Haunted Mansion Ghost Post: A Complete Guide to Parcel #1
Today we got our first Ghost Post parcel. Inside were several items that, when combined with the Phantom Radio app, give us part of a mystery to what is happening inside the Haunted Mansion. In case you aren't one of the 999 happy haunts participants, here's all the fun that this first shipment contained:
First, we have an introductory letter which, when wet, gives us hints on how to unlock the secrets of the items in the box. Each item can be scanned to unlock messages from the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion in the app. Alternatively, you can enter a three symbol code located on the device to get the same message. Let's take a look at each item.
Grim Gazette No. VIII
[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="145313,145314,145324,145323,145315,145316"]When you scan our first issue of "The Grim Gazette" you hear the following:
PHINEAS: Ezra, Gus! Look at that, fellas. Look how murky it is. Like the whole Mansion's been wrapped up in fog.
EZRA: Yup, same as yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that... It's been quite a while since we followed any mortals home. I'm just itchin' for some hitchin'. Ay, Gus?
GUS: I'm reckon I'm goin' stir crazy. I can't take much more. I feel like a prisoner, shackled at the ankle!
EZRA: You are...
GUS: I won't last much longer. We can go guys, right? I mean, how bad could it be, getting lost in the fog forever? Forever isn't that long. Let's go!
EZRA: NO! Gus!.
PHINEAS: Don't do it!
GUS [Frantic]: I gotta get outta here! I gotta get outta here! Jail break! Let me out!!!
EZRA: It's too dangerous.
GUS: What's the worst that can happen? We're ghosts!
EZRA: Exactly! We're ghosts. The rules of the living don't really pertain to us, do they? We don't know why the fog is here or what happens in it, and I for one DON'T CARE to find out - no matter how much I miss following the mortals home.
GUS [Wailing]: Is this fog ever gonna lift?!
PHINEAS: Now just hold your hearses there, Gus. I've heard that some of the other residual residents have started, what they're callin', a "Committee of Wandering Ghosts," and they're fixin' to do something about our, you know, travel troubles.
EZRA: You actually go to those committee meetings?
PHINEAS: Naw, course not, Ezra! You think I died yesterday? I'm not about to get on You-Know-Who's bad side, am I?
GUS: How come you know so much about it, then?
PHINEAS: Let's just say that a little birdie told me.
GUS: The raven?!
EZRA: And they got a plan?
PHINEAS: They believe they do. But who knows if it'll really work?
GUS: It was the raven, right?
EZRA: It better. Because if we can't hitchhike anymore, then what? [quietly] I'm scared.
PHINEAS: We're all scared. We have to keep our spirits up. Don't let the fog go to our heads. And let's hope this Committee does--
THE STATIC CUTS OFF THE CONVERSATION
Re-dusting Ad
Scan the Bloodmere &Broom's Re-Dusting Service and hear Victor and Sally:
VICTOR: Do you think the mortals will know what they are supposed to be doing with the things we have sent them?
SALLY: I have every confidence that the Ghost Relations Department put those boxes in the proper hands.
VICTOR: But have they enough talent to find the hidden warning?
SALLY: We can only hope.
VICTOR: We spent all of that time with the training of those moths to chew the advert in just the correct places.
SALLY: You did an exemplary job.
VICTOR: Danke schön, thank you you are too kind. But if they do not find it, then it will not matter how well I did the job!
SALLY: Too true, too true.
VICTOR: If the mortals are as perceptive as we hope, they will align the moons with the stars and see that all is not as is seems.
SALLY: Yes.
If you take the ad and turn it upside down you will see a moon and two stars on top. When aligned with the same symbol in the Aunt Agony column in The Grim Gazette, you see a secret message through the "moth holes." The message "keep this for waltzes next month" implies that this piece will be reused in the future.
Wedding Announcement Room Temperature
Next, we have a wedding announcement for the nuptials of Constance Hatchaway Harper Banks and The Most Honorable Marquis de Doome from 1874. When this item is scanned, we hear:
PHINEAS: You know, there's one ghost in the Mansion that I reckon is just fine with being fogged in.
EZRA: Who's that?.
GUS: Oh. Oh. Bet you're talking about Ol' Constance. You know, the Bride.
GUS MAKES WHOOSHING SOUNDS
PHINEAS: Be careful with that thing. Where did you even find that axe?
GUS: It was wrapped up over there, in a big white bow.
EZRA: Why do you think that bout Constance?
PHINEAS: Think about it. How many husbands did she get rid of?
EZRA: I think it was five. Seriously, put that down before you hurt someone!
GUS: Yeah, and even after she did them in, they're all still in love with her!
PHINEAS: Yup, so I'll wager she's thrilled that they're all trapped somewhere else and can't get back.
EZRA: Leave her in peace for a bit.
PHINEAS: You gotta admire her handiwork. I mean, by the time she got to her third husband, she had it down to a science.
GUS: Yeah, she really had a good head on her shoulders. Unlike her grooms.
EZRA: You can see that right on the wedding invitation.
GUS: But only if you've got the chill of ghostly fingers, am I right?
THEY ALL MUTTER IN AGREEMENT
PHINEAS: You know, in spite of the body count, she's a sentimental one.
