Prior to their death, these men were musicians who were supposedly an unnamed band before all five of them died individually at an unknown cause, forming into a musical group known as the Phantom Five. They are a group of ghostly people who use instruments to play "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and are often seen playing their instruments to add music while a group of animate busts sing along while two owls and a group of cats sing along, followed by a canine howling in the background. They all use five individual unique instruments respectively.
Effects[]
Unlike what happened in the original attraction, the instruments the minstrels used are not always the same ones used in the recording heard in the soundtrack versions of "Grim Grinning Ghosts". The bagpipe player appears to be using an oboe instead of bagpipes, due to bagpipes being too difficult to record; the music heard from the bagpipes are actually reused melody from an oboe which is played out of tune, making it a non-standard tune used for the bagpipes. Some tracks, such as the ones used by the flute player and trumpet player, were created by recording the music being played backwards through retrograde, causing the track to be recorded in reverse to result in unnatural effects to make both instruments play a non-standard tune. The music used for the drummer is actually created through the sound of banging stones together. The harp is the only instrument played normally.
All five members of the Phantom Five are encountered in the graveyard area where they are seen playing instruments together while a group of five busts join in the singing. Other characters that can be seen with the musicians are owls and a family of cats while a canine is seen howling in the background.
Due to the success of the attraction at Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion attraction was later constructed at Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, still featuring the Phantom Five in it.
Additionally in the Florida version of the attraction, an instrument is engraved onto the Composer's crypt in the queue for this version to which when touched, instrument sound effects are heard. The other side of said crypt includes macabre instruments inspired by the unbuilt Museum of the Weird attraction and an illustration of an ominous-looking black cat.
The Phantom Five appears in one scene in the form of musical instruments when Jim Evers enters Madame Leota's chamber and begin annoying him when he and Leota are levitated, wherein the latter warns the former to save himself and his family. The band later chases Jim through the halls until he enters a room containing a set of stairs to the attic wherein he slams the door shut and the instruments collide.
The Phantom Five is encountered in the Conservatory area in the video game adaptation of the film. Two band members make a comment that their band needs "more cowbell".
In the Haunted Mansion comics by Disney Kingdoms, Madame Leota sends the Phantom Five to guide Danny Crowe through the Endless Hallway to the Grand Hall. They later appear in a crowd of ghosts lead by Pickwick.
All members of the Phantom Five, except for the flute player, were playable in the discontinued Disney Crossy Road game. The playable band members consisted of the Horn Player, the Bagpipe Player, the Harp Player, and the Drummer respectively.
Trivia[]
The Singing Busts are often misidentified as "The Phantom Five", which is the official name of the ghost minstrels seen in the Haunted Mansion's graveyard sequence, due to both the Busts and the minstrels being both musical groups.
The drummer character is based on an unused concept designed by Marc Davis who designed a ghost character named "William Drury", often labeled as the Drummer of Tedworth, based on the character from folklore of the same name.[1]
