SBubba18
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- Joined
- Jun 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,008
Hello all,
Every year around this time I start to post different ghost stores/other things about Disney. Since Halloween is coming up, I have always found it fun to do this. It is my 3rd year of it. Here is some things I have found out about the different ghost on the Haunted Mansion Ride..
This information is about the ghosts in the "Ghost Gallery".
Name: The Haunted Mansion
Born: October 31, 1671
Died: N/A
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
The Mansion was built in 1671 by Ub van der Iwerks, a Dutch burgermeister. He chose the site on a hill overlooking the river despite warnings from the town elders that he was desecrating a sacred Indian burial ground. Construction was plagued by freak accidents, causing laborers to become scarce. The burgermeister finished the bricklaying himself, stubbornly seeing the project through to completion. He moved his family in on October 31, 1671. Details of what happened next are sketchy. . .apparently Ub went mad and sealed himself in a tomb in the adjacent graveyard. What is clear is that the van der Iwerks family abandoned the house.
In the decades that followed, the Mansion served as a pirate’s hangout, a brothel, and an army barracks. Those buried in the Mansion’s graveyard are only a sample of the many that died on the premises.
In 1871, the deed passed to Colonel Ronald Stevens, a wealthy publisher, in the winning from a riverboat card game. The Colonel began an extensive renovation of the Mansion, which was as ill fated as its original construction had been. When Fred, a stonemason, was killed by a falling rock, Colonel Stevens took over the stonecutting himself. He moved his family in on October 31, 1871. Shortly thereafter, the Colonel lost his mind. Neglecting his lithography business, Colonel Ronald Stevens spent his last days carving his name backwards on tombstones. He finally died in a boiler explosion. The remaining bits of him were buried under each of the gravemarkers inscribed SNEVETS NOR.
The Stevens family sold the Mansion to the American Spiritualist Society, which used it as a retreat. The Society converted one of the rooms into a seance circle, which was used nightly to summon departed spirits from far and wide. They had logged over 900 contacts by the time the Society was disbanded in 1914. The trustees then sold the Mansion to Master Graceys father.
George Gracey, Sr., bought the Mansion for use as the Graceys’ winter home. After George was murdered, his widow sold the Gracey estate, except for the Mansion, which Master Gracey inherited.
Name: Uncle Edward Gracey
Born: November 9, 1877
Died: May 1, 1937
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Uncle Edward Gracey was the brother of George Gracey, Sr.. Edward never married, though a brief liaison with a Miss Foster in Buffalo produced an illegitimate son, Eddy, born about the same time as Master Gracey. Eddy Foster would one day be the Mansion’s gardener.
After college, Edward Gracey entered the diplomatic corps. His duties took him from the State Department in Washington to far-flung capitals of the globe. He only returned to the Gracey home once, to attend his brother’s funeral and his sister-in-law’s trial.
Uncle Edward helped his nephew whenever he could. While serving as consul to Cairo, he obtained permission for Master Gracey to export an Egyptian mummy and sarcophagus. The last time the two relatives met was when Master Gracey traveled to Africa on a bat-hunting expedition. They had a falling-out over the way Master Gracey was spending the family fortune, and never spoke again.
In 1937, Edward was appointed ambassador to Burma. One evening, soon after his arrival in Rangoon, he was dressing for a banquet. While waiting for his trousers to be pressed, he looked over his speech. Suddenly, armed insurgents burst into the embassy compound, ordering everyone to evacuate. Edward slipped into a secret passage taking him from his quarters to his office. There he discovered guerrillas putting a candle to the fuse on a keg of dynamite. Edward leaped on top of the barrel and declared: "If you blow up this building, you’ll have to take me with it!" The men looked at each other, shrugged, and left. He tried in vain to extinguish or remove the fuse. Like a captain going down with his ship, Edward Gracey went up with his embassy.
Name: Francis Xavier
Born: January 10, 1740
Died: October 1, 1771
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Francis Atencio Xavier was born aboard his father’s merchant ship the Mariposa, and spent most of his boyhood at sea. He was educated by his mother, who had taught in a convent school in St. Augustine before her marriage Francis’ favorite subject was history. He loved to listen to the old seamen spin yarns about pirates, especially tales of Bluebeard, who died exactly 300 years before Francis was born. The boy wanted to visit Bluebeard’s tomb, but his father wouldn’t hear of it. Francis vowed that someday he would be a pirate just like Bluebeard. His wish was granted sooner than he expected.
