Disneyland Resort is known as the “Happiest Place on Earth,” but even in this magical world, there are stories that can send a chill down your spine. For those who work there, the park can feel like home — a familiar place where guests and cast members share the same enchanting space. However, for one Disneyland cast member, their first weeks at the park were marked by an eerie encounter that would forever change how they saw the resort.
This is the haunting tale of Mary, a little girl in a white dress, who has become a well-known figure among Disneyland cast members, particularly around Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. This chilling encounter continues to be shared among those who work late shifts in the quieter hours of the night.
A New Cast Member’s Unsettling Encounter
“I want to preface this by saying I didn’t believe in ghosts,” began the Disneyland cast member who shared this haunting experience. It was during their early days at the park, working at the Clear Country Stores, that they had their first encounter with the paranormal. Just two weeks into their new role, they were finishing up a late shift at 1:45 a.m. The park had emptied out, and most of the staff had already clocked out and gone home. The cast member, still new to the area, was left alone to make the long walk from the stores to the rest of the park.
Walking past the old Splash Mountain, which is now Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the cast member was scrolling through their phone when something caught their eye. At the top of the hill near the Davy Crockett Canoes entrance, they spotted a little girl, around 7 or 8 years old, dressed in what appeared to be a first communion dress. The dress wasn’t shiny, nothing about it stood out, except for its oddness in the quiet, deserted park at this hour.
Thinking it was a lost child, the cast member, still panicked and unsure of the proper protocol for dealing with lost children, called out to the girl. “Are you lost? Do you need help?” They moved closer, looking around for help. As they made their way toward the girl, a sense of unease started to creep in. They were alone, and security had not cleared the area. Their mind raced through the training they hadn’t quite memorized.
The little girl stood with her back to the cast member, and as they got closer — about 20 yards away — they glanced to their left and right, hoping to see another cast member nearby. When they looked forward again, something unnerving happened. The girl, who was far ahead of them moments before, was now running toward them. But there was no sound of footsteps. There was no movement other than the girl coming closer. The cast member braced for an impact as the girl looked as though she would crash into them.
But when the moment came, there was no collision. The cast member opened their eyes, expecting to see the child, but the girl was gone. There was no trace of her, and the entire area was silent. The cast member quickly scanned the surroundings but decided to let it go, feeling unsettled and chalking it up to an odd, perhaps stressful, experience. They assumed that security would handle the situation. Little did they know that this eerie encounter would soon lead to a revelation.
The Unbelievable Revelation
A week later, during an opening shift with one of the park’s veteran leads, the cast member began to casually ask about strange occurrences at night. “Have you ever seen anything weird at night?” they asked, hoping to get a sense of what the older cast members thought. Without skipping a beat, the lead responded, “Did you see a girl in a white dress?”
The cast member’s heart sank. The description of the girl matched everything they had experienced — the dress, the location, and the strange feeling of the encounter. It was as though the lead knew exactly what had happened, even though the cast member had kept the experience to themselves. The lead’s next words were even more chilling.
“Everyone calls her Mary,” they said. “She loved Tom Sawyer’s Island and Haunted Mansion. They say she haunts that part of the park.”
As it turns out, the little girl in the white dress wasn’t just a ghostly figure that appeared randomly. There was a story behind her that had been shared by many cast members over the years. According to the lead, Mary had been a young girl with leukemia who loved Disneyland, especially Tom Sawyer’s Island and Haunted Mansion. She had spent many happy days exploring the park before she passed away.
After her death, her parents scattered her ashes on Tom Sawyer’s Island, a gesture that cast members say may have caused Mary’s spirit to remain tied to that part of the park. Over the years, cast members who worked near Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain began to share stories of seeing a little girl in a white dress walking the island or wandering around the area that eventually became Critter Country.
While many of these stories were passed down through older cast members, they all painted a similar picture: a young girl dressed in a white communion dress silently walking through the park in the dead of night. She was never a threat, but her presence was undeniable. For those who have worked at Disneyland for years, Mary’s story has become an eerie legend, a piece of the park’s strange but haunting history. The full cast member report reads:
“I want to preface this by saying I didn’t believe in ghosts. when I first started working for Disneyland I worked in clear country stores. About two weeks after starting I had a shift that ended 15 minutes after everyone else so I had to walk to the park alone cuz no one wanted to wait for the new guy. So now it’s 1:45 in the morning and I’m walking on stage in front of splash mountain looking at my cell phone. As I’m right in front of the splash mountain entrance I look up the hill and see a little girl in what looks like a first communion dress. it wasn’t shiny or anything like that so I just thought it was a girl that was lost maybe 7 or 8 years old. I look around to see if there’s any other cast members that can help me becauseI’m panicking trying to remember the protocol for lost kids since I was still so new. I’m walking towards her as she is closer to the entrance to the Davy Crockett canoes and I’m closer to the entrance to Winnie the Pooh I called and asked if she needs help or if she’s lost and she still has her back to me. As I get closer, I look around again thinking how upset I was a security for not clearing the area of the park and leaving me with this mess. We are maybe 20 yards away from each other as I look to the left and then I look to the right for any help and as I look forward again I see that the little girl had ran towards me but I didn’t hear her footsteps and I can tell that she is going to run into me and we both might fall. I wince and brace for impact but it doesn’t happen. When I open my eyes the little girl is gone and I look around for a little bit but decide the that this isn’t my problem anymore, security can do their job right. I didn’t think anything of it until a week later when I had an opening shift with one of my leads who had been with the resort for 20 years. I hadn’t told anyone about this because I thought I might get in trouble for leaving a Guest lost in the park especially a kid. I begin probing by asking her “have you ever seen anything weird at night,” and she responds “Did you see a girl in a white dress?” My blood turned to ice and my stomach dropped, she had described everything that happened without knowing it happens to me. Turns out the splash mountain attractions cast members and haunted Mansion cast all have similar stories and some of the older cast would share their “knowledge.” Apparently there was a little girl that everyone calls Mary, she loved Tom Sawyer’s island and haunted Mansion and that part of the park in the early 70s. She had leukemia and when she passed away her parents spread her ashes on Tom Sawyer’s island. Evidently the parents told a haunted Mansion cast member many years after that they had done this but by that time many cast members in the area claimed to have seen a girl in the white dress walking on the island or around the area that became the entrance to Critter Country.
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The Legacy of Mary
Today, Mary is a name that resonates with Disneyland cast members, especially those working late shifts. Her story has passed from one generation of cast members to the next, and while some may dismiss the legend as just a tale, there are many who believe in her presence, even to this day.
For the cast members who had this encounter, it was an experience that changed how they viewed the park. What was once a magical place filled with rides, characters, and endless fun now held a deeper, more mysterious layer. Whether Mary’s ghost still walks the quiet corners of Disneyland or her spirit lingers near the water of Tom Sawyer’s Island, the legend of the little girl in the white dress remains one of the most intriguing ghost stories from the resort.
Disneyland may be the Happiest Place on Earth, but for some, it’s also home to lingering spirits — and Mary is just one of the many who continue to wander the park after hours.
And this is why you don’t scatter people’s ashes at the park. Aside from the fact that it’s against park rules.