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Spoilers ahead forHaunted Mansion, in theaters now.
The film referencesnever-realized concept art, the ridesoriginal proposed story line, and the names of Imagineers.
Like, a lot of Imagineers.
The Imagineers are the namesakes of heroicHaunted Mansioncharacters like Harriet and Madame Leota.
But theyre also the inspiration behind the films antagonist satanic serial killer Alistair Crump.
Thats weird, right?
A giant corporation naming a fictional mass murderer after a former employee?
Even then, the ride shell sat empty for nine years.
Nobody could agree on what the ride was supposed to be.
(Thesame weekendas the Tate-LaBianca murders, oddly enough.)
Eighteen years of Imagineers worked on the Haunted Mansion, and they signed their work.
Most references to them are in theprop graveyardoutside the mansion, inscribed in all those gag tombstones.
There are other references throughout the ride, however, and some of them trickled into the 2023 movie.
Not all are the most thoughtful remembrances.
Below are the Imagineer Easter eggs in 2023sHaunted Mansionand the stories behind them.
Gracey and Rolly Crump were the two Imagineers in charge of Disneylands Haunted Mansion project in the mid-60s.
It reads Master Gracey, Laid to Rest, No Mourning at His Request, FAREWELL.
His murder remains unsolved to this day.
Crumps ghost shows up in Master Graceys mansion after Leota accidentally summons him.
He convinces Gracey to kill himself and becomes responsible for 66 deaths in Graceys mansion.
He couldnt be farther from his namesake, Rolly Crump.
Rolly was an Imagineer whose most controversial opinion was that it was important to Keep Disneyland Weird.
Toombs first worked in Disneys Ink and Paint department, where she met her husband, Harvey Toombs.
This was when Yale Gracey and Rolly Crump were the point men on the Haunted Mansion.
Jamie Lee Curtis performs both duties in the 2023 film.
Harriet
Tiffany Haddishs character Harriet shares a first name with Harriet Burns, the girlboss of Imagineering.
Fun fact: Burns based Pirates of the CaribbeansDirty Foot Pirateon her milkman, who had weirdly hairy legs.
Did she regret that choice when she had to place each leg hair individually on a robots leg?
Davis butted heads with Claude Coates, who wanted the Mansion to be scary as shit.
Marc Davis, on the other hand, wanted the Mansion to play host to his pun-inspired vignettes.
He was a goofy-ass man, and its only right his character is portrayed by goofy-ass DeVito.