A little table to how to get rid of all that negative self-talk. We have to learn look at the good in situations too, instead of dwelling on things we can’t change- because you know what? We may not be able to change what is happening but we CAN change how we view it!
The Shadow Man. (all text and images courtesy of Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect/Dan Olson.)
We’ve explored the cultural/mythical backgrounds of so many supernatural manifestations encountered in the Haunted Mansion that you’d think by now we must have covered them all, but not so. Here’s one we have not discussed at all.
What we have here is not a ghost so much as a paranormal being, variously classified. If you Google "Shadow People," you’ll be inundated with sites discussing this phenomenon. You’ll read of demons, or you’ll read of aliens, and nowadays “interdimensional beings" is a pretty popular explanation too. Belief in Shadow People seems to run independently of belief in ghosts. There are people who have never seen a ghost and even have doubts about their existence who swear that they have had creepy encounters with Shadow People.
These beings are no strangers to popular entertainment culture. A recent example is the 2012 horror film Shadow People, which claims to be “based on a true phenomenon." Gosh. (I’m sitting here trying to think what it would take to falsify the claim, “based on a true phenomenon.")
The Hat Man
The “Hat Man" is one particular variety of Shadow folk who shows up over and over, and I have to say that I find the hatted figure at least ten times scarier than the hatless types, and I don’t even know why.
People rarely get a good look at him. It’s usually an “out of the corner of your eye" manifestation, which only makes him that much scarier.
One of the better episodes of the new Twilight Zone series in the 80’s was a Joe Dante directed piece called “The Shadow Man," about one of these dark fellows who lived under a 13-year-old boy’s bed and was definitely up to no good. I remember that when I first saw it back in ‘85, it was just about the scariest thing I had ever seen on a regular TV program. It’s up on youtube as of this writing, and if you haven’t seen it, you should. Terrible music and utterly unconvincing performances by the young actors, but forget all that. It’s got one of the best twist endings ever.
In pop culture, the basic Hat Man image goes back at least to the early 1930’s and the creepy anti-hero, “The Shadow," famous from pulp novels, comics, and an immortal radio program, where he was sometimes portrayed by Orson Welles. (That seems right; in later years Welles did indeed cast quite a shadow, as I recall.) The Shadow bears a remarkable resemblance to our Hat Man.
We could chase this guy around all day. People continue to report sightings in the Santa Lucia mountains along the central California coast of what have come to be known as “Dark Watchers," black robed and broad-rimmed hatted specters. They’re always in the distance, either staring at the visitors or off into nowhere in particular. If you approach them they vanish. They say. No one knows how long they’ve been reported, but they’re mentioned in a John Steinbeck short story, so they’ve been around since the 1930’s at least. There are supposed to be old stories about them among the local Native Americans, taking us back into the mists of antiquity, but *yawn* that’s de rigueur with these kinds of things. It seems like any time any weird thing like this is reported anywhere in North America, it isn’t long before someone makes confident claims about old Indian traditions in connection with said Weird Thing. (For the record, in this case, responsible anthropologists who have learned everything they can about Native Americans in the Santa Lucia area—those would be the Chumash Indians—haven’t found anything there about the Dark Watchers.)
Nevertheless, I do suspect that the essential image here goes back a lot further than the 1930’s. No doubt you’ve heard of the artist Edvard Munch? You know, the guy who did “The Scream"? Yeah, him. Well, here’s an equally cheerful Munch piece from 1890, innocently called “Night in St. Cloud." Would you sit next to this guy? Hey … where’s his shadow, anyway?
Shadow People In The Mansion
So now that we’re a little more familiar with the territory, we may ask whether the Haunted Mansion Imagineers put any Shadow People into the house. And of course the answer is yes. Some of the early concept art definitely tries to tap into those vague, amorphous, SP atmospherics. Here are two sketches, most likely by Ken Anderson. Feast your eyes; they’re extremely rare.
This first one was on display in the Disney Gallery for awhile in 2003, but I don’t think it’s ever been published.
And I don’t think this second one has ever been officially displayed or published anywhere.
Incidentally, that second one is a superb example of Mansion cross-pollination with other Disney attractions. It’s obviously inspired by a piece of Eyvand Earle concept art for the Sleeping Beauty walk-thru.
Anderson was working on the Sleeping Beauty attraction at about the same time that he was also working on the Ghost House project. We really don’t need evidence in order to suppose that Anderson knew this particular piece—he must have—but as a matter of fact we happen to have such evidence anyway, in this photo which we’ve run before showing Ken and Claude Coats working on the Sleeping Beauty project:
In the 80’s and 90’s the Imagineers went full-on Hat Man, starting with Phantom Manor concept artwork…
..and ending with the introduction of a new character at Disneyland, the attic pianist of 1995.
Some people think the pianist is supposed to be the Hatbox Ghost, or at least a tribute to the Hatbox Ghost. It’s possible, but I doubt it. The style of hat isn’t quite right.
But if it’s wrong for him, it’s right for the Hat Man, with its slightly droopy, downward-sloping brim, quite noticeable in this crisp Daveland shot:
According to some interpretations of the Shadow People, the shadow is all there is. These aren’t shadows OF someone or something; the shadow is itself the being. The attic piano player seems to be precisely this kind of apparition. The shadow demons in The Princess and the Frog are also good examples of this type of manifestation. As it happens, one of the most celebrated ghosts in the Mansion may be drawing inspiration from these same murky wells. Besides the Hat Man, a few other “species" of Shadow People have been identified, including a hooded figure with glowing eyes. Kind of a tall, dark Jawa, I guess.
Look familiar? Lots of people, including myself, think that the creepiest,scariest attic bride was the dark-faced, round-eyed, Beating Heart version. Could that be because she seems vaguely like something more or other than your garden variety ghost? I don’t know, but I wonder.
Come to think of it, that illustration of the two most often reported varieties of shadow people is eerily reminiscent of the attic occupants in general. I don’t know if this a matter of sheer coincidence or another example of well-tuned artistic instinct. On the other hand, this particular incarnation of the bride was taken out at the same time that the pianist went in, so they’ve never been seen there together. Perhaps I’m making something out of nothing (again). I don’t know what’s going on here, if anything, but I wonder.
sabellart
