Meet the Spooky Characters of Disney’s Haunted Mansion – A Guide for Fans

Caitlin KaneOctober 30, 2024

10 minutes read

One of the most beloved attractions in all of the Walt Disney World Resort is the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square. The classic attraction opened with the Walt Disney World Resort on October 1, 1971, and quickly gained a following of dedicated fans who adore the perfect combination of eerie and comical scenes found throughout the experience.

A grand, gothic-style mansion bathed in eerie blue and red lighting stands among dense trees, reminiscent of some Disney rides. The ornate facade features tall spires and intricate architectural details, enhancing the mysterious and haunting atmosphere. The sky is dark, adding to the spooky ambiance. — Credit: Disney

The Haunted Mansion features incredible theming and details that help bring the story to life, but the characters make it an iconic attraction. Sure, there are the nine hundred and ninety-nine happy haunts that materialize and try to find the location’s thousandth resident, but there are plenty of featured characters throughout the Haunted Mansion that Guests love.

There is a family that met their doom in a unique way, ghosts that threaten to follow Guests home, a mournful master, a ghoulish narrator, a floating psychic, and so many other memorable characters that Guests encounter as they move through both the interactive outdoor graveyard and the indoor walking and Doom Buggy portions of the mansion itself.

Let’s examine some of the most memorable characters of the Haunted Mansion and learn a little more about what makes them so unforgettable. Happy haunting!

The Dread Family

The first characters that Guests encounter at the Haunted Mansion can be found just inside the entrance to the interactive outdoor graveyard.

The Dread family consists of six individuals represented by five busts on top of ornate pillars with plaques. Guests who look closely at the descriptions will soon realize that all of the family members were involved in a large murder mystery that ended in their demise.

Bertie, Aunt Florence, Uncle Jacob, twins Wellington and Forsythia, and Maude are the various members of the Dread family, and each person’s plaque tells how they met their untimely end. Clues from both the plaques and the busts themselves can help Guests unravel the mystery and figure out the exact chain of events that led to their deaths.

It’s a fun way to add life to characters and helps Guests pass the time waiting in line.

Captain Culpepper Clyne

Further into the interactive graveyard, Guests pass by the massive tomb of Captain Culpepper Clyne, whose epitaph tells how he “braved the seas and all her wrath but drowned on land while taking a bath.” This explains why his hat, hand, and leg can be seen poking out from the top as if he is taking a bath, and every few moments, guests can hear him talking lowly or sneezing out a stream of water and bubbles.

Culpepper Clyne also has a rich history with the Haunted Mansion. He first appeared in early renderings when the attraction was proposed to be a walkthrough experience. One version had Guests enter the mansion to be greeted by Clyne until the lights suddenly went out. When they turned back on, Clyne was gone, leaving nothing but a puddle behind.

The sea captain can also be spotted in a portrait inside of the Haunted Mansion, where he is seen standing in front of an angry sea, holding a spear in his hands. Clyne is a fun interactive element of the graveyard at the Haunted Mansion, and many Guests recognize his tomb but might not know his backstory!

Prudence Pock

Further along in the outdoor graveyard of the Haunted Mansion, Guests are introduced to Prudence Pock, a poet with some serious writer’s block. Her tomb is a beautiful and elaborate creation with moving books that pop out on one side and a Spectrecome on the end that allows Guests to interact with her spirit in real-time.

Prudence can be heard reciting the poetry that she is actively writing. It seems as though her writer’s block followed her beyond the grave as she constantly gets caught up in a good rhyme to complete her poems.

Guests can not only listen to her and help but also spot her ghostly notebook, filling in the words as she writes from beyond.

Imagineers

Many guests who enjoy the Haunted Mansion daily might not realize that some of their favorite characters are actually based on Imagineers who have worked at the attraction over the years. While moving through the graveyard, there are plenty of tombstones with humorous epitaphs for characters that share how they met their untimely ends.