One day a fast ship flying the Jolly Roger swooped down on the Mariposa. A boarding party quickly disarmed the Mariposa’s small crew. The pirate captain, an aged buccaneer called Whitebeard, didn’t find the cargo to his liking (it was a hold full of bolts of fine cloth). Instead, he seized Francis and spirited him away. Whitebeard intended to hod the lad for ransom, but when he saw how eager Francis was to become a pirate, he made him his apprentice. For the next few years Whitebeard showed Francis the ropes of piracy.
One day Whitebeard sailed his ship upriver from their home port to an old mansion that was a favorite haunt of cut-throats and loose women. He told Francis that he knew he was dying and that this was where he wanted to be buried. Francis tried to make the old pirate comfortable, but Whitebeard insisted that his deathbed should be the same hard plank he always slept on. He gathered his men around and told them Francis was their leader now. Someone asked him what name he wanted on his gravestone. Whitebeard whispered "Martin" and the light faded from his eyes.
Francis Xavier’s first command after burying his mentor was to sail for England to make his long awaited pilgrimage to Bluebeard’s tomb. He was so taken with it that he decided to take it with him. His entire crew labored all night to move the massive stone structure containing the infamous pirate and six of his wives, and load it onto the ship for the return voyage. Bluebeard’s final resting place was a place of honor just outside the Mansion.
A few years later, Francis was captured and tried for high seas piracy. Despite the defendant’s impeccably polite behavior, the court found him guilty and denied his request for a stay of execution. Francis Xavier was hung and his body was buried next to his friend Martin’s grave.
Over the years, riverboatmen have reported seeing the ghosts of two or sometimes three pirates eyeing their vessels as they pass by the Mansion.
Name: Ludwig Von Baroketch
Born: 1738, Switzerland
Died: 1798
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Baroketch was born in a small mountain village in Switzerland. His family was killed when the village was destroyed during an avalanche. He then moved to Bonn, Germany, and was a servant to a composer until he was 15. His master threw him out when young Ludwig was composing a piece of his own on the master’s piano. Begging as much as possible at the doors of rich and powerful men, Ludwig finally found a patron to support his dreams. However, she wasn’t interested in his music and after many years Ludwig still had not composed his great masterpiece. She died and left him her fortune. Depressed about his misfortune, he turned to heavy drink. Eventually Ludwig realized that he was dying. His piano covered with cobwebs and dust, he began to work on his masterpiece. But alas, the shrouded angel of death came to him before he had finished. Ludwig pleaded for more time to finish his work. Death agreed to it if Ludwig write a piece dedicated to him first. Agreeing, Ludwig was given 13 days. Rather than compose the death symphony first, Ludwig rushed to finish his own piece. Death came at midnight on the 13th night. Ludwig begged again, but this time death refused his pleas. Death took Baroketch’s life and cursed him to work on death’s symphony for eternity. Thus, Ludwig’s piano became haunted. Master Gracey later purchased Ludwig’s piano at Madame Leota’s request.
(She is sitting on the tombstone in the streching room)
Name: Mary Gilbert Gracey
Born: September 30, 1859
Died: Unknown
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Mary Gilbert Gracey was Master Gracey’s mother. she had a sheltered and stifling childhood from which she longed to escape. Just as she reached her teens, however, her father and stepmother died. Although financially well off, Mary was saddled with the upbringing of her infant half-brother Asa. As the years dragged on, Mary became increasingly resentful of Asa. She finally threatened to kill him, so he ran away and joined the carnival. Asa Gilbert would one day become the Mansion’s handyman.
Now free of responsibility, Mary Gilbert set out to see new places and meet new people. The first person she met was a wealthy young businessman, George Gracey. Though he was a lackluster lover, he managed to sweep Mary off her feet. To her dismay, she soon found herself in a delicate condition and was obliged to marry George.
While her husband went off on what she imagined to be exciting business trips, Mary Gracey stayed home with George, Jr. The moment he was old enough, she packed him off to a distant boarding school. Unfortunately, George, Sr., then began conducting his business from home, and Mary’s plans for freedom were again frustrated.
One day when Master Gracey was at Yale, George confessed to his wife that he had had an affair with a Miss Patterson in Boston, and the affair had produced a ******* son, Daniel. (Daniel Patterson was to become the Mansion’s liveryman.) This was the excuse Mary had been looking for. That night she parted her husband’s skull with an ax.
At the trial Mary’s counsel pleaded for mercy on the grounds that she was a widow. Witnesses testified that the defendant was justified in killing her husband because he was a very dull man who told pointless, long winded stories. Mary Gracey was acquitted for lack of evidence, and emerged smelling like a rose. She sold the Gracey house, left for Europe, and was never heard from again.
