Disclaimer: This is a story based on my favorite attraction at Walt Disney World. I am not affliated with The Disney Company in any way. So no lawsuits please. I'm not rich enough to go through the legal paperwork over a concept I like.
Damien, Darren and Steven had just been pn the ride again for the third time in a row. And again they loved doing it. Especially Steven who after listening to the album soundtrack years before in an abridged version on the flip side of a Donald Duck album. He had to go on the actual ride years later. Only one person didn't enjoy it so much. A person named Alan Hoskins. A veritable critic of The Disney Corporation from Day One.
He wanted to prove to everyone in the park that the whole Disney empire was a hoax designed to bilk everyone out their hard earned money. Steven and the others ignored his rantings. He just didn't understand the magic came within the attractions, not the amount that went into making them. But they recognized that The Enterprise had done things in the past they didn't like. Still the good far outweighed the bad in many ways.
"And another thing..." said Alan.
"Will you shut up, Man! You've been dissing everything about The Disney Park since you got here," Steven said annoyed. "Yeah. Loosen up a little," Darren said too. "You guys are dopes to believe in this garbage," Alan said sarcastically. "You think this place will make your dreams come true. And you going on about The Haunted Mansion as if there were real ghosts there. Ghosts are nothing but make believe. A load of bunk," Alan retorted. Again they just ignored him.
"Fine. Then don't join us for the next ride," Damien shot back. Alan just sulked and stomped away.
"Get him. A man of science wanting to expose away the layers like an FBI agent from The X-Files," Steven told the other guys. "He just doesn't get it"
"Before we go on the next ride guys. Let's get something to eat at The Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland," Darren suggested.
Alan was extremely unhappy about the Disney corporation. Ever since he heard about the animal deaths at their new theme park Animal Kingdom he felt that somehow the cast members were mistreating the animals who he thought should be set free. Walking around Liberty Square his mind suddenly became lightheaded. He didn't know it yet but this day would prove far different from the others.
He was staring out at The Haunted Mansion before him as he went up to see it closer. It was an imposing menacing structure which by all accounts was among the most popular attractions there. And yet if Alan didn't know better there seemed to be some hidden force within its walls. He would have to investigate the matter a little later when no one was looking.
Night was falling and Steven, Damien and Darren had left the park hours before except for Alan. As the patrons began sifting out for the fireworks at Cinderella's Castle Alan seized the opportunity to go on the ride one last time. He quietly snuck in the back exit where the doombuggies unloaded the guests. At the moment a cast member was turning around to log in the entries for the night Alan grabbed for a doombuggy and went all the way through the tour. All seem relatively normal until he reached Madam Leota's Seance Room where the car stopped dead. The recording of her incantations to evoke the "spirits" played over and over as he sat waiting for the omnimover to start again. What Alan saw next startled him as the crystal ball rose from the table and took on a greenish glow.
"You there, Non-believer," she intoned.
"Who? Me?"
"You must help me. I have been trapped here for ages on end," Leota replied. "Why me? You're just an illusion created by this park. I have better things to do than make conversation with an in screen projector," Alan scoffed at her.
Leota seemed very irritated by his arrogance. "Why, You insolent little...Ahem! Let's try this again shall we? I was put in here by The Disney Corporation to keep me out of trouble. I am really a very sweet old woman who wishes no harm on the world. I just want to have more freedom to move about in the mansion," she insisted. Not wanting to be rude torwards the "person" who was playing the joke on him Alan got out of the doombuggy and walked over to examine the glass ball more closely.
Madam Leota's eyes suddenly became menacing slits as Alan got closer to the table.
Suddenly there seem to be no floor. He had forgotten that the table wasn't actually floating.
The bottom was a twenty foot drop. Grabbing for the net he climbed out and as he crawled back into the doombuggy he saw that the crystal ball had floated into the seat next to him.
"Now do as I say, foolish mortal," Leota said to Alan. "As I told you before I REALLY am trapped in here. You didn't think I didn't know how to get you here just so you could prove my kind were frauds. As you no doubt know. I allowed you to think that the table was on solid ground but it wasn't. If I have learned anything in 200 years it takes a combination of cheap carnival tricks and true magic and proud stubborn people like you to make things happen. NOW SET ME FREE BY SHATTERING THE BALL!"
With those words he dropped the crystal into the drop below where he almost fell. A loud sound of glass breaking could be heard at the bottom. A mist came up from the basement and out came Madam Leota laughing maniacally at the "clever" dimwit for his disbelief in the supernatural. Rising high into the roof above him Leota had escaped the confines of The Haunted Mansion.
"What have I done?"
At that moment the doombuggy Alan was in started up again.
On his way back home from the park Alan was extremely worried. He had set lose a foul medium and was frightened to come where she could do the most amount of harm. He had to tell someone about it. He couldn't tell his folks or the cops. They'd cart him away to a mental facility. He knew of only one person in the world who could find a way out of this. Racing very fast he rushed to Steven's house immediately.