Each character is based on an Imagineer, and it’s a great way to pay tribute to these individuals without ruining the eerie theme.

Tombstones can be found for X. Atencio (“Francies Xavier), Wathel Rogers (Wathel R. Bender), Cliff Huet (Cousin Huet), Marc Davis (Grandpa Marc), Claude Coats (Brother Claude), Fred Joerger (Good Old Fred), and many more.

Master Gracey

Perhaps the most recognizable tombstone in the interactive graveyard of the Haunted Mansion is that of Master Gracey, as it is fenced in and often has a bright red rose placed on the very top out of respect. Master Gracey is named after Imagineer Yale Gracey, who was responsible for many of the amazing effects found inside of the Haunted Mansion.

Master Gracey can also be spotted again once inside the foyer, in portrait form above the dimly burning fire. He begins as a young man, but before Guests’ eyes, Master Gracey ages until he is just a skeletal figure with piercing eyes staring out at them.

Ghost Host

Also introduced in the foyer is one of the most recognizable characters of the Haunted Mansion, which is rather hilarious as he is predominantly just a disembodied voice throughout the experience. The Ghost Host makes his presence known and welcomes guests into the mansion, explaining that he will guide them through the eerie experience.

While in the stretching room, the Ghost Host explains that he, too, was in the same predicament with no way out until he figured out a way that guests could figure out on their own when the lightning flashes and a figure can be seen hanging above.

This is the only physical glimpse of the Ghost Host that Guests are provided with.

Throughout the Haunted Mansion, the Ghost Host pops up at important moments to explain to Guests just what is happening, and his narration is what ties the entire experience together. Guests might also find the Ghost Host’s voice familiar, as he was voiced by Paul Frees, who also provided his talents to the Auctioneer.

The “dead men tell no tales” echo at Pirates of the Caribbean as well as Professor Ludwig von Drake.

Stretching Room Portrait Subjects

While in the stretching room, guests become acquainted with the Ghost Host and are introduced to four paintings, which feature nameless characters who make very lasting impressions.

At first glance, these portraits seem to be works of art depicting several individuals simply, but as the room ominously begins to stretch, it becomes apparent how they met their ends.

The famous tightrope girl can be found in one portrait balancing on a thin rope over a hungry crocodile, a dapper man looks out from atop the shoulders of two other men who are being sucked in by quicksand, older women can be found standing next to the tombstone of her husband who is depicted as having a hatchet in his head, and the final portrait is another gentleman who is perched on the top of a powder keg that is about to explode.

These nameless portrait subjects are key to showing guests how the mansion is not what it seems and how things can change at any time. They help to set the ominous mood for the rest of the experience to come, and they can also be found in lots of merchandise sold in nearby Memento Mori.

Raven

The raven is an interesting character that many Guests might notice throughout the experience but not know the full story of. The small black bird can be found in animatronic form throughout the Haunted Mansion and is often easy to spot thanks to his red glowing eyes.

In the early design of the Haunted Mansion, the raven was actually supposed to serve as the narrator, guiding guests throughout their tour.

This obviously changed with the introduction of the Ghost Host, but guests who look will notice that the raven does seem to appear in every scene where the Ghost Host begins speaking to guests.

Madame Leota

Perhaps the most beloved of all Haunted Mansion characters is Madame Leota, a psychic from regions beyond who helps summon all of the spirits and assures them that the guests mean them no harm. She can be found in her own séance room, a floating head inside a large crystal ball.

Madame Leota chants a series of incantations that create mysterious happenings around the room, such as music playing or a banging noise echoing. She might sound familiar to Guests as she is voiced by Eleanor Audley, who also played Lady Tremaine in Cinderella.

However, physically, Madame Leota was portrayed by Imagineer Leota Tombs, the mother of current Disney employee Kim Irvine.