I will post some more later. I thought this stuff was interesting
Every year around this time I start to post different ghost stores/other things about Disney. Since Halloween is coming up, I have always found it fun to do this. It is my 3rd year of it. Here is some things I have found out about the different ghost on the Haunted Mansion Ride..
This information is about the ghosts in the "Ghost Gallery".
Name: The Haunted Mansion
Born: October 31, 1671
Died: N/A
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
The Mansion was built in 1671 by Ub van der Iwerks, a Dutch burgermeister. He chose the site on a hill overlooking the river despite warnings from the town elders that he was desecrating a sacred Indian burial ground. Construction was plagued by freak accidents, causing laborers to become scarce. The burgermeister finished the bricklaying himself, stubbornly seeing the project through to completion. He moved his family in on October 31, 1671. Details of what happened next are sketchy. . .apparently Ub went mad and sealed himself in a tomb in the adjacent graveyard. What is clear is that the van der Iwerks family abandoned the house.
In the decades that followed, the Mansion served as a pirate’s hangout, a brothel, and an army barracks. Those buried in the Mansion’s graveyard are only a sample of the many that died on the premises.
In 1871, the deed passed to Colonel Ronald Stevens, a wealthy publisher, in the winning from a riverboat card game. The Colonel began an extensive renovation of the Mansion, which was as ill fated as its original construction had been. When Fred, a stonemason, was killed by a falling rock, Colonel Stevens took over the stonecutting himself. He moved his family in on October 31, 1871. Shortly thereafter, the Colonel lost his mind. Neglecting his lithography business, Colonel Ronald Stevens spent his last days carving his name backwards on tombstones. He finally died in a boiler explosion. The remaining bits of him were buried under each of the gravemarkers inscribed SNEVETS NOR.
The Stevens family sold the Mansion to the American Spiritualist Society, which used it as a retreat. The Society converted one of the rooms into a seance circle, which was used nightly to summon departed spirits from far and wide. They had logged over 900 contacts by the time the Society was disbanded in 1914. The trustees then sold the Mansion to Master Graceys father.
George Gracey, Sr., bought the Mansion for use as the Graceys’ winter home. After George was murdered, his widow sold the Gracey estate, except for the Mansion, which Master Gracey inherited.
Name: Uncle Edward Gracey
Born: November 9, 1877
Died: May 1, 1937
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Uncle Edward Gracey was the brother of George Gracey, Sr.. Edward never married, though a brief liaison with a Miss Foster in Buffalo produced an illegitimate son, Eddy, born about the same time as Master Gracey. Eddy Foster would one day be the Mansion’s gardener.
After college, Edward Gracey entered the diplomatic corps. His duties took him from the State Department in Washington to far-flung capitals of the globe. He only returned to the Gracey home once, to attend his brother’s funeral and his sister-in-law’s trial.
Uncle Edward helped his nephew whenever he could. While serving as consul to Cairo, he obtained permission for Master Gracey to export an Egyptian mummy and sarcophagus. The last time the two relatives met was when Master Gracey traveled to Africa on a bat-hunting expedition. They had a falling-out over the way Master Gracey was spending the family fortune, and never spoke again.
In 1937, Edward was appointed ambassador to Burma. One evening, soon after his arrival in Rangoon, he was dressing for a banquet. While waiting for his trousers to be pressed, he looked over his speech. Suddenly, armed insurgents burst into the embassy compound, ordering everyone to evacuate. Edward slipped into a secret passage taking him from his quarters to his office. There he discovered guerrillas putting a candle to the fuse on a keg of dynamite. Edward leaped on top of the barrel and declared: "If you blow up this building, you’ll have to take me with it!" The men looked at each other, shrugged, and left. He tried in vain to extinguish or remove the fuse. Like a captain going down with his ship, Edward Gracey went up with his embassy.
Name: Francis Xavier
Born: January 10, 1740
Died: October 1, 1771
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Francis Atencio Xavier was born aboard his father’s merchant ship the Mariposa, and spent most of his boyhood at sea. He was educated by his mother, who had taught in a convent school in St. Augustine before her marriage Francis’ favorite subject was history. He loved to listen to the old seamen spin yarns about pirates, especially tales of Bluebeard, who died exactly 300 years before Francis was born. The boy wanted to visit Bluebeard’s tomb, but his father wouldn’t hear of it. Francis vowed that someday he would be a pirate just like Bluebeard. His wish was granted sooner than he expected.
