There is a bride character in almost every version of The Haunted Mansion around the world, including the 2003 film. What are their stories? Here are all the Haunted Mansion brides explained.
Beating Heart Bride (Tokyo)
In Tokyo Disneyland Haunted Mansion, the bride character is referred to as “The Beating Heart.” She seems to be the most reclusive of all the brides, doesn’t speak and barely moves. The only part that stands out is her glowing red heart that beats through her wedding dress. She holds a candlestick in her right arm and a bouquet in her left. And that’s pretty much it.
She actually is derived from the early bride animatronic characters in the first Haunted Mansions in Disneyland and Disney World. Those versions have since increasingly evolved into a much more elaborate character and back story.
Melanie Ravenswood (Paris)
Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris tells the tragic tale of Melanie Ravenswood. Melanie is the wealthy daughter of Henry Ravenswood, who made his fortune while mining at the nearby Big Thunder Mountain. Melanie falls in love with a man of lower social and economic status. When she decides to marry him, her father does not approve. However, her father and mother soon die in an accident, leaving Melanie free to marry her love anyway. On the day of the wedding though, an evil phantom lures the groom to the stretching room and hangs him. Melanie never leaves the Manor again. But many around town believe they hear her singing and see her walking around the house in her wedding dress.
Elizabeth (2003 Movie)
In the 2003 film, Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy, our token bride’s name is Elizabeth.
She is murdered by her fiancé’s butler, who stages it as a suicide. It is revealed to her groom at the end of the movie though, which lifts the curse and frees all 999 ghosts.
Beating Heart, Victim, & More (US)
Ever since Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion opened in 1969, there was a bride in the attic. At first, she was a lot like the Beating Heart Bride still found in Tokyo. But every couple of years, Imagineers changed her story and animatronic. The bride was said to be inspired by the famous photo of the “Brown Lady” at Raynham Hall. It was supposed to just be a creepy ghost woman in a wedding dress, and the beating red heart was a nice touch. There is also the scratched idea of Captain Gore and his bride Priscilla, whom he throws out the window of the attic. This is why the bride still stands near the window in the attic today. In this sense, the bride was always portrayed as a victim of a broken heart and/or evil men. That was until we met Constance Hatchaway.
Constance Hatchaway (US)
Constance Hatchaway is arguably the most famous–or infamous–Haunted Mansion bride of them all. She is also known as the “Black Widow Bride” or the “Axe Bride.” If you have seen her in the Haunted Mansion attic since her debut in 2006, you remember her. She is flaunting an axe while quoting wedding vows that imply she murdered her husband. In fact, she’s married and murdered five husbands: Ambrose Harper, Frank Banks, Marquis de Doom, Reginald Caine, and George Hightower. Her husbands were all wealthy, which was her motive for their murders. She wears five pearl necklaces, each representing one of her lover’s turned victims.
How did Constance end up at the Mansion? Her fifth husband was the owner of the mansion, making Constance the new owner after his death. She is actually the only character known to be an owner of the Mansion at some point in the ride. *chills* The only other known owner is Master Gracey from the film.
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