Madame Leota can also be found in the interactive graveyard just before the main doors into the Haunted Mansion. Her impressive tombstone features a likeliness of her face, and Guests who pay attention might spot her moving and even opening her eyes to peer at the from regions beyond.

Constance Hatchaway

When Guests enter into the attic scene on the Haunted Mansion, they find themselves moving past a series of five wedding portraits in which the groom always mysteriously seems to lose his head. This is courtesy of Constance Hatchaway, the ghostly bride who can be found at the end of the attic clutching her hatchet and telling Guests in a singsong voice how she murdered her five husbands.

Ever the fashionable, serial bride, Constance Hatchaway adds a strand of pearls for each husband she has killed, and her final ghostly figure can be seen wearing five strands. While the current version of Constance Hatchaway was added and updated in recent years, the inspiration of her character came from an original Marc Davis sketch depicting a murderous bride.

The Mellomen

Once in the graveyard, guests will find themselves singing along to the favorite “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” especially as they pass by a singing quintet of marble busts, each with ghostly faces.

The Mellomen appear on the right-hand side of the Doom Buggies and are a comical moment as they take barbershop singing to a new level of eerie goodness.

The five busts are Rolo Rumkin, Uncle Theodore, Cousin Algernon, Ned Nub, and Phineas P. Pock, cousin of poet Prudence Pock from the outdoor graveyard. Guests might recognize the voice of Uncle Theodore as that of icon Thurl Ravenscroft, who also provided the voice for Buff in the Country Bear Jamboree and Fritz in Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.

Hitchhiking Ghosts

At the end of the graveyard scene, the Doom Buggies make a turn, and the guests appear to enter a tomb where the Ghost Host warns of restless spirits who intend to follow them home until they return. Guests then meet their favorite hitchhiking ghosts, a trio of memorable characters with their thumbs hitched for a ride in a Doom Buggy.

Guests love checking out Phineas, a plump ghost wearing a top hat, Ezra, a tall and skeletal ghost with a bowler hat, and Gus, a short ghost who appears to have been a prisoner of some kind before meeting his end.

Though it is hard to see because the Doom Buggies move past the figures quickly in the dim lighting, each figure has some incredible detail that helps to bring their personalities to life!

The Doom Buggies then proceed to move past a series of three large mirrors across from them, where Guests see their own reflections with the hitchhiking ghosts sitting next to them. Recent updates to the Haunted Mansion have added amazing technology, where the hitchhiking ghosts now directly interact with Guests’ reflections, adding a whole new level of eeriness!

Little Leota

The final character that Guests encounter in the Haunted Mansion is Little Leota, a miniature and haunting bride statue that beckons guests to “hurry back” and be sure to bring their “death certificates.”

Her voice can be heard trailing guests as they disembark their Doom Buggies, leaving a final haunting note to the entire experience.

Little Leota uses the Imagineer Leota Toombs’ likeness just like Madame Leota, but also her voice, which is much sweeter than that of voice actress Eleanor Audley. Little Leota is another wonderful tribute to Toombs’ career and eternalizes not only her likeness but also her voice.

Hatbox Ghost

A bonus character from the Haunted Mansion that many guests absolutely adore was previously only found at the Disneyland version of the attraction and only in recent years. The Hatbox Ghost became an interest of many guests over the years after he was originally seen on the opening day of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland in 1969, but he quickly disappeared as he did not work correctly.

Fast-forward some fifty years, and Imagineering used new technology to bring the Hatbox Ghost to life in the attic scene of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Park. Years later, Disney Imagineers also added the Hatbox Ghost to the hall scene in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

The iconic character can be seen grinning at ghosts until a sudden poof makes his head disappear and reappear in a hatbox that he is holding.

The Hatbox Ghost is the stuff that legends are made of, and guests absolutely rejoiced when he was added to Haunted Mansion attractions. He can also be found on a wide array of merchandise for the attraction, which is sold in Memento Mori and throughout the Walt Disney World Resort.

Which Haunted Mansion character is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!