One day a fast ship flying the Jolly Roger swooped down on the Mariposa. A boarding party quickly disarmed the Mariposa’s small crew. The pirate captain, an aged buccaneer called Whitebeard, didn’t find the cargo to his liking (it was a hold full of bolts of fine cloth). Instead, he seized Francis and spirited him away. Whitebeard intended to hod the lad for ransom, but when he saw how eager Francis was to become a pirate, he made him his apprentice. For the next few years Whitebeard showed Francis the ropes of piracy.
One day Whitebeard sailed his ship upriver from their home port to an old mansion that was a favorite haunt of cut-throats and loose women. He told Francis that he knew he was dying and that this was where he wanted to be buried. Francis tried to make the old pirate comfortable, but Whitebeard insisted that his deathbed should be the same hard plank he always slept on. He gathered his men around and told them Francis was their leader now. Someone asked him what name he wanted on his gravestone. Whitebeard whispered "Martin" and the light faded from his eyes.
Francis Xavier’s first command after burying his mentor was to sail for England to make his long awaited pilgrimage to Bluebeard’s tomb. He was so taken with it that he decided to take it with him. His entire crew labored all night to move the massive stone structure containing the infamous pirate and six of his wives, and load it onto the ship for the return voyage. Bluebeard’s final resting place was a place of honor just outside the Mansion.
A few years later, Francis was captured and tried for high seas piracy. Despite the defendant’s impeccably polite behavior, the court found him guilty and denied his request for a stay of execution. Francis Xavier was hung and his body was buried next to his friend Martin’s grave.
Over the years, riverboatmen have reported seeing the ghosts of two or sometimes three pirates eyeing their vessels as they pass by the Mansion.
Name: Ludwig Von Baroketch
Born: 1738, Switzerland
Died: 1798
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Baroketch was born in a small mountain village in Switzerland. His family was killed when the village was destroyed during an avalanche. He then moved to Bonn, Germany, and was a servant to a composer until he was 15. His master threw him out when young Ludwig was composing a piece of his own on the master’s piano. Begging as much as possible at the doors of rich and powerful men, Ludwig finally found a patron to support his dreams. However, she wasn’t interested in his music and after many years Ludwig still had not composed his great masterpiece. She died and left him her fortune. Depressed about his misfortune, he turned to heavy drink. Eventually Ludwig realized that he was dying. His piano covered with cobwebs and dust, he began to work on his masterpiece. But alas, the shrouded angel of death came to him before he had finished. Ludwig pleaded for more time to finish his work. Death agreed to it if Ludwig write a piece dedicated to him first. Agreeing, Ludwig was given 13 days. Rather than compose the death symphony first, Ludwig rushed to finish his own piece. Death came at midnight on the 13th night. Ludwig begged again, but this time death refused his pleas. Death took Baroketch’s life and cursed him to work on death’s symphony for eternity. Thus, Ludwig’s piano became haunted. Master Gracey later purchased Ludwig’s piano at Madame Leota’s request.
(She is sitting on the tombstone in the streching room)
Name: Mary Gilbert Gracey
Born: September 30, 1859
Died: Unknown
Haunt’s History (Outline of life, circumstances and place of death, must contain good reason for being a ghost.)
Mary Gilbert Gracey was Master Gracey’s mother. she had a sheltered and stifling childhood from which she longed to escape. Just as she reached her teens, however, her father and stepmother died. Although financially well off, Mary was saddled with the upbringing of her infant half-brother Asa. As the years dragged on, Mary became increasingly resentful of Asa. She finally threatened to kill him, so he ran away and joined the carnival. Asa Gilbert would one day become the Mansion’s handyman.
Now free of responsibility, Mary Gilbert set out to see new places and meet new people. The first person she met was a wealthy young businessman, George Gracey. Though he was a lackluster lover, he managed to sweep Mary off her feet. To her dismay, she soon found herself in a delicate condition and was obliged to marry George.
While her husband went off on what she imagined to be exciting business trips, Mary Gracey stayed home with George, Jr. The moment he was old enough, she packed him off to a distant boarding school. Unfortunately, George, Sr., then began conducting his business from home, and Mary’s plans for freedom were again frustrated.
One day when Master Gracey was at Yale, George confessed to his wife that he had had an affair with a Miss Patterson in Boston, and the affair had produced a ******* son, Daniel. (Daniel Patterson was to become the Mansion’s liveryman.) This was the excuse Mary had been looking for. That night she parted her husband’s skull with an ax.
At the trial Mary’s counsel pleaded for mercy on the grounds that she was a widow. Witnesses testified that the defendant was justified in killing her husband because he was a very dull man who told pointless, long winded stories. Mary Gracey was acquitted for lack of evidence, and emerged smelling like a rose. She sold the Gracey house, left for Europe, and was never heard from again.
I will post some more later. I thought this stuff was interesting
