Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

[Mr. Sticky]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

You must like James Randi (http://www.randi.org/) then , he's a favorite Skeptic of mine.

I like him too. I think he's amazing!

And even though you are probably sick of hearing this by now, that was a wonderful post Frogberto! You are a boon to the board!

[poltergeist]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

That woman needs a q-tip or one of those ear candle cone things. Yech.

Thanks for the interesting post!!

I've heard of spirit gum before, but never spirit wax... lol

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Wow, thanks for the cool thread!http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/seance/seance.html

You're welcome, and thank you, and you are so correct. The Fox sisters started the whole spiritualist movement in 1848 when they claimed they could communicate with the dead, who would respond to questions by tapping.

"In 1888, Maggie made the infamous appearance when she denounced Spiritualism as a total sham. The years of alcohol abuse, loneliness and grief had taken their toll on her and she weighed the idea of committing suicide before finally choosing confession instead. She booked the stage at the New York Academy of Music and walked out on stage to announce she and Kate had created the strange rappings heard in their Hydesville home by simply cracking their toes. She also stated that Leah had forced them into performing as mediums for the public. "I have seen so much miserable deception," she reportedly said. "That is why I am willing to state that Spiritualism is a fraud of the worst description." Sitting in a box overlooking the stage, Kate silently affirmed her sister's confession."

[nish221]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Awesome post, Froggy!

[Asterix]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Wow, thanks for the cool thread!http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/seance/seance.html

[Gemini Cricket]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Uh, Frogberto got it all wrong. Leota is a real ghost.







:lol:

[TikiRoomLiz]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Loved the post, indeed a nice history lesson.

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Good lord! What are the spirits trying to say with that... Eeeeuuuuuww.

I think they are trying to say that these frauds took your money in exchange for cheap magic tricks!

CLICK HERE FOR THE BEST SEANCE PHOTO (and yes, those are supposed to be pictures of ghosts comign out of her nose!)



This was BIG business in the 1920s to 1940s (when most of the imagineers, and Disney, were younger men), and left an impression on many people, however. As I mentioned in my article in the skeptics club on micechat, this website laments the end of ectoplasm, as well as the spirit writing, casts of hands, and ringing bells and playing instruments that used to be part of a good old fashioned seance:

"Perhaps the best argument against the authenticity of the era of physical mediums is that they just don't seem to exist any more. True, there are occasional displays of photographs of dead people mysteriously appearing on bits of cloth (which have been surreptitiously exposed to photo developing solution), followed by the perpetrators getting booked for fraud by the local police department, but the enormous crowds and fame formerly attracted by mediums has been copped by magicians. And what do we have in its place? Snapshots with orbs that look like water spots or specks of dust, and ectoplasm that looks like camera straps. Boring. Also, EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomena. Interesting. EVP are strange sounds, some like spooky or even familiar voices, caught on audiotape but unheard at the time of recording."

[frecky]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Thank you so much for the info!

[Angelica Gracey]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

I sure do like James Randi - I'm a member of his organization and I go to his annual conference every year in Vegas - it's a lot of fun. And in the skeptics forum, we discussed all the orifices that "ectoplasm" came out of during seances - yuck! Just give me the good old fashioned ghost photographs instead, please!

Aren't those better than this:

Good lord! What are the spirits trying to say with that... Eeeeuuuuuww.

Of course you'd know who is Randi is... I know where you'll be in January... Sounds like a lot of fun!

Thanks again for the amazing photos. They are truly priceless...

[33 reject]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

That woman needs a q-tip or one of those ear candle cone things. Yech.

Thanks for the interesting post!!

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

You must like James Randi (http://www.randi.org/) then , he's a favorite Skeptic of mine.

I really like the photo of the woman with "whatever-it-is" between her legs... People will do anything for a buck, even profiting on others grief. Sheesh!

I sure do like James Randi - I'm a member of his organization and I go to his annual conference every year in Vegas - it's a lot of fun. And in the skeptics forum, we discussed all the orifices that "ectoplasm" came out of during seances - yuck! Just give me the good old fashioned ghost photographs instead, please!


