The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (238 page)

             
Main Street
(
Main Street, U.S.A.
–
DL Park
) – Back in the day, before
Walt
bought the land to create
Disneyland
, the location now known as
Main Street
was rural and agricultural.  It cradled groves and fields and farm houses and even shady old trees (some of which survive behind
Main Street
, in the “jungles” of
Adventureland
).  You’d think that if ghosts are real, at least one or two of them would be roaming along
Main Street
, one of the places in
Disneyland
that still has a distinctly old-fashioned atmosphere.  There are not, however, many credible ghost stories attached to
Main Street
itself, just nebulous rumors of an old-fashioned “lady in white”.  Ladies in white appear frequently in ghostly lore, which makes this rumor, in the author’s humble opinion, a possible candidate for a real ghost, if
Main Street
does indeed have one.  So keep your eyes open when you stroll this pleasant thoroughfare–you never know whom or what you might encounter.

             
Main Street Cinema / Partners Statue
(
Main Street, U.S.A. – DL Park
) – In early February 2012, I received permission from Pamela, a former
Disneyland
Cast Member, to share the following story.  One of her friends and colleagues worked the third (graveyard) janitorial shift at
Disneyland Park
.  After the park had closed, while working near the
Partners Statue
in the
Hub
, he looked down
Main Street
and saw a male figure, nicely dressed, in front of the
Main Street Cinema
.  The Cast Member got an odd feeling–not a bad or scared feeling–just a sense of something not being normal.  This sensation of the surreal, of high strangeness, is reported as being typical of genuine ghostly encounters.  The Cast Member walked down
Main Street
toward the figure, and the figure turned and entered the
Main Street Cinema
.  When the Cast Member reached the theater and entered it, he found the cinema empty.  Who was the figure that he had seen?  The figure was well-dressed—and third-shift Cast Members don’t normally wear suits.  And why would someone duck into the tiny cinema, and then (presumably) duck out the emergency exit?  The Cast Member had a gut feeling the “person”
might
have been the spirit of
Walt
, paying a visit to his park from the great beyond.  Of course, the eye-witness could have been mistaken.  It’s a distance of about two football fields between the statue and the cinema, and it was third shift, very dark even with the park working lights on.  Maybe the figure was just
Disney
brass, wearing a suit, checking on the third shift activities.  This story felt sincere to me; even if the person reporting it had been mistaken, I believed that he believed it, if you take my meaning.  So I took the time to investigate it.  One occasion when my sister and I found ourselves on
Main Street
well after midnight, we decided to test the tale.  The stores were still open, and well-lit, but the street was almost deserted.  We had a clear view down
Main Street
, from
Partners
at the
Hub
all the way to the cinema near
Town Square
.  Even with the street lamps and store lights illuminated, it was difficult to distinguish any details about people standing way down by the theater.  And we observed an optical illusion caused by the distance:  Anyone walking along the edge of
Town Square
, toward
Egghouse Gate
(which leads to park administrative offices, a place a
Disney
bigwig in a suit might go), might appear from that great distance to be stepping into the cinema rather than walking toward
Egghouse Gate
.  So, absent other proof, this story seems to have been debunked and explained.  But this is, nevertheless, one of my favorite
Disneyland
ghost stories.  Its simplicity rings true.  And it has that sense of high strangeness that credible witnesses share.  The Cast Member certainly saw
someone
.  And the
Partners Statue
and
Main Street Cinema
are two of the locations in the park most closely linked to
Walt
.

             
Matterhorn
(
Fantasyland
–
DL Park
) – Does a headless ghost haunt this alpine mountain attraction?  Some say “yes”.  Why would there be spirits here?  In 1964 and 1984 there were Guest fatalities on this attraction due to unfastened restraints.  Both Guests suffered cranial injuries, but it they were not “headless”.  On dozens and dozens of
Matterhorn
descents, the author has never seen anything remotely ghostly.  The new bobsled vehicles unveiled after the 2012 refurb now have
auto-locking seatbelts
; once you fasten them, they cannot be unlocked until you cruise into the unloading zone.  This is a significant safety improvement; until 2012, the seatbelts were manual, meaning Guests could unfasten them during the course of the ride.  The new, locked seatbelts greatly reduce the chances of the
Matterhorn
welcoming any
new
spirits.

             
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
(
Paradise Pier
–
DCA Park
) – Someone who prefers to remain anonymous told the author that they find the giant
Mickey
face on
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
disturbing—even sinister.  Especially at night, when the 40-foot-wide
Mickey
face smiles down at
World of Color
attendees, illuminated by the bay’s colorful fountains.  From 2001 to 2008 this was the
Sun Wheel
; it was remodeled and opened as
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
in May 2009.  The jovial “celestial” sun face of the
Sun Wheel
was replaced by a jovial
Mickey
face.  The Ferris wheel was built by
Imagineering
and
Waagner Biro
, an Austrian engineering company.  There have been
no
serious injuries or fatalities associated with
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
or the
Sun Wheel
that preceded it.  Of course, there
were
fatalities in the old
Disneyland parking lot
, and
DCA
was built on the old parking lot—but that seems like a stretch in this instance.

