The Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect Thread 7: Further Realms of Fright

[TheHatboxGhost]

Actually, it's not still there. The Munster House and several others on Wisteria Lane were moved to their present location back in the 1980s.

No, it's still there, either on Colonial Street or Wisteria Lane (depending on how they place the signs) on the Universal backlot. It was used several times for the show, "Desperate Housewives."

Originally, the facade was built for use on a stage.

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 04:48 PM ----------

If you're going to get technical, by "still there," I mean "on the Universal backlot," as in "it hasn't burned down."

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 05:14 PM ----------

Do you not see the face and its similarity to the faces inside The Haunted Mansion?

[HBG2]

Wow, a flurry of nice posts.

That 1980 WDW shot is lovely. The place really looks big from that angle.

And O-IWA the Japanese ghost is über-cool, a real piece of long-forgotten HM lore! Thanks a mil for spotlighting that one.

The gingerbread at the Munster house definitely looks like a face. I'm sure it's deliberate, but offhand I can't think of any particular face in the HM that resembles it very closely.

Here's another geekazoid item for the party. This is a photoshop of part of Collin Campbell's graveyard scene in the "Story and Song" booklet, with the smiley-face ghosts and the horn-playing ghost removed. Just for kicks and giggles, to make it a little more grown-up I guess. Or whatever.

[RegionsBeyond]

Fantastic work, HBG2, and a good run of posts indeed! I wish they'd install O-Iwa in the Mansion right now...imagine her as a pop-up head in the attic. It would be amazing.

Here's a nice little morbid retro Disneyland treat for the thread:


Wystan's grave mien. (In Disneyland's Frontierland, August, 1959.) by hathacamera, on Flickr

A shame they don't have this photo op anymore. I'd say it's at the pioneer cemetery on the far end of Tom Sawyer Island to judge by the image.

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 09:54 PM ----------

Also, here's a nice color view labelled 1963 which clearly shows the wall of the 'cemetery' plot.


Haunted Mansion by The Berkeley Girl, on Flickr

[RegionsBeyond]

And yet another pretty...a very nice gold plaque image:

Disneyland 1969 - Gloria - 15 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[TheHatboxGhost]

Inside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, right before you turn to your left to step onto the moving walkway of the ride's Doombuggy boarding area, to your right, there is a column. On that column, there is woodwork that suggests a face similar to the one on the Munster House facade.

[Grinning Ghost]

Actually, it's not still there. The Munster House and several others on Wisteria Lane were moved to their present location back in the 1980s.

No, it's still there, either on Colonial Street or Wisteria Lane (depending on how they place the signs) on the Universal backlot. It was used several times for the show, "Desperate Housewives."

Originally, the facade was built for use on a stage.

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 04:48 PM ----------

If you're going to get technical, by "still there," I mean "on the Universal backlot," as in "it hasn't burned down."

What I was saying is the Munster's house, along with most of Colonial street/Wisteria Lane does still exist at Universal, they are not in the same physical location as they were when the Munsters was still in production. The whole street was moved to a new location in the 1980s. The houses were dismantled, shipped to the new street and rebuilt. Many are in different locations in relation to each other from where they were on the original street set as well.

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 05:14 PM ----------

Do you not see the face and its similarity to the faces inside The Haunted Mansion?

The gingerbread at the Munster house definitely looks like a face. I'm sure it's deliberate, but offhand I can't think of any particular face in the HM that resembles it very closely.

As far as the face over the window goes, it looks a lot like the faces carved on the newel posts of the staircase. Not an exact match, but carved in the same general style.

[TheHatboxGhost]

As far as the face over the window goes, it looks a lot like the faces carved on the newel posts of the staircase. Not an exact match, but carved in the same general style.

Yes, this is what the Munster House woodwork reminds me of. However, I recall seeing it on the column that I cited which, no doubt, matches the staircase posts.

[Grinning Ghost]

Yes, this is what the Munster House woodwork reminds me of. However, I recall seeing it on the column that I cited which, no doubt, matches the staircase posts.

That's because they're also newel posts. There is a staircase right there by the load belt at the end of the "limbo" (loading queue) room. The Doombuggies come down that staircase to the load belt, then back up another staircase to the Endless Hall/Corridor of Doors.

[TheHatboxGhost]

That's because they're also newel posts. There is a staircase right there by the load belt at the end of the "limbo" (loading queue) room. The Doombuggies come down that staircase to the load belt, then back up another staircase to the Endless Hall/Corridor of Doors.

OK, so I'm having a "DUH!" moment. What do you want at 5:00 a.m.? ;-)

However, you CAN see the similarities. I just found it interesting, since "The Munsters" sets and The Haunted Mansion attraction were designed and built around the same time. It makes me wonder if there was some shared influence between them. The face on the Munster House does look rather Crumpish.

[TheHatboxGhost]

You want to know something silly? This is the FIRST TIME that I've realized that the entry to the Boundless Realm/Endless Void/Limbo Space of the loading area is supposed to be the foot or landing of a grand double staircase. I've always known that the Doombuggies come down one set of stairs only to go right back up another, but my sense of the bigger picture didn't kick in until just now.

So, considering that there is nothing between them (except during Haunted Mansion Holidays) and we cannot see the tops of the stairs from the floor, in a sense, the ride loading area is a stairway to -- and from -- Heaven.

Or, is that a bit of a stretch?

[Grinning Ghost]

For decades, I had no idea there even was a staircase back there. I've never been there in person, so all I have to go on are photos and videos, none of which really showed a clear image of what was back there until that photo surfaced a couple of years ago. I just thought it was a blank wall with candelabra in front of it, because that was all I could really see.

