Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion

We deal with real haunted buildings every day on our ghost tours. We often get questions about the Amityville Horror, Exorcist, and since we are so close to Orlando we even get questions on Walt Disney’s Worlds Haunted Mansion. Well, with my connections I decided I would look into this a little more closely to answer that question when I hear it.
Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion opened October 1st, 1971. It is styled after an 18th century colonial mansion.  It looks down upon the eastern banks of the Rivers of America in the north east corner of Liberty Square.
As the story goes you board one of the Doom Buggies for a frightful ride through the Haunted Mansion and hopefully will encounter some of the 999 happy haunts that haunts those halls.
Over the years, cast members have created their own stories about each of the so called haunts that you encounter throughout the ride….but there are a few happy or not so happy “real” haunts still lingering this location.
Some cast members who work at the haunted mansion swear they have seen a man in a white suite, but only after hours, long after the guests have gone and the park is closed.  Cast members have jokingly said it is Master Gracey, but honestly they are pretty sure it is an old maintenance man that worked on the mansion possibly during construction of the attraction.  Another story is, years before the attraction was built a plane crashed in the same location where the mansion is built now. The pilot was killed in the crash and he was wearing a white jump suit. Maybe this ghost is actually him?! He doesn’t seem to be an intelligent haunt because he doesn’t interact with anyone, at least no reports of it.
Another possible haunt in the mansion is of a little boy. Legend goes the boy died at a young age and the mother had him cremated and without permission spread his ashes in the mansion because she thought her son loved the ride so much. Don’t know how true this “legend” is but sounds pretty freaky to me.
Possibly another ghost in the Haunted Mansion is in the Séance Room. One day when the ride stopped some young teenagers boys were stuck in the séance room and one of them decided he was going to try and figure out how the crystal ball gig worked. Story goes when he went to step out of his Doom Buggy his foot caught and he fell and broke his neck.  How true this story is who knows, but it sounds good. Seems as though cast members don’t even know what is real or unreal at the mansion.
Others have reported cold spots, voices, and being touched….. (I don’t mean while on the ride). Who knows, it is an awesomely creepy place and whether it is truly haunted or not, I guess we won’t really know until we have our own personal experience at Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion.
~Jamie Roush
General Manager GhoSt Augustine