             
New Orleans Square
(
New Orleans Square
–
DL Park
) – Even if the
Haunted Mansion
and
Pirates of the Caribbean
are
not
haunted, there’s general agreement among many Guests and Cast Members that
New Orleans Square
is, in general, a genuinely spooky location.  While some Cast Members work in
New Orleans Square
literally for years and never notice anything amiss, many have ghostly tales to share–nothing dramatic, nothing that would be made into a blockbuster paranormal flick, but just odd, spooky occurrences that have them convinced something ghostly is afoot in this little land.  This was the last area of
Disneyland
that
Walt
personally designed and dedicated.  He died mere months after it opened, and although
Walt
didn’t realize while he was designing
New Orleans Square
that he was ill–gravely ill, as it turned out–this mysterious land is certainly layered with all sorts of secrets and references to spirits, tragedy, and death. 
New Orleans Square
is beautiful–“I’d like to live there!” write
Disneyland
fans–but at dusk, at certain turns of the lanes … Let’s just say that you shouldn’t be surprised if you think you hear something odd, or see something shadowy out of the corner of your eye.  It’s possible you’ll leave
New Orleans Square
with your own little ghostly tale to tell!

             
Pirates of the Caribbean
(
New Orleans Square
–
DL Park
) – In 2007,
Pirates
was temporarily halted when a woman scattered a powdery material in the water.  She said it was baby powder; others speculate she was scattering the ashes of a loved one (possibly a child) who had adored
POTC
.  There’s no way to know for certain
what
she put in the water, but, a word to the wise, both the spreading of cremated remains (or non-cremated remains!)
and
the purposeful scattering of
any
substance on
any
attraction are prohibited activities at
Disneyland
.  Each year
Disneyland
receives requests from people who want to spread the ashes of their deceased loves ones somewhere at the resort;
Disneyland
habitually refuses these requests.  Nonetheless, the scuttlebutt is that people
do
scatter remains on the sly, especially on
Pirates
and at the
Haunted Mansion
.  Given the fact that Guests are usually under secret Cast Member scrutiny at most times on both attractions, this seems unlikely to the author.  And the only specters I’ve witnessed on
Pirates
were the ones designed by the
Imagineers
… But who knows what
you
might glimpse?

             
Space Mountain
(
Tomorrowland
–
DL Park
) – Does a glowing green ghost nicknamed
Disco Debbie
haunt
Disneyland
’s out-of-this-world attraction?  Was she a Cast Member or Guest who died
backstage
from an aneurism?  When I mentioned this rumor in the
Disneyland Secrets – Disneyland Ghosts
video, I received
a lot
of feedback–some of it frankly irritated–taking me to task.  I was told that contrary to rumor, there
isn’t
any green ghost or
Disco Debbie
at
Space Mountain
. 
Space Mountain
, they insisted, is ghost-free.  Where, then, did the
Disco Debbie
rumor originate?  Speculation is that, like an old-fashioned game of “telephone,” tales of the
Innoventions
ghost next door became garbled and were somehow attributed to
Space Mountain
over the years.  As a devoted
Space Mountain
fan–I’ve been on that attraction more than 100 times, easily–I’d certainly prefer it to be ghost-free.  But keep your eyes and ears open when you journey into its cold, starry reaches; maybe you’ll see something this author hasn’t!  In 2012 and 2013 I received feedback from
Disco Debbie
supporters insisting that there
is
a glowing-green spectre at
Space Mountain
.  Some are convinced that she
is
named
Debbie
(or
Debbi
), and that she is, in fact, the spirit of the Cast Member named
Deborah
who perished at
Innoventions
(practically next door to
Space Mountain
) in 1974.  One viewer on the fence about the issue shared that she saw some kind of green object–she’s not certain what it was–suspended above her during a
Space Mountain
voyage.  What do
you
experience?

             
Tom Sawyer Island
(
Frontierland
–
DL Park
) – In 2013 I was contacted by a source self-identifying as a
Disneyland
contractor and former Cast Member who reported all sorts of poltergeist-like activity on and around
Tom Sawyer Island
.  This source gave me permission via email to relate some of the stories, and it sounds as though he or she might produce a book about the events.  In a nutshell, the contractor reports hearing loud thumps and experiencing rocks being thrown near
Fort Wilderness
(which is closed to Guests) long after park closing when there isn’t anyone else (even other Cast Members) around.  The contractor also has heard the payphones ring near the
Hungry Bear
restaurant, just across the river from the
Tom Sawyer Island
Cast Member landing, late at night, when no one is there.  It’s hard to debunk flying rocks and loud noises—they either happened, or they didn’t.  The ringing of the payphones could be a prank; the author verified that there are phone numbers for each payphone clearly printed on the phones, so anyone who knows the numbers could call the phones and make them ring, startling whomever was standing nearby, particularly after hours when the area was deserted.  The contractor believes he or she is a sensitive, and that the poltergeist-like activity is specifically targeting him or her.  That would explain the lack of ghostly reports in general about
Tom Sawyer Island
.  The author hasn’t felt anything spectral on the island, only positive memories of childhood—but I don’t seem to be a sensitive.  Why would ghosts or poltergeists hang around
Tom Sawyer Island
, anyway?  For that question, there
is
an answer.  Over the years, two young men have perished after hiding on the island and trying in one case to swim, in the other to boat, back to the “mainland”.  The
Rivers of America
are deeper than they look, and having claimed the lives of two young men who hid on the island, it doesn’t seem impossible, should specters be real, that one or both boys might linger in the vicinity.  An interesting note about poltergeist activity—traditionally it’s considered that strong emotions by someone living—usually a teenage girl or a woman of advanced middle-age—energizes or feeds the poltergeist.  Would one of the drowned teen boys be angry enough to toss rocks or slam the side of the fort to get the attention of a senstive?  It’s an interesting speculation—but unless
you
are a sensitive, the author doubts you’ll experience anything but a wonderful time visiting the island!