[TheHatboxGhost]

I think that what makes the "Grand Double Stairway to Heaven" illusion less obvious is the fact that the left side staircase is somewhat concealed by a wall and boarding of the Doombuggies occurs more to the right, to give passengers time to get in and allow for the moving walkway.

---------- Post added 02-23-2012 at 08:09 AM ----------

For decades, I had no idea there even was a staircase back there. I've never been there in person, so all I have to go on are photos and videos, none of which really showed a clear image of what was back there until that photo surfaced a couple of years ago. I just thought it was a blank wall with candelabra in front of it, because that was all I could really see.

At Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, when you first arrive at the boarding area, all you can see is the right side staircase and it is directly in front of you. The staircase on the left is not obvious, as it is concealed by a wall, and passengers don't turn toward the "Boundless Realm" until the last minute. Had the facing staircases been more centered or, if, on approach, they were visible more equally on both sides, the illusion would be much more effective.

Imagine how interesting it would look with eerie clouds or some type of churning mist in that central void, between the facing staircases. Or, if there was a projection there to hint at some sort of vortex. It can't be too blatant though. The beauty of The Haunted Mansion is its unfolding, a concept that they've lost sight of completely in Florida.

[HBG2]

Fantastic work, HBG2, and a good run of posts indeed! I wish they'd install O-Iwa in the Mansion right now...imagine her as a pop-up head in the attic. It would be amazing.

Here's a nice little morbid retro Disneyland treat for the thread:


Wystan's grave mien. (In Disneyland's Frontierland, August, 1959.) by hathacamera, on Flickr

A shame they don't have this photo op anymore. I'd say it's at the pioneer cemetery on the far end of Tom Sawyer Island to judge by the image.

---------- Post added 02-22-2012 at 09:54 PM ----------

Also, here's a nice color view labelled 1963 which clearly shows the wall of the 'cemetery' plot.


Haunted Mansion by The Berkeley Girl, on Flickr

Yes, that's the little graveyard behind Fort Wilderness. Thanks for drawing attention to the pic; I save photos of that graveyard whenever I come across one. Interestingly, one of those '59 stones is still there:



That Haunted Mansion photo is dated "ca. 1963," but if you look through the rest of the batch (75 pix), all dated the same, it's clear that the date is wrong. The New Tomorrowland is there, but as we can see, the brick wall on that side of the HM is still there, so it cannot be earlier than 1967 or later than the first half of 1969, since I don't know exactly when they remodeled the enclosure to what it essentially is now.

And yet another pretty...a very nice gold plaque image:

Disneyland 1969 - Gloria - 15 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Yeah, that's the best pic evah of the '69 plaque. There are a few other HM shots in that batch too.

Inside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, right before you turn to your left to step onto the moving walkway of the ride's Doombuggy boarding area, to your right, there is a column. On that column, there is woodwork that suggests a face similar to the one on the Munster House facade.

Just like everyone else, I pulled up a photo of the newell post face, but you guys beat me to it. There is some resemblance.

You want to know something silly? This is the FIRST TIME that I've realized that the entry to the Boundless Realm/Endless Void/Limbo Space of the loading area is supposed to be the foot or landing of a grand double staircase. I've always known that the Doombuggies come down one set of stairs only to go right back up another, but my sense of the bigger picture didn't kick in until just now.

So, considering that there is nothing between them (except during Haunted Mansion Holidays) and we cannot see the tops of the stairs from the floor, in a sense, the ride loading area is a stairway to -- and from -- Heaven.

Or, is that a bit of a stretch?

Is this argument actually stretching? Or is it your imagination? Actually, I'd never heard that theory before. It's interesting. In favor are the matching newell posts on either side of the two staircases. Against is (1) the fact that the right-hand staircase clearly bends back in the wrong direction, and (2) one staircase is fitted with a prominent set of gryphons and the other is not, spoiling the symmetry you would probably expect to find with a grand staircase design. So I'm skeptical.

[TheHatboxGhost]

They should add griffins at the foot of the right staircase. Then, we could get a better look at them. ;-)

---------- Post added 02-23-2012 at 10:08 AM ----------

I think it is supposed to be a grand staircase, regardless of the bend.

---------- Post added 02-23-2012 at 10:19 AM ----------

Look at half of one of Buckingham Palace's grand staircases:

If you were coming up on the staircase in this image from the background, facing the part of the manor that is beyond the foreground, the staircase would appear to be bending just like the right side staircase inside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. So, perhaps what we have with the Haunted Mansion's load area is an elevated landing, or a balcony at the brink of The Unknown.

[HBG2]

So...you're coming into the load area by passing under the balcony?




That's not impossible, given the fact that you're supposed to be able to see very little. In that sketch, "purple" = visible, "green" = supposedly invisible in the darkness. Note that there's only one newell post on the right side. The other one (if it's "there") is "lost in the darkness" and may be located at any angle you need. I'm still not convinced this is what they consciously conceived, because I think they would probably have made a tighter match if that were so, but despite some imprecision I'd say it's not an impossible imaginative construct. The oddly asymmetric and rigid zig-zag of your approach to the doombuggy load is a problem in that it kind of goes against the grain of this kind of construct. You'd have to imagine that the carpet pattern, the light fittings, and the low walls are only concessions to reality and not "really there." Also, if this is what they wanted, they could have made the doombuggy load line up straight and could have made the staircases facing each other directly, without the slightly backward bend.