"YOU DID WHAT?" Steven said with a shocked look on his face. "You idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done? You set loose the most devious medium in the whole world." he shouted. "What harm could she do in the world?" Alan asked. Suddenly the news came on the radio without the aid of electricity. "We interupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin," The Newscaster said. "From out of nowhere a vast array of wispy spirits are attacking people in their homes and offices. All are advised to stay indoors and keep your windows and doors shut." "A lot of good that will do," Steven said aloud. "Those spirits were released by Madam Leota as revenge"
"Revenge? Why?"
Steven then explained to Alan about how the ride came to be put in Liberty Square. Years before a very real mansion was constructed for a bride who discovered her fiancee was really a pirate. Many years afterward a medium named Leota was called in to rid the house of the spirit of the pirate and the bride which she did. But Leota seeing opportunity decided to move into the mansion. She used it as a nexus gate between this plane and the spirit world. When the townspeople found out what she was really doing they sent a spiritualist shaman to trap her in the house. Her powers were weakened and she could only summon ghosts through the ball she was encased in.
"Then Walt hit on the idea of creating The Haunted Mansion when the original one got demolished," Steven told Alan. "Did Walt know about Leota in the ball?" he asked. "Nope. When the original mansion was destroyed her powers to the nexus gate were cut off. Effectively she was literally in limbo in suspended animation for 200 years," he told him. "She implanted the idea into his head the moment he found the ball during a dig for ancient indian arrows." "So what do we do now"
"WE are not going to do anything. YOU however are going to track down Leota and put her back into the crystal ball," Steven told him contemptly. "But the ball fell into the basement twenty feet below ground and broke," said Alan now looking more scared by the moment. "Did it ever occur to you that there was STILL the net underneath the drop?" Steven explained to him.
"Remember she said that she uses a combination of true magic and illusion. I'm willing to bet that if you go underneath the room you'll find that the glass ball is still there"
Alan was now frightened. He hadn't realize the extent of the cunning that was used against him and the very world of reason he and Steven lived in. He had to set things right not just for the world but for the people who visited the ride every year.
The following night was cool and he could see The Haunted Mansion sitting in the darkness of the far end of Liberty Square. The maintenance crew were busy clearing away the garbage from the fireworks the night before. Taking a flashlight in hand Alan had slipped into the back exit and walked down the rampway where the doombuggies were. Looking around he had to remember where The Seance Room was. The silence was downright deafening as he retraced his ride through. Going backwards through the attic and then through the ballroom he found the seance room. There in the darkness he found the crystal ball in the net like Steven said.
"Now how do I get it out of there without falling in again?" Alan thought.
"Let me have a go at it," a voice behind him said. Startled Alan nearly dropped the flashlight.
"Steven"
"Hey. I couldn't let you do this alone. What if you got into something worse like take the demon tail out of the thirteen hour clock in The Hallway of Doors?" he said
"And what if I HAD?" he said looking annoyed by the accusation. All he could do was give Alan a knowing look that let him know not to try anything stupid out of "scientific curiousity." "You've seen what Madam Leota can do and still you deny everything," he said to Alan that was deadly grim.
Whispering quietly Steven summoned the ball into his hand which rolled up from the net below them.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," He told Alan. Alan kept his mouth shut until he and Steven left the mansion.
They both came back to Steven's house and then began the plan in earnest. "The only person who can get Madam Leota back into the crystal ball is the one who set her free - namely YOU!" he told Alan in a very stern voice.
"And HOW do I accomplish that? Do The Wave as if I'm cheering on a football team?" he said sarcastically to Steven.
Five minutes later he was on his neighborhood block doing The Wave.
"This is ridiculous," he told Steven. He had never been so embrassed in all his life.
"Yes it is," he said to Alan. He couldn't help but burst out from laughing.
"Cut it out"
"I'm sorry. But it was funny and it did show how desperate you are to get rid of her," Steven told Alan.
"In order to REALLY get her into the crystal you have to coax her out of hiding"
"And how do I do that"
"USE YOUR IMAGINATION, DUMMY"
Alan was in no position to say anything to him. Looking outward he called out "HA! A fine thing you've done, Leota. You couldn't turn butter into cheese dip. That's what I think of your powers."
They looked up upward to see that onimous clouds were rolling in. Then a lightning bolt stroke a lampost cutting off the electricity from it and all the other ones in the neighborhood. Another neighbor of Steven's woke up upon hearing the noise. "Yawn! What's going on here?" asked Sue. "Watch," he told her.
A big puff of smoke rose up from the spot where the lampost was and in its place was...
"Madam Leota?" Sue's eyes widened at the sight. She was no longer a disembodied head but now had a whole body.
"Steven, You didn't"
"No. But the scientific genius' here did." He told Sue. "Who dares to question my supernatural skills?" Leota shouted as loud as she could. Now everyone on the block was up.
"Ah! An audience. Now I shall show you what true magic is, boy!" she told Alan. Raising both her arms she began chanting.
