Notice! All ghosts and restless spirits . . . post-lifetime leases are now available in this Haunted Mansion! Don't be left out in the sunshine. Leases include license to scare the daylights out of guests visiting these happy haunting grounds. For reservations, send resumé of past experience to: Ghost Relations Dept., Disneyland.
Please! Do not apply in person!
In 1963, I was a 13-year-old kid reading this sign outside the white plantation-style mansion that stood deserted on the shores of Disneyland's Rivers of America.
Like so many other Disneyland visitors during that time, I couldn't wait for the Haunted Mansion to open. Little did I know that we would all be waiting another six years before first setting foot inside. It wasn't until August of 1969 that guests started removing their "E" coupons to meet the 999 ghostly inhabitants and find out what happens "when hinges creak in doorless chambers...”
As a junior magician at the time. I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of magical principles in use. I must have ridden the attraction most of the day to figure out how the effects were accomplished. In 1985, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mansion allowed me the opportunity to test my theories from 16 years earlier and discover even more intricacies of the ghostly illusions.
[…]
