Haunted Mansion Urban Legend

[phamton]

I read this at:
http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=27;t=000202

I can't verify whether it is true or not but it was interesting:

"OK.. now I know all of you are wondering what the heck happened to
Haunted Mansion when it closed yesterday (Sat 12/14)...

My CM friend called me this morning and let me in on the WHOLE story.
Now some may not think this to be true, but he is a CM and I trust his
words!

A woman walked into the Mansion last night with a bag of stuff. As the
attraction went on, the ride opperators noticed the lady throwing around
what looked like white dust. When she came off the Mansion, the bag was
completely empty.

Well they closed the Mansion down and had the crew come in. They
thought it might possibly be Anthrax. Well the crew said it was not,
they said it was body ashes.

They found the women and questioned her about it. She said her son had
recently passed away and that he was a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion
and she wanted it to be his final resting place.

This woman now has to pay $5,000 dollars for all the trouble she
caused. For the clean up crew, for the time Mansion had to go down, and
for some other things."

Bev "died and went to WDW" Hamilton

 

[Testtrack321]

Look at DoomBuggies.com and go to the hauntings page.

This is an old (but modified for this version) of an old story at Disneyland. The story went very similar, only the woman asked, Disney said no, and then she went on it, and dumbed the ashes in the attraction. Rumors say you can see the ghost of the child on the exit belts waiting for his mother to come back.

Spooky...

 

[phamton]

Mouse Planet is verifying that, in this case, it happened on Saturday: http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/dk021218.htm

Bev

 

[Wes]

Originally posted by phamton
Mouse Planet is verifying that, in this case, it happened on Saturday

I see no verification there at all. They are simply repeating it.

 

[phamton]

Originally posted by Wes
I see no verification there at all. They are simply repeating it.

You are right. What I actually meant was there are much more "facts" which may be checked . The original post didn't give details except for the date. The info at Mouse Planet has much more details.

My home-away-from-home is snopes.com and has been since the site was first open. I enjoy researching and verifying or debunking urban legends. I am aware that this is a story that has gone around for quite a number of years but was intrigued by this slight mutation (the anthrax scare added for effect). I do know that Urban Legends are not neccessarily false. Often they are based on an actual events and then embellished. Sometimes, ULs are even imitated in real life, i.e. an UL starts out as untrue but is then used in real life, such as the razor blades placed in playgrounds intentionally.

Whether this event at the HM actually happened or not, I don't know but am hoping someone has personal knowledge (not a friend of a friend) about this particular incident. That's why I posted it here.

Bev

 

[KNWVIKING]

... but, if I were a person who wanted to spread ashes inside HM I could do it very discretely and no one would know I'd done it. HM is a very dark ride.Simply hop in a Doom Buggy and slowly sift the ashes out as the ride progresses. Who would ever know.

 

[grinningghost]

Don't they watch the riders on monitors or something?

 

[grimgrinnin]

The CM's watching the infrared cameras would know.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Infared camera images are OK at best,the work when people are being real idiots. I still think someone could very calmly and discretely dispose of ashes without being discovered.

 

[phamton]

This was posted on snopes BB (a bulletin board which discusses Urban Legends):

Just received the following e-mail from the Anaheim PD:

To: Vincent Ferraro Subject: Question about Disney rumor

Good morning Officer Ferraro, I frequent an Urban Legend site and recently there have been postings which suggest that on December 14 a woman went on a ride at Disneyland and scattered the ashes of her son along the ride. The post also say that the ride was shut down for several hours and the Anaheim Police and Fire Department were called out to investigate.

I would greatly appreciate if you could confirm or deny that this incident occurred.


Reply from Anaheim Police Dept.:

Kim, I have no knowledge of such an incident, we did not respond to such an incident. Respectfully,

Officer Vince Ferraro 296 Anaheim Police

Mouseplanet says the Anaheim police were involved: http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/dk021218.htm

A cast member was sent into the ride to investigate, and he detected what a smattering of dust, "gray, like ash." Disney couldn't take any chances. The crew cycled out the vehicles and evacuated the attraction. Soon, park security, the fire department, Anaheim police, and about every manager in the park were on the scene. Investigators identified the substance as "human remains." Eventually custodians were called to clean the ride and disinfect the culprits' vehicles, Buggies 49 and 50. The closure lasted hours.

