Disclaimer: I do not own the Haunted Mansion or any of its 999 inhabitants; I just own the other few that recently joined. Kim, Jody, Sakura, Tiki and other characters are my own. The Haunted Mansion is a wonderful tribute from the man with the dreams turned into imagination: Walt Disney. This story is tributed to him and his great work, and I've never been on the ride before!
Unfortunately, I have given up on my Haunted Mansion Christmas fic, so I apologise to readers of that story. In the story I was going to involve the ghosts of the HM join forces with Jack to battle Oogie Boogie, Madame Leota and the Phantom, and the kid ghosts would save the mansion. I'm sorry again. As for the Phantom Manor fanfic, that is still in progress.
This fanfic is based on the new storyline coming to the Haunted Mansion ride.
Happy Haunts Await 2
Chapter 1: Welcome Back Foolish Mortals…and Welcome New Arrivals
When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls…whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!
Enclosed by tall, wrought iron gates, hidden deep within the swamps of Louisiana, several miles north of New Orleans was an old stately mansion. Many years old, this mansion was filled with darkness and rumours. One particular interesting rumour was that the house was said to be haunted by spirits of the damned. Built in 1671, this mansion was foolishly built on Indian burial grounds, and every so called spirit dwelling within died a gruesome and horrid death, now sealed within the boundaries of the mansion.
The mansion was growing very old, the walls greying in colour with large cracks appearing in several places, ivy and weeds growing freely everywhere. All the windows were curtained. Giant dead oak trees hung around the house, trying to keep it hidden from prying eyes, but nothing could stop the world from seeing a tiny glimpse of the mansion.
People have said things…things that cause shivers to run up their spines. Some people say they've heard mysterious music from within the walls, seen lights in dark windows and even laughter from the graveyard outback.
On this particular miserable day, another paperboy nervously cycled up to the locked gates of the old Gracey Mansion. What was the point of him bringing post, if nobody actually ever came to collect it? There was a large pile of letters, bills, newspapers and advertisements scattered about the grounds by a strong breeze. The paperboy nervously parked his bicycle by an old tree and slowly approached the gates. He slowly moved a hand and arm through a hole in the gate, a pile of advertisements in his palm. Suddenly, a pair of transparent arms appeared in midair and took the advertisements, causing the boy to leap back in fright. A young girl with brown hair going down to her shoulders materialised on the opposite side of the gate.
"Gee, thanks," said the girl to the paperboy who stared right through the girl.
The girl, named Sakura, disappeared before a bush and came back out reeling a wheelbarrow in front full of mail. She dumped the advertisements into the wheelbarrow and started scrambling about for the post lying about on the ground.
"Post today! The government should be keeping an eye on the postal service!" complained Sakura as she scooped up a pile of letters addressed to the late Master Gracey. "All they care about is taxes, war, underwear and watching singing donuts!"
Sakura looked up and saw that the paperboy had fled on his bike, his screams echoing into the sky.
"Funny guy?" said Sakura and finished picking up the letters and drove the wheelbarrow up to the mansion.
Despite the morbid music being played on the massive pipe organ by Wolfgang Furlong, the ballroom was quite a jolly place. Great chatter and laughter came from the long dining table, Victoria Abigail Boufout desperately trying to blow out her candles on her birthday cake which was now moldy from being there for more than 50 years. Master Gracey's drunken Uncle Murray swung precariously from his usual spot on the ballroom chandelier, a pair of star-crossed lovers sat on opposite him.
The ballroom dancers waltzed continuously around the room, cursed to dance forever. Sitting in a red armchair by the fire sat Kimberly, an intelligent 14 year old, although at the moment she looked very bored and depressed, her eyes lost in the flickering green flames that forever resigned in the fireplace. Little Jimmy Rickets perched on top of the fireplace, flirting with a non-living stone bust and kissing her on the cheek, as if expecting to get some sort of response.
Kimberly had recently discovered Jody's little fling with Little Leota that happened not long after they had first settled in the Haunted Mansion, and now she wasn't talking to him. Sakura entered the ballroom, carrying a pile of old newspaper articles. Behind came the three Hitchhiking Ghosts, each carrying a pile of newspapers, magazines and unopened letters.
"Goodness gracious, that's a lot of post!" cried Victoria, glancing at the piles of post that four spirits loaded onto the table. "Are the post offices going on strike?"
