Thread: A little request to the Haunted Mansion fans out there.

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Ive been a big fan of Disney's Haunted Mansion ever since I visited it the first time when I was six years old. A defining life experience to say the least. I never attempt to recreate any of the props in my own haunt. I figure there is no way to improve upon the classical scenes and gags of the ride anyway. So instead, I occasionally try to incorporate, very subtly, Haunted Mansion design elements into some of my props to pay homage to the inspiration and influence that the ride was and is to me. For instance, the four tombstones I carved for last years haunt used some of the font Ravencroft for the lettering and numbering. This of course is the font used for the Haunted Mansion logo as well as the inscriptions on some of the tombstones in the que line of the attraction. I also use this font for my cemetery lettering. You get the drift and now getting to the point.

So if you are a fan of the Haunted Mansion, then you are familar with a certain Master Gracey, right?
He's the fellow that has the changing portrait in the foyer of the mansion prior to boarding the ride. The portrait begins with a young Gracey and gradually changes to an elder Gracey then finally to a dead and rotting Gracey. There is a series of six potraits in all to acheive this effect.

Does anyone have a large, high quality picture file of the final portrait of the corpse Gracey? This will be the basis for a prop I've wanted to build for awhile now. I have found this picture before using search engines and visiting Haunted Mansion message boards and fan sites, but to date have not found a very good quality image at all. A bit frustrating as Master Gracey is a Haunted Mansion icon.
Heres an example of what I'm looking for but the quality is lacking and I intend on having the portrait reproduced. Thank you in advance for any assistance.

i think i would like to have the picture my self. but i do not know anything about the beloved Haunted Manison. I wish I do though. Good luck in your search for it.

Maybe Disney on Demand art?

Wish I could help you CJ. Also a fan of the Haunted Mansion. Mine started when my best friend went to Disney World when it first opened in the late 60s. He brought back the Haunted Mansion record album. I looked through the pictures and could not wait to go. Sadly I didn't get the chance until about 8 years later but it was awesome! I found the album on Ebay and also incorporate a few items (album included) into my haunt. Good luck on the pic!

I used that exact source and painted on myself on black paper for my haunt last year. I spent so much time looking for better photos of Haunted Mansion items. I found it very difficult to find anything good.

They used to sell them in a store that was inside the Castle in WDW, which also sold the portraits from the stretching room (Which is really an elevator in California, but not in FL)

I used to work in that park, which is actually a very frightening reality. Even with company 40% discounts, they were not cheap. Probably easier to make your own.

On a side note, that is not Master Gracey. In fact, none of them are Master Gracey and only two ghosts in the entire attraction (Madame Leota and Pickwick, the chandelier ghost) have official names at all. The current tradition of naming the characters after those on tombstones started fairly recently, compared to how long the ride has been operating. More in time with the characters from the release of the film, which used these same names. The names on the tombstones initially had nothing to do with any characters from the rise and were merely footnotes to the SPFX designers and others who worked on the ride (Though interestingly, Leota Tombs did not have her own tombstone for many years, until they later added one for her)

The Gracey tombstone was originally merely tribute to the legendary Yale Gracey, who was often called amid the industry simply "The Master" and spent over a year with the infamous Rolly Crump just planning out jokes and props for the attraction, but unlike Crump, he worked from start to finish on the ride and did nearly off of the special effects himself. In tribute, the dirt in front of/around his grave is kept clean and "fresh-looking" and in Florida, we have a large amount of nearby rose bushes and it is tradition to clip one and place it on his grave.

I grew up in Rural PA, where our local immigrant culture still carries on old ghost stories, there are more cemeteries than anything else (Pennsylvanian joke about how it's not a school if it is not in a cemetery, all the local ones, even the large ones in Scranton, down the mountain were built in them) and everyone you know lives in a big victorian mansion. It was only natural that when I was 2 and I visited the park for the first time, I instantly knew which ride would forever be my favourite.

Living in Central FL, it seems cheap and corny when people go all out ripping audio or ideas from the ride as their yard haunts, but probably because most of them turn out horribly. You have the right idea with yours and I fully support it. I think all yard displays or haunts should have tributes (to all kinds of things) spread around them. Tradition is one of the most important parts of Halloween.