I'm obsessed with Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and one of my favorite characters in the ride is the Hatbox Ghost. Well, technically he hasn't been in the ride since the first week it opened... so here is some quick back story:
Disney created a character to put in the Haunted Mansion called The Hatbox Ghost. The gimmick was that his head would disappear and reappear in the hatbox he was holding. Here's a picture of the real ghost as seen in 1969:
Long story short, the effect didn't work. He was only in the attraction for the first few weeks in 1969, and then we was taken out, never to be seen again...
Since then, the rumor of a 'missing' ghost has grown, and finally some actual pictures emerged of Hatty as seen in the ride. There was a number of merchandising items that featured him, and he has grown in popularity ever since. There are even rumors of him returning to the ride in the near future.
Well, Disney is always one to save money, so they used the Hatbox Ghost head sculpt in other places throughout the ride. You can see his head in some of the pictures in the hallway, and most famously, one of the hitchhiking ghosts uses the same sculpt. I was actually able to acquire a cast of one of these heads, and painted him up as the infamous Hatbox Ghost!
I still need to give him his collar, and find a better hat. But what do you all think?
If you want to read more about him, check out my website!
www.thehatboxghost.com
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