Although this doesn't prove the incident didn't occur, it does seem that the police department wasn't called.


Bev

 

[Safari Steve]

Mansion (WDW) did not close down on Saturday, 12/14. Nothing of the sort happened.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

This happened at DISNEYLAND! . Let's not add fuel to the false rumors that will be added to this event each and everyday!

Mike

 

[phamton]

Originally posted by Safari Steve
Mansion (WDW) did not close down on Saturday, 12/14. Nothing of the sort happened.

I'm sorry that my original post didn't make it clear that is was Disneyland. The story at Mouseplanet makes it more clear:

The Haunted Mansion has long advertised itself as home to 999 happy haunts — but always looking for one more. Last Saturday night, December 14, guests took Disneyland up on its offer.

The small group of visitors arrived at the Mansion late in the evening and asked for their own stretching room (elevator). They explained that their 7-year-old boy died recently, and the Haunted Mansion was his favorite ride. They wanted to take time to pray and have a quick memorial service for him. Even though the queue was crowded, the lead granted their request.

The party proceeded through the attraction without incident, until their Doom Buggies were well on their way. Suddenly, via the hidden camera monitors, the host in the tower noticed one of the guests throwing a powdery substance out her Buggy. Instead of stopping the attraction, the operator repeatedly asked the party to not throw anything on the ride. When they didn't stop, he called a lead, but it was too late. The guests had exited and vanished into the crowded park.

A cast member was sent into the ride to investigate, and he detected what a smattering of dust, "gray, like ash." Disney couldn't take any chances. The crew cycled out the vehicles and evacuated the attraction. Soon, park security, the fire department, Anaheim police, and about every manager in the park were on the scene.

Investigators identified the substance as "human remains." Eventually custodians were called to clean the ride and disinfect the culprits' vehicles, Buggies 49 and 50. The closure lasted hours.

"I don't know what bothers me more, that these people could do this with no concern for the law or those who work there," said one onlooker. "Or that the cast member didn't stop the ride immediately — what if it had been something lethal? Or maybe it is the fact that they couldn't get it all and some went under the track and down into the ballroom and now it will always be there. Or maybe just the fact that now a majority of this boy's remains are in the bottom of a Disney trash can. I am horrified, however you look at it."

In the Mouseplanet story (which seems more believable to me) there is no mention of a $5000 fine as the people slipped away and no mention of "anthrax" scare. But it does mention the Anaheim police being involved, which they denied via email.

Bev

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Originally posted by Safari Steve
Mansion (WDW) did not close down on Saturday, 12/14. Nothing of the sort happened.

*Pssst* Steve, your bias is showing... There is another resort on the other
coast, ya know.

 

[Safari Steve]

Bev "died and went to WDW" Hamilton

That's what threw me off, everybody...

 

[raidermatt]

Don't sweat it, Steve. If that's the worst of your offenses here on the Rumors/News board, you're practically qualified to be a Rumors/News Saint! Mr. Cricket is advocating ANIMAL CRUELTY on another thread, for Pete's sake!

 

[pheneix]

As someone who posted "Anthrax Scare" headline at WDWMagic, let me take the blame for adding that fuel to the fire. The e-mail that I recieved detailing the incident was titled "We Had An Anthrax Scare Last Night," and I pretty blindly looked for confirmation and then posted it without researching the situation fully. That is my fault and I apologize for inadvertantly overinlating this incident. However, I will add that this DID occur.

The initial quote in this thread was from a post at Laughing Place, which I quoted as a second source for my post at WDWMagic. This probably spread the quote into places that it shouldn't have, so again, my bad.

For the record, the e-mail that I recieved (I will not post it on a public forum) made no mention of the Anaheim Police, but did state that it was being initially treated as an Anthrax Scare (a pretty generic term for anything of this nature) from a park operations standpoint, as from the security cameras it looked like a white substance getting spread around.