Aren't those better than this:

[Angelica Gracey]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Thank you - I'm just a humble fan of this great attraction, and of the history of psychics and spiritualism (see the ghost photographs from almost 100 years ago I posted in the skeptics forum), and so this was a natural for me - I enjoy finding out this stuff also!

You must like James Randi (http://www.randi.org/) then , he's a favorite Skeptic of mine.

I really like the photo of the woman with "whatever-it-is" between her legs... People will do anything for a buck, even profiting on others grief. Sheesh!

[Angelica Gracey]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Hey, I married a nerd! Although when he was in school, there was no such thing as a laptop...

I love this thread! All the great information on my favorite attraction, thanks!

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Great info Froggy! You must have got a lot of extra credit in school...

No, but I was the quiet nerd in the back with a laptop. I know you're shocked...

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Awesome information, you rock!

Thank you - I'm just a humble fan of this great attraction, and of the history of psychics and spiritualism (see the ghost photographs from almost 100 years ago I posted in the skeptics forum), and so this was a natural for me - I enjoy finding out this stuff also!

[lisaboo]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Awesome information, you rock!

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

I think you are correct. The interview that one of the websites mentioned had with Claude Coats implied that he fought with everyone on the vision for the mansion, and he still sounds somewhat bitter about it. But all the materials I've read indicate that the major feud was between Marc Davis and Coats. Other than the interview with Coats, I can't find other evidence that he fought with anyone else over what the final product was to be.

Just nitpicking here, but the fued on the experience guests would have in the Mansion was between Marc Davis and Claude Coats.

From page 28 of Jason Surrell's The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies:

The partnership of Marc Davis and Claude Coats had enjoyed enormous success on Pirates of the Caribbeanm a testament to Walt's unerring knack for building a creative team. Walt knew that combining Marc's brilliant character designs and ingenious sight gags with Claude's strength in backgrounds, layout, and set design would produce greater results than any single artist working alone - a hallmark of Imagineereing philosophy. Before his death, Walt had seen the results firsthand on their collaboration on Pirates, and [Richard] Irvine expected their winning streak to continue.
The blockbuster success of Pirates, however, led both Marc and Claude to believe that each had earned a bit more autonomy and should be the one to take the creative lead on The Haunted Mansion. So instead of the winning partnership that produced Pirates, the final design of The Haunted Mansion was marked by creative tension between Marc and Claude.
Their differences in approach also lef to one of the greatest debates to ever take place at WED: should The Haunted Mansion be scary or funny? In one corner were Marc and those who felt that, ghosts being scary to begin with, the show should be lightened up. In the other corner, Claude and other equally vocal designers insisted that guests would expect some serious scares in something called The Haunted Mansion. Ultimately, Marc Davis was able to convince Dick Irvine to turn The Haunted Mansion into more of a comedy show than a horror show.
Marc and Claude's creative differences resulted in two distinct experiences within the attraction. The first half of the show is all about environment - a testament to Claude's experience as a background artist. It is a little more ominous and scarier with nary a character in sight. The second half of the attraction, in particular the Grand Hall and the Graveyard, is less reliant on strong set design and filled to overflowing with Marc Davis's whimsical characters and sight gags.

DoomBuggies.com also had a section based on these creative differences as well, but it appears they have since updated the site and included a large section devoted to Marc Davis, which probably repeated a lot of what the previous section included and rendered the Marc-Claude section more repetitive than useful.



...Anyway, great thread. Thanks for such an indepth and interesting topic!

Oh, and:

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Frogberto again

[Angelica Gracey]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Great info Froggy! You must have got a lot of extra credit in school...

[RobotMirror]

Re: Disneyland History: The Haunted Mansion seance room

Nice post! Something intresting I found out from reading the Book The Huanted Mansion from the magic kingdom to the movies. Is that Leota originally to say something about the raven being the former host of the mansion Until well he was turned into a raven.

That's right - I didn't include this in this post, but it was in an earlier posting of mine. Originally, the raven was supposed to be the narrator, which is why there's a raven in several key scenes in this attraction. Those plans were scrapped and the "ghost host" was introduced instead.