyone present. And if you’re all alone in the dark like that, and think you just saw a ghost, the Haunted Mansion can be a very frightening place to work.
Dearest Grandma Joyce
My last story is one that I actually experienced. Every now and then, someone will bring an urn filled with ashes to Disneyland with the plan to sprinkle the remains somewhere in the park. This is technically illegal in California, and Disney’s security often stops people from doing this, but there are many others who do this discreetly and avoid detection.
One of the less discreet families had a dearly departed grandmother Joyce and decided to sprinkle her remains inside the Haunted Mansion. On one of the security cameras (yes, there are many) we saw people throwing plumes of powder from both sides of their Doom Buggy. The crew stopped the ride, but were unable to identify which car was sprinkling the remains.
That night at closing, one of the cast members noticed that some of the plants had been pulled up in the flowerbed near the ride’s entrance. Buried a few inches beneath the dirt was an empty urn with a brass plaque which read “Rest in Peace our Dearest Grandma Joyce,” with a list of family member names engraved beneath.
For several months, the urn stayed in the video camera room inside the Haunted Mansion. But eventually, a few bored employees took the empty urn up into the catwalks inside the Haunted Mansion and made a little memorial for Grandma Joyce somewhere above the graveyard scene. I’m not sure if the urn is still up there, but the odds are that the remains her family scattered throughout the ride are still around.
Every ride has a ghost story
The Haunted Mansion is naturally a place where people have ghost sightings, but strange things seem to happen throughout the park. When you have buildings filled with animatronics, stage lighting, and strange sound effects, you’re going to see or hear something unusual (and that is on a good day). This is especially true after hours when the rides are turned off and the employees and work crews make their rounds.
And who knows, maybe there are some ghosts lurking around. The Disneyland Resort has been around for more than half a century and millions of people have visited the place. Odds are that at least one of those visitors have decided to stick around a while.
I saw this on Facebook and had to read the ghost stories. Glad I did. These were really creepy, especially the kid on the stairs. I’ll have to keep an eye out for him the next time I go on the ride.
I worked at the mansion when I was a cast member years ago. I’d swear that I always felt someone tap my shoulder when I was at unload and then would turn around to see nothing at all. I never told anyone because I figured they would never believe me. :)
I once had a ghost sneak up and eat my churro. True story.