"No, this is all the post that no one's collected yet, it dates back to…before I was born!" said Sakura, snatching a pornographic magazine away from Gus and chucking it into the fireplace.
Sakura turned to face the three Hitchhiking Ghosts, each looked bored, Ezra especially looking glum. She dumped a pile of post in each of their arms.
"Now, you've got to put all of these newspapers and junk into piles. Things that are not necessary, dispose of!" ordered Sakura angrily.
The three hitchhikers groaned unhappily and set to work sorting out the piles of post. Sakura collapsed into an armchair opposite Kim and examined her staring into the green flames in the fireplace. Sakura felt very concerned for her friend, as she was the caring type.
"How are you coping?" she asked Kim, who smiled briefly at Sakura.
"Alright," she replied quietly, her eyes still looking deep into the fire. "I can't believe Jody could be such a jerk! He is too young to be making love, and he did it behind my back as well!"
"In case you haven't noticed, Kim, we are sort of now the living impaired and rules do not generally apply to us any longer. And besides the best part about being a ghost is that you can fly!" said Sakura and she sprang out of her seat and soared into the air but suddenly flopped sideways and crashed into and through a wall, before materialising back into her seat. "Oops…I guess I need to work on my flying…"
"I guess so…but still he is reckless and stupid and could get himself hurt and he's stupid!" said Kim looking at Sakura with a frightening glare.
"Er…you said stupid twice," commented Sakura.
"It doesn't matter what I said!" cried Kim, looking as though her head was about to burst from the rage boiling up inside her. "The only way I'm gonna forgive Jody if he apologises to me!"
And with that she vanished, however, Sakura could hear Kim's footsteps and her eyes looked up the staircase, hearing Kim's loud sobbing. Sakura sadly shook her head and then noticed Gus reading another pornographic magazine.
Jody himself trudged down a corridor of the Haunted Mansion, down and depressed. His little fun with Little Leota had cost him his best friend and he now felt incredibly guilty. He approached the dark door that led to Madame Leota's séance room. Since the crazy Christmas the mansion had less than three months before, it was revealed that Leota was not killed but had simply teleported herself to another crystal ball, several hundred miles away in Texas where she joined forces with the Phantom and Oogie Boogie to conquer the Haunted Mansion, and the Phantom even restored. However, when the Phantom was about to destroy Kim, Jody and Sakura, Leota realised the mansion was her home and the children her friends, so she willingly sacrificed her body and destroyed the Phantom, but ended up imprisoned in her crystal ball again.
Jody nervously placed his hand on the doorhandle and pulled down on it and entered Madame Leota's chamber. A harsh and cold breeze blew around the room and a vacant green mist floated around the séance table in the centre of the room. A hazy crystal ball stood in the middle of the table, perched on a metal stand. Jody could just make out Madame Leota's disembodied head floating within the ball.
"Come to me spirits…speak to me…answer this call…hear me!" cried Madame Leota.
"Ahem!" coughed Jody and Leota swung around in her crystal ball, causing her incantation to collapse and the green mist and strong breeze faded in an instant. Madame Leota glared angrily at Jody.
"What do you want!" she snapped. "I was trying to contact more spirits!"
"What? So you can start your own mafia?" asked Jody sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up! Now what do want? Answer me now or I will sacrifice you in a voodoo ritual!" said Madame Leota.
"I just came to tell that thanks to your daughter, I've lost my best friend!" roared Jody.
"Well maybe if your pitiful emotions had not run high, then you wouldn't have lost your best friend," replied Madame Leota.
"Well I...I…er…you're right," said Jody and he turned away to conceal his tears.
"Now, stopped your blubbering and stay still!" said Madame Leota. "I've got some callers and they need answering!"
Madame Leota closed her eyes and the strong breeze and green mist returned to the séance room, circling around creating a stormy vortex above Jody's head.
"Hear me spirits of the damned! Come to my void! Join us in this haunted mansion!" cried Leota.
A powerful static electrical bolt struck the ceiling and smashed the lightbulb in the lamp that hung from it. Leota started to wince and scream with pain, ghostly figures appearing on the walls and floor, moaning and sending a powerful gust of wind that blew Jody of his feet. Jody watched in horror and five or six black spirits flew out of the crystal ball containing Madame Leota, hovered about in midair for several seconds and then vanished into the ceiling above.
"AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" roared Madame Leota and she fell unconscious inside her own crystal ball.
The room restored to normal and Jody slowly stood up and approached the unconscious head inside the ball. He tapped the glass but Leota did not respond. She just floated in the ball like a deflated beachball caught in the current.
"Oh, boy!" said Jody and rushed out of the room to look for help.
Several minutes later, Jody had returned with Master Gracey, Little Leota, the Hitchhiking Ghosts, Kim, Sakura, Medicine Man Tiki, Victoria and Wolfgang Furlong to the séance room and he had to explain what happened. Sakura was getting a little agitated when she saw Kim and Jody both ignoring eachother as if they were invisible. Master Gracey tapped the crystal ball's surface with a cane.
"Leota? Leota? Rise and shine," said Gracey.
Madame Leota stirred and she looked about her and all the gaping faces. Her hair was even messier than before and she breathed heavily.
"What happened, Mother?" asked a concerned Little Leota, which caused Jody and Kim to glare at her in anger.
"Hasn't the boy told you what happened?" asked Leota.
"From his point of view," said Master Gracey.
"Oh, right. Well, I tried contacting more spirits but then they five hideous wraiths appeared and overpowered my séance and left me in this dreaded state!" said Madame Leota. "And I think we might have some new visitors to the mansion…some that I fear are possessed by great evil."
Later on in the ballroom, after hours and most ghosts had gone to sleep, Master Gracey, Madame Leota, Victoria, Wolfgang, the Hitchhiking Ghosts and Tiki sat discussing Leota's sightings. Tiki sat cross-legged before the fireplace, staring deeply into the flames, speaking with spirits who have crossed over.
"Well Tiki, what can you tell us?" asked Master Gracey.
"The spirits tell me there is a dark past to this ancient house…one that nobody knows of, save one," said Tiki.
"Who?" asked Master Gracey.
"The spirits cannot say, but they do say it is one of the mansion's oldest residents," explained Tiki.
"Well that narrows are search down quite well doesn't it…" said Master Gracey.
Suddenly there was a fowl shriek and Emily Cavanaugh, the Bleeding Bride came tumbling out of the ceiling above and crashlanded on the floor. The other ghosts looked on in astonishment as Emily swooped up and brushed off the dust off of her old wedding gown. Her loud heart beat filled the room, an eerie red glow visible in Emily's chest.
"Sorry about that, I lost my balance and tumbled through the floor…" said Emily and she disappeared in a flash, her heart beat echoing loudly until it was out of hearing.
"What was that all about?" asked Gus.
"I think she was eavesdropping on us!" cried Madame Leota suspiciously.
"Don't be absurd, Leota," said Master Gracey, rolling his eyes. "My dearest wouldn't even think of spying."
Wolfgang suddenly rose and approached his beloved giant pipe organ. He took a seat at the stool, flexed his hands, which cracked loudly and he hammered down on the keys, making an eerie tune and busloads upon busloads of wraiths guzzled out of the organ pipes and up into the ceiling above.
"I think I might have a quick practice," said Wolfgang, sounding rather edgy.
"What's with him?" whispered Ezra to Phineas.
"You know who Wolfy gets," replied Phineas. "When he is not on his organ for over fifteen minutes he starts getting cranky."
"Gee…I thought he was always cranky?" said Ezra and he and Phineas chuckled lightly.
"Everybody is starting act rather suspicious…" said Madame Leota.
"Maybe they are doing that because they do not know who is responsible for this "Dark Past"…it could be anyone…" said Master Gracey and all the ghosts stared at one another with shifty eyes, much like the watching wallpaper within the mansion's corridors.
Unknown to all of the 1002 ghosts that occupied the mansion, the total had just got up to 1009 as a group of new ghosts had materialised. Up in the attic, as Emily drifted off to sleep, a mysterious figure dressed in a battered top hat and cloak appeared. He crazed eyes and he laughed quietly, but his laugh was scary enough to send a shiver down a ghost's spine.
"Sleep well my dear…for soon I will extract my revenge and turn this mansion upside-down and inside-out until it is in ruins and you will be put to rest!" he said and he disappeared, an object ratting in his hand…a hatbox…
To be continued…