Everything you need to know about Disney’s Haunted Mansion

It’s one of the most beloved rides at Disneyland for a reason: the Haunted Mansion has it all. There are ghost lore, historical drama, 999 Easter eggs, and more than a few secrets waiting to be explored. But, believe it or not, the Haunted Mansion you know and love never existed.

We’ve rounded up all our favorite haunted mansion stories, from the dramatic backstory of its creation to the many hidden places that only a few lucky guests get to see.

Walt Disney always knew he wanted to have a scary attraction at Disneyland, but beyond that, he didn’t know what he wanted for what would eventually become the Haunted Mansion. While assembling the team assigned to visualize it, he paired legendary imagineer Yale Gracey, who had pioneered many of the effects on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, with a younger visualizer, Rollie Crump, who was the newest member of the team but had caught the attention of Disney. With his innovations working in the animation studio.

What the team got from Gracie and Crump was more terrifying than expected. In fact, the secretaries at WED Enterprises (the division that would eventually become Walt Disney Imagineering, which creates new attractions for Disney) refused to go into that studio to clean at night.

The existence of a Disneyland death certificate is one of the most controversial topics of Disney history among fans online. For the many people who swear up and down that they have definitely gotten one personally, there are also many people who are absolutely positive, they are common and never happened.

A unique Easter egg has been added to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion during its annual transformation into “Haunted Mansion Holiday,” the seasonal overlay of both Halloween and Christmas. The tribute was first spotted by MiceChat, who captured footage of it as the ride reopened for the Halloween season. Blink and you’ll miss it: a creepy figure that looks like it’s made of white wax hidden among a bunch of colorful gifts.

Think of the staples of Halloween: candy, costumes, scary parties, and haunted houses designed to scare you for fun. But what if those haunted houses didn’t exist? It turns out we have Walt Disney to thank for revolutionizing modern Halloween entertainment. And it all started with Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

The Matterhorn Bobsleds may have a hidden basketball court, but no other ride at Disneyland holds more secrets than the Haunted Mansion. The 1969 ride, one of the last to be supervised (at least in part) by Walt Disney himself, is full of surprises and strange legends. But a secret cemetery? This was new, even for me. When I got a little extra dust one day, a cast member let me see it.

Instead of sending people into the “stretching room,” this entrance, through a subterranean door in the basement area, takes guests through the “servant’s entrance” of the New Orleans-style mansion. Passing through this secret entrance, which includes a set of stairs followed by a descending ramp, allows guests to see a different side of the palace, from the servants’ perspective.

However, there is one thing, which is misplaced. Or him?

“As a lifelong Disney fan, I’ve heard that ominous greeting countless times. But as a journalist, I had some questions.” SFGATE freelancer Tara Chevy took on a daunting task: she tried to count every ghost in the Haunted Mansion. Here’s what I found.