But in retrospect the most valuable has turned out to be my memory of seeing the Hat Box Ghost. I've told you about the hitchhiking ghosts in the mirror. I've got some great memories from that day. I'm racing down Main Street, swinging through Adventureland, knocking over old ladies (kidding, just kidding), and getting into the looooooooong line. He knew how badly we wanted to see the haunted house, and-bless 'im-he just decided to indulge us this once. Once or twice a year was about it for our family DL trips, and the visits were never close together. Well, a week or so later, some business or other required us all to ride through Anaheim, and as we passed within eyesight of the park, my Dad suddenly asked my brother and me if we'd like to go in for a couple of hours (it was already late in the day). Reasonably enough, we concluded that life stank. Now we had barely missed it and would have to wait a whole year to see it. We had been waiting it seemed like forever for that old house to open its gates. My brother and I went from ecstasy to despair in the course of about three seconds. In a basso profundo, he told us that the Haunted Mansion was opening, wisecracking that as usual Disney only took ten years to build a ride. On the Jungle Cruise, between Trader Sam and the dock, the skipper asked us if anyone knew what was happening this weekend. Our family had our usual annual DL trip during the first week of August, 1969. If you've heard this one before, let it scroll, baby, scroll. Well, what can I say here that hasn't been said everywhere else? How about a couple of eyewitness testimonies? Here's my lovely little tale, something I've recounted many times. Frankly, I couldn't wait for it to be over and gone. When the merchandizing arm of Disney began planning how best to celebrate the Haunted Mansion's 40th anniversary (and how best to soak the fans for every spare nickel), they decided to make the HBG their main mascot and plastered his visage all over the place: HBG on posters, HBG on online announcements, HBG pins, computer-animated HBG hosting the Haunted Holidays website-you couldn't escape the HBG's evil grin if you paid any attention to the HM 40th at all.
What a difference 15 years makes-especially if a little thing that starts with "In some ways I can't blame them.
It was a classic case of a "Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect." If this were the mid-1990s, an article on the Hat Box Ghost would have to spend a lot of space (1) explaining what the heck the "Hat Box Ghost" is, and (2) arguing that such a figure once existed. (Please note that this post was written several years before the return of the Hat Box Ghost in May of 2015. Seems like as good a time as any to turn to the attic's other famous resident, her groom.
IN THAT BOX WAS GHOST SERIES
I'm interrupting our bride series because I'm hoping to get permission to use some very fine photos.
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