The Graveyard Specters are characters featured in the Haunted Mansion attraction at the Disney Parks.
Background[]
These specters are a group of ghosts serving as the 999 happy haunts of the Haunted Mansion. They are seen rising from the graveyard where mortals enter the area. Most of the specters seen closely resemble bedsheet ghosts with white colorations around their body in a transparent appearance resembling shroud-like figures.
Effects[]
The effects used for the specters was used via animation projected on a large scrim, which is invisible. However, the light projections are visible seen on the surface of the fabric.
Development[]
According to concept art by Marc Davis, several of the ghosts proposed for the graveyard were to be used in the graveyard scene prior to the attraction being finalized. Several of the unused ghosts consisted of the likenesses of:
- Beheaded Knight
- A skeleton
- A man in a bowler hat
- An old hag
- A king with an impaled sword
- A gentleman in a tuxedo with a cane.
- A knight armed with a spear
- A Native American archer
- An old man equipped with a knife
- A man with a cigar
- A monk
Many of these ghosts went unused in the final version of the attraction, being replaced by shrouded figures.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
In all three versions of the attraction at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland, the specters are seen rising from their graves, visible via balcony after exiting the attic scene. Just as guests escape the attic scene, a large group of specters emerge from their resting places, which can be visible throughout the scene while "Grim Grinning Ghosts" plays.
Other appearances[]
Tales from the Haunted Mansion[]
The specters are depicted on the front cover of the third volume Grim Grinning Ghosts.
Haunted Mansion (2023)[]
The graveyard specters appear in the 2023 film reboot of the 2003 film adaptation of the attraction. Most of the specters take the form of skeletal spirits.
The specters are first seen in the background in Ben's nightmare where he walks around the graveyard to find his deceased wife Alyssa. They later take part in the climax of the film where they are seen chasing Father Kent as part of Alistair Crump's orders along with many other ghosts who chase him in the form of a mob. They also appear during an ambush at the graveyard taking part in battle against Father Kent who commands the other ghosts fight off Crump, followed by Bruce who delivers a piece of the hat to Harriet who uses Madame Leota's incantation to banish Crump. With Crump defeated, the graveyard specters suddenly disappear.
At the end, they can often be found floating around the mansion grounds and interiors with the guests during a Halloween dance party celebrating.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The graveyard specters in the Haunted Mansion attraction resemble the evil spirits from the Fantasia segment, Night on Bald Mountain, which in turn made Imagineers to have inspired the attraction.
- Coincidentally, the wraiths are also inspired by the said spirits from the attraction.
- Concept art for Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris showed shrouded specters heavily inspired by the evil spirits from Fantasia. These variants of the graveyard specters were going to be used for the Phantom Canyon scenes themed around the "Wild Hunt" and ghostly cowboys called "Ghost Riders” motif found in American Western folklore respectively. Additionally, the Ghost Riders were going to depict ghostly spirits riding on ghostly bison in the sky. Although both of these elements were originally scrapped, a portrait of a ghost rider would later be added in the Phantom Manor in 2019.