"Seprents, spiders, and a skelton bone," "Turn all the mortals now into stone."
People began to panic as each one became a frightful gargoyle statue more gruesome than the last one. But Steven, Sue and Alan were somehow unaffected.
"Nice save there, Steven," Alan said.
"I'm not doing this"
"What"
It was true. Someone was protecting them from Leota's magic. Sue and Steven had a good idea who it was.
She was on a rampage turning everyone in the neighborhood into Gargoyle statues more horrific than the last one. Leota let out a cackle of glee at her handywork.
"It matters not that you can do what you set out to do mortals. I'm alive again and this time I will rule the world, " she said melodramatically. With that she flew off in the direction of the Haunted Mansion.
"We have to stop her. She'll turn Disney World into a pile of ashes. She'll"
"CALM DOWN!" Sue shouted.
"So what do we about this now?" she asked Steven "First things first. Sue, Go to my house and bring me my spell book. Alan start up Sue's car"
"What? Why me? You can work magic. I saw you do it back in The Seance Room," he said to Steven.
"I don't do The Bewitched' snapping my fingers thing, Mr. Wizard. Besides if we immediately show up there like Darkwing Duck we'll be caught in her trap."
"But we have to get there. She'll do terrible things to..." "Oh and here I THOUGHT you were above this supernatural bunk'. You being a man of Science and logic," he said sarcastically to Alan. "I guess science isn't the Be All, End all answer to everything. I-I'm sorry"
"You should be. There's nothing wrong with being logical about things. You only know as much as you think you because you only use what you learned from those textbooks you read in High School and College." "There are just some thing that cannot be explained by natural means," Sue said now handing Steven the spell book. "Here is it," Steven said.
Saying the words out loud "Nrut Morf Enots Ot Hself" everyone in the neighborhood became human again.
"They'll be okay. Now let's back to The Haunted Mansion," Steven told his friends.
Traffic was heavy on the highway that night. It seems Madam Leota had been noticed by everyone causing a highway jam you couldn't believe. "This is too slow," he said to Sue and Alan. "Rac og pu!" he commanded.
The car was now flying like it was running on Flubber. "The only way to travel," Steven said. But the situation soon turned grim as they got closer to Liberty Square. "Good Lord! No!" Alan, Sue and Steven said simultaneously.
On top of the tower top of The Haunted Mansion was Leota calling up every spirit in the known and unknown world - 997 ghosts to be exact. "See? I told you my magic is all powerful," Leota said. They were speechless.
Alan still had the crystal ball in his hands and ran into The Haunted Mansion as fast as he could.
"My crystal ball. Give it back to me!" she shouted. Becoming smoke she scurried into the chimney of the foyer fireplace where Master Gracey's picture was. Then she pass through the Ghostly Gallery into the loading area and onward into the attic where the glowing bride was. Looking around she could see Alan's silouette from the crystal ball that was glowing near an open trunk. But when she reached to grab him there was nothing there but the ball. "Drat!" she cursed and began looking again as she carried it like a torch.
Hiding inside a box with a popping head Alan thought he could grab her ball again but something went wrong. The box was stuck. "Let me out, Let me out," he panicked. "Oh ho! Now I've got you. See how I put you into the crystal for 200 years. You'll never leave this place. NEVER!" she said opening the box.
It looked bad for Alan and now he had no choice and no where to run.
Then for whatever reason The Glowing Bride stepped off from her spot in the corner and began edging closer torwards Madam Leota. There was a bright flash of light and then all that was left was the crystal ball. The bride returned to her spot once more.
"Curse you, Mr. Frees. Curse you for all damnation," she screamed. "Mr. Frees?" Alan asked curiously. "Of course. That explains a lot."
"Yes, Alan. It's me. Though you cannot see me. I have been the heart of The Haunted Mansion ever since my own demise. Though I have done many great parts in my time in the past. Most people who come here recognize me for the talent behind the mansion," Paul said. "I chose to stay here to protect it from would be gatecrashers which is exactly what you did." "Then you were the one who protected us when she cast that stone gargoyle spell? I guess I owe Steven a bigger apology then," he said. "But what if Madam Leota breaks out of the orb again?"
"I have seen to it that the nexus gate between this world and the spirit world are frozen for all eternity. And as for the 997 ghosts out there. They have been transported into the animatronics with restricted movement as well. Now then if you please sit in the doom buggy and I will take you out of this delightfully dreary place."
Things got pretty much back to normal for Alan, Sue and Steven who all went on The Haunted Mansion for a fourth time in a row. All were happy to go on it. On the way out they ran into another doubting Thomas who just had to go and grab the demon tail in the clock when he came out. "I think I hear my Mom calling me," Alan said to the others. "Things like this NEVER happen at The Bates Hotel in Universal Studios Florida," Sue told Steven.
All he could do was groan "Not again!"
They ran like the dickens away from the mansion. They all had enough excitement for one day.