Disneyland

Haunted Mansion: Exterior

Even before you enter the Haunted Mansion, spooky elements are everywhere.

Standing at the base of the steps just below the front door is an old-fashioned hearse being drawn by a spectral horse. This is a real hearse, not a recreation, and is in fact the hearse used to carry Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to his grave (and not a moment too soon, some would say). The horse is the ghost of the horse used in the Zorro television series.

On the hill behind the mansion is a graveyard. The names on the gravestones are those of Imagineers who worked on the attraction, and the families of those who have passed away were given the option of having the Imagineer buried beneath the stone. To date, only a few have accepted the honor.

Each grave has a silly memorial on it. For example:

Here lies poor dumb cousin Mel, drove a bus into a well
Bob liked jumping off of docks, now he's living in a box
Emma Long, beloved Mater, had fifty cats, they ate ‘er
Harold had no fear of germs. Age 28, he's food for worms
Here I lie, broken hearted, paid my dime, now I'm departed.
If you were dead, you'd be home now

At one time there was a pet cemetery around the side of the mansion where the pets of high-seniority cast members could be buried. This caused problems (guests kept sneaking off to try and see the graves), so a new cemetery was created for the queue area. The new pet cemetery is not authentic -- there are no pets buried there -- but tradition has it that any part of a cast member severed on the job can be interred in this ground.

Beginning in 2005, cast members dressed as "haunts" from the mansion began appearing from time to time near the queue to thrill and disturb guests (see photo below).

Horrifying Haunted Mansion haunt

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