A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion
by
Scott SPACE ACE Oliverson
(This next story features the entire gang of talking canines both good
and evil trapped inside an empty, spooky house with no escape and
offered a guided tour by none other than the GHOST HOST! Story is from
the LP Disneyland Record "THE HAUNTED MANSION" now re-released on
audiocassette based on the same storyline. Also taken from attraction
in New Orleans Square at DisneyLand)
INTRODUCTION BY DAVID
Have you ever seen a haunted mansion? You know the kind I mean. That
old dark house that's usually at the end of a dimly lit street. The
owners haven't been seen for years, no one really knows why? The
windows are broken and boarded, and the shutters hang loose on their
hinges. The sidewalk leading to the front porch is broken and overgrown
with grass and weeds. The trees are grown wild, their branches brush
against the sides of the weathering house, making strange noises in the
night. There's a high vine-covered fence around the property with a
rusty, squeaky gate. Is it there to keep somebody out, or is it there
to keep something inside? It's a house that people avoid walking past
at night...Strange sounds come from within its walls, and it's said that
errie lights can be seen both in the attic windows and in the graveyard
to the side of the house. Our story revolves around this mysterious
mansion...Nights not long ago, Charlie Barkin, Itchy Itchiford and their
friends were returning home from a matinee movie/pizza party. The night
was cool as lightning broke through the sky. The wind began to blow and
the lightning cracked again. Thunder rolled across the heavens and
changed this pleasant evening into a night to be remembered. Sasha held
Charlie's paw tightly as they began to run faster down the dark street.
The lightning struck again and illuminated the front of the old
mansion, it began to rain. Charlie, Itchy, Sasha, Bess, Lance,
Annabelle, Killer, Carface and Belladonna ran towards the old house,
through the old iron gate and onto the porch for protection.
Protection? If only they had known...
SASHA: Oh Charlie, look at that rain come down. We'll never get home on
time.
CHARLIE: Sure we will, it's not quite midnight.
LANCE: (Studies front door) But this old porch isn't gonna keep us dry
though. (Begins pulling on stuck knob)
ITCHY: (Alarmed) What are you doing?
LANCE: Trying to get front door open, no one lives here.
CHARLIE: Good idea, we can wait inside till the storm's over.
SASHA: Not me, no way, uh-uh. (Shakes her head, nervous look on face)
BESS: I'm not going in that old house. I'd rather stay out here and get
wet.
At last the doberman wonder dog & bodyguard to Annabelle gets
the stuck door open to peer inside.
LANCE: There, c'mon don't be afraid. Duty calls!
CHARLIE: I'll light a match.
ANNABELLE: One heavn-match coming up boys.
Using her powers, the whippet conjures a glowing ball of light
to appear above their heads. She orders it to proceed ahead, guiding
the canines into the house. Once inside the gang discover they are
standing inside the front parlor or foyer, a room filled with dusty
furniture. Windows gave commanding views of the outside, although some
pieces were missing from their panes & patched up. The curtains hung
like limp flags in a still breeze. A crystal chandelier hangs from the
center of the room, its flickering candles giving off the only light
while candles set in scounces cast wierd, spooky shadows along the
wallpaper...A fireplace glows with hot coals even though no heat is
giving off and at the other end of the room stand 2 wooden doors set
apart from each other, both of them closed.
CARFACE: Well I'll be, (Looks around) this house is still full of
furniture.
KILLER: It's as though someone still lived here boss.
SASHA: But whatever happened to the people who lived here, where did
they go to?
BELLADONNA: (Whispers) No one really knows...(Then smirks evilly)
BESS: There's a candelabra, light some candles.
Before anyone can move, a ghostly voice echos from nowhere
startling the dogs who all jump & cry out in suprise & shock!
GHOST HOST: GOOD EVENING MY FRIENDS...
ANNABELLE: Oh my! W-who said that?
BELLADONNA: Where on earth did that voice come from? (Looks panicked)
CHARLIE: I think it came from that statue bust girls.
BOTH WHIPPETS: AAAAAAAAAAAAGH! (Horror on their faces)
ITCHY: YEEEEEEEEOW! A talking statue bust? No way man!
SASHA: Charlie, let's get out of here!
Suddenly the door, all by itself swings shut and closes as if by
unseen hands. Now the dogs are trapped inside ALIVE!
LANCE: No! (Runs to door) The door closed! (Frantically he twists &
yanks on knob) I can't get it open.
KILLER: Aaaaaaaaah! (He too screams) We're doomed to die in this cursed
place!
CARFACE: No! I'm too young to die, Aaaaaahahahahaahaah! (Cries in
terror)
Meanwhile the unseen entity continues speaking, though no one
present is revealed to be the speaker.
GHOST HOST: WELCOME FOOLISH MORTALS...TO THE HAUNTED MANSION...I AM YOUR
HOST...YOUR GHOST HOST...KINDLY STEP THIS WAY...THERE'S NO TURNING BACK
NOW...YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED...BUT YOU WILL NOT BE RELEASED UNTIL YOU
TAKE A TOUR OF MY HOME...WE HAVE SO FEW VISITORS...LIVE ONES THAT IS...
Then the GHOST HOST erupts into uncontrollable laughter as
though he just said something funny, trying to shake up his visitors.
GHOST HOST: (Laughing) HMHMHMHMHMHAHAHAHAHAHA...OUR TOUR BEGINS
HERE...IN THIS GHOSTLY GALLERY...
