Eek.... HM all by myself... am I the only one who would be a *little* spooked?
Haunted Mansion... alone?
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It was on a Fall Friday the 13th that I was part of a group touring the MK. The others in our gathering decided to go back to the resort for a bit of rest and a swim.
Now that I look back on this, it seems ODD that they ALL wanted to leave the park when we were having so much FUN.
It might have been just a by chance that I chose to visit HM alone that day.
Or was it a "calling" that brought me there?
I walked briskly up to the entrance along with a few other guests, just giving a quick glance toward the grave stones. Those were the same markers I'd seen a hundred times... but that day, they seemed more "ominous" than funny.
Even Leota's monument, normally great fun to catch in her spurious "movements" looked to be SCOWLING in my direction. I stared directly at "her" for a probably a full minute and she did NOT MOVE. I turned to the person standing next to me to remark about the unusual look of the cemetery, but there was (to my surprise) NO ONE ELSE THERE!
Had I been so preoccupied with Leota that I'd missed the rest of the guests entering the foyer?
Maybe I should have just backed quietly away at that point... and maybe gone to ride Peter Pan just around the corner... but no, I just stood there, alone.
In an instant, the doors swung open and a green uniformed CM peered dead-eyed in my general direction.
I smiled weakly and said something like, "Well, its just me for dinner." but the CM seemed not to even take actual notice of me. He just, I don't know, "drooped, slumped, withered" there for a long moment then I inched past him and the door closed. The CM must have actually gone outside, because I found myself alone in front of the fireplace.
The "Ghost Host" voice began to "welcome" the foolish mortals and I let out a deep sigh and watched the painting over the fireplace as it morphed from a decent image into... wait, I didn't recall seeing that exact image before... it looked like... no, that ghoulish image above the mantle looked exactly like the CM who had just admitted me to the foyer!
I wasted no time standing there but walked quickly into the stretching room.
I "kindly stepped all the way in, please" even though there were not other guests with me to "make room for", and stood in the "dead center" of the room (no CM to tell me that, but I knew the drill by now.)
The door slid shut.
The Ghost Host commenced his familiar speech and the walls
began to perform what these walls are famous for and the
images of the "corruptible mortals" revealed their ultimate fates.
Then...
Silence.
Nothing.
Had the attraction broken down?
More silence.
Did anyone know I was IN here... alone?
What now?
I stood there, in that quiet room for what may have been 2 or 3 minutes waiting for a helpful CM to pop in to escort me from the premises.
But no CM, and of course, "no windows and no doors."
I thought that there MUST be an exit (there's ALWAYS an exit).
So, I started to walk towards the wall and...
that's when the
lights
went
OUT!
Pitch black. No light AT ALL.
Then it hit me. There was also no sound.
Surely, I'd be able to hear that blasted "silly spooks have blah-blah..." recorded spiel that the CMs play when HM must be stopped for some reason.
But the walls of the stretching room held out all worldly sound from my ears.
And I just sort of froze there in that silent inky darkness for quite a while.
Then I decided, OK, I'll FEEL for the emergency door (no biggie.)
I stretched-out my arms and inched forward.
One step, two... (I should not be that far from the wall)
three steps, four, then more... was I walking in a CIRCLE?
Where were the WALLS?
I calmed myself with the fact that I was very familiar with this room. I'd been in it many times... since I'd been a kid.
So, I just sort of lunged, all-at-once, straight ahead, until WHAP!
My head collided with something just HANGING there in the dark!
What the... ?
What would be hanging from the ceiling in the stretching room?
I turned back and reached for the object that my head had hit.
Got it!
It was rough and sinewy.
Hemp. ROPE!
Uh-Oh.
It was a NOOSE!
How did a rope noose (THE rope noose?) come to be hanging
so low into that tall, tall room?
Then, the floor began to... uh, MOVE...
it began to tilt at an uneasy angle and DROP away.
The only thing I could do to keep from falling over was grab onto the rope.
And I did... as tightly as I could.
I just hung there as the floor seemed to vanish.
BLINDING LIGHT FLASHES! CRACKS OF THUNDER!
I clutched the rope tightly and peered down from my
perilous position to see the floor of the room far below me,
and PEOPLE were looking up at ME hanging there swinging
from that tenuous rope.
At that moment my hands began to slip, the lights went out again,
and I...
SCREAMED!
.
My older daughter and husband got that great special treatment in 1999 (I think it was that trip! It was a long time ago!)