Then as if by magic, one of the two doors on the far side of the
foyer/front parlor opens to reveal another room within. Charlie, Itchy,
Carface, Killer, Lance, Sasha, Bess, Belladonna & Annabelle too
frightened to find another way out, obeyed their host's voice and
entered the candle-lit gallery. The art gallery was a large room, its
walls were covered with paintings. As the dogs stepped into the room,
the door behind them swung closed.
ANNABELLE: Charles, Lance, we shouldn't have come in here.
ITCHY: I'm scared! (He looks like it too)
LANCE: (Confused) I don't see a way out.
CHARLIE: (Also puzzled) Yeah, there are no doors, not even a window.
GHOST HOST: HERE IN THE GALLERY...YOU SEE THERE PAINTINGS OF SOME OF OUR
RESIDENTS...AS THEY APPEARED IN THEIR CORUPTABLE MORTAL STATE...EVEN IN
THIS FLICKERING GLOOM...YOUR CADAVOROUS PALLOR BETRAYS AN AURA OF
FORBODING...YOUR TRUSTING MORTAL EYES TELL YOU THAT THESE WALLS ARE
STRECHING...
For a moment it did indeed appear as though the paintings were
streching, getting taller. Or was it the room itself that was getting
bigger as the ceiling goes up and the floor goes down???
GHOST HOST: BUT LOGIC SAYS NO...IT'S MERE HALUCINATION...THEN LOOK ABOVE
YOU...EXAMINE EVERYTHING CAREFULLY...YOUR LOGIC CANNOT DENY THAT THIS
CHAMBER HAS NO WINDOWS AND NO DOORS...WHICH OFFERS A RATHER LOGICAL
CHALLENGE...TO FIND A WAY OUT...HMHMHMHMHMHAHAHAHA...THERE'S ALWAYS MY
WAY...BUT I'M NOT TELLING...
Lightning flashed from above the room illuminating the attic
area, there seemed to be no roof. A loud scream cut through the silence
making everybody cry out in alarm & terror. From the rafters a corpse
swayed, dangling by a taut rope. A black crow flew into the room and
perched on the bookcase.
CROW: Caw-caw! The courage way out, he chose the courage way out.
Caw-caw-caw! (Then it flies away)
The candles Charlie held went out mysteriously. Sasha clutched
his paw during what seemed to be an endless darkness while the other
dogs huddled together, eyes wide with horror, unable to speak or move.
In a few seconds, the candles relit. A secret panel on the opposite
side slid open exposing a dimly lit hallway. On the left side were
windows revealing a grotesque landscape frequently illuminated by the
lightning flashes. On the right side of the corridor were large
portraits. When the lightning flashed, these paintings turned into
decaying corpses.
SASHA: We should never have come in here.
BESS: I agree, now what do we do?
CARFACE: How are we going to find another exit?
LANCE: We can't go back out the way we came in, because the door is
still locked.
BELLADONNA: Grrrrrrrrmph! (Glowers) Way to go Mr. Wonder Dog, thanks for
getting us stuck in here.
KILLER: Hey, it's not his fault. How was he to know the door would
close boss?
The witch gives him a mean stare, narrowed eyes and bared teeth
(The famous angry look) so he shuts up.
ANNABELLE: Hold it, don't fight. (Gets their attention) If there's a way
in, there's a way out.
CHARLIE: How do you know that boss?
ANNABELLE: Well Charles, (Grins) right now the only answer I can come up
with is for us to continue this tour and hopefully our GHOST HOST will
kindly show us to the nearest exit from his home.
ITCHY: You mean we got to take this haunted tour?!
CARFACE: Not exactly what I had in mind, shorty.
LANCE: Who are you calling shorty? (Frowns) I think Anna's right. This
way we can be on the lookout for another escape route from this house.
SASHA: Then what are we waiting for?
BESS: Let's go everybody!
Suddenly something makes a whooshing, flapping sound above their
heads. All the girls scream!
SASHA-BESS-ANNA-BELLA: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
CHARLIE: What? What? (Shocked by their voices)
ITCHY: Why did you scream like that for?
BELLADONNA: I-I thought I heard something. (She is afraid)
ANNABELLE: M-m-me t-t-too. (Also has fear)
LANCE: Maybe it was a bat?
Again that makes the girls shriek, so Charlie has to calm them
all down and take control of the situation.
CHARLIE: Time out! It's okay, it's just that crow girls.
SASHA: How do you know?
BELLADONNA: Yeah Chucky-boy, did you see it?
BESS: Where is it?
ANNABELLE: You mean that black bird we encountered in the gallery?
CHARLIE: The one and only.
CARFACE: Why that stupid, no-good, dumb, idiotic flying freak.
KILLER: I'll teach it not to scare me! (Tries to look & sound brave)
BELLADONNA: Aaaaaaaargh! I'll cast a spell on it once I get my paws on
it!
ANNABELLE: Me too cousin! (Both now look angry)
ITCHY: Oh good grief. (Rolls his eyes, shakes his head)
At that, the GHOST HOST apologizes for scaring his visitors.
GHOST HOST: DID SOMEONE SCREAM?...AHH, WE DIDN'T MEAN TO FRIGHTEN YOU
PREMATURELY...APPARENTLY THE RESTLESS SPIRIT OF AN OLD WITCH HAS TAKEN
POSESSION OF THAT POOR, WRETCHED CROW'S MORTAL BEING...BE ON YOUR
GUARD...IT MAY WANT TO PERMANTLY REPOSESS...HMHMHMHMHAHAHA...COME ALONG
NOW...NO LAGGING BEHIND...
END OF PART 1
Go to Part 2