EZRA: You think?
PHINEAS: I know. She used to keep the invitation in the icebox, right next to the leftover wedding cake.
EZRA: Awww, that's sweet...And...cold.
GUS: Yeah... We're talking about the cake, right? Owe! Who leaves an axe in an attic? Really?
Put that wedding invitation in the freezer for a bit, and you get a whole new message.
Wedding Announcement Chilled
We discover that Mr. de Doome died the day after his wedding day. How odd.... If you scan this version of the certificate, you get an entirely new message:
VICTOR: I have good news for the committee good news, Miss Slater.
SALLY: Good!
VICTOR: But, I am also having the bad news.
SALLY: Oh...
VICTOR: Which would you like first?
SALLY: The good news, if you please. We need all the cheer you can supply.
VICTOR: The mortals appear to have uncovered the true use of the objects you sent. They MUST be the spectrally aware visitors we were noticing, yeah?
SALLY: Brilliant! But... how do you know?
VICTOR: I'm glad you asked for the good news first or else it would have been quite confusing. Well, you see that is the BAD news.
SALLY: Oh, no. What did they do?
VICTOR: Ach! Their powers of connection to the spirit world are most formidable, enough to permit them to reach through the veil and hear the comings and the goings in our Mansion. Even over great distance - they can hear us! Alas, the first one to notice that mortals were listening in---
SALLY: Please, don't say it. Not HER?!
VICTOR: Das Oopsie. As you might guess, Madame Leota is not in the best of spirits at the moment.
SALLY [Heaves a sigh]: Nothing to do but to face her wrath.
VICTOR: I will come with you.
SALLY: Oh thank you, Herr Geist.
VICTOR: We must stick together in this time of strugglement.
Phantom Radio
The Phantom Radio takes a little work. This cardboard creation comes with instructions which creates a housing for your phone using the "Phantom Radio" app. Scan the radio to hear more about the Committee:
SALLY: Victor! ...Victor! Listen!
VICTOR: Ach! Sally Slater, there is no need for all the shouting.
SALLY: VICTOR, it's done! They've done it! Oh, yes, this is quite wonderful.
VICTOR: What was done? By whom?
SALLY: Why, The Ghost Relations Department, of course. They've sent the boxes!
VICTOR: The boxes? The boxes? THE BOXES! Why yes, of course, the boxes! But wait, the boxes... the contents. They actually sent the haunted items to mortals?
SALLY: Precisely.
VICTOR: This plan is full of the perilousness. Just think of it! All that spectral power -- in the hands of --
BOTH (IN UNISON): -- FOOLISH MORTALS!
SALLY [contrite]: It's true. But honestly, what choice did the Committee have? Things are desperate. More desperate than most of the ghosts know.
VICTOR: Is it as bad as the gossip says then, Miss Slater?
SALLY: Worse, I'm afraid.
VICTOR: Well, there is nothing to be done now except hope for the best. Please to be keeping your bones crossed.
SALLY [sputtering]: DON'T SAY THAT! It's terrible bad luck.
VICTOR: Bad luck? Why is the bad luck? Superstitions are for the living, my dear.
THEY ARE CUT OFF BY STATIC
Bat
The bat looks like a regular trinket at first, but you will quickly discover that it fits inside the Phantom Radio. When put in place, turning the bat will tune the radio to switch between the various stations. But you can also scan the bat to hear this:
SALLY: You, floating up there! Do you have a moment?
PHINEAS: Hang on, be right down!
THE SOUND OF A GHOST FLOATING DOWN
PHINEAS: Hello there. Say, aren't you the gal from the tightrope?
SALLY: I'm sorry? Oh yes, of course, the painting. My name is Sarah Slater, but please call me "Sally." Pleasure to meet you.
PHINEAS: Pleasure is all mine. What can I do for you?
SALLY: As Chief Spookswoman and Membership Committee Chairghost of the recently formed Committee of Wandering Spirits I would love to speak to you for just a mo--(ment)
PHINEAS [CUTS HER OFF]: Aaaah Miss Sally, that's not really my cup of tea. Committees are for the living. I should be getting on--
SALLY: WAIT! Yes, ordinarily I would agree. Committees are a dreadful bore, and the sort of thing that we spirits hoped that we had left behind in our mortal, corruptible state. But the Mansion, sir, is in trouble. Hasn't the fog prevented you from performing your customary rounds?
PHINEAS: You could say that...
SALLY: And are there not never-ending hordes of our honored guests who are leaving to return to their homes, robbed of the chance to be accompanied by you or one of your fellow hitchhikers?
PHINEAS: Yeah, but there's nobody who can say what's to be done about it!
SALLY: Sir, you have penetrated directly to the heart of the matter. What's to be done? My friend, there is but one thing to be done! And that's to join our Committee of Wandering Spirits. Even as we speak, the Committee has put into motion certain plans that we believe-
MADAME LEOTA: Enough! Just what do you think you are doing?
PHINEAS: Madame Leota?! Nothing, I was, uh, I was just leaving. Yeah, that's it... I gotta catch a ride...
SOUND OF PHINEAS FLOATING AWAY, HASTILY
SALLY: Madame, there's no need to take that tone. I was merely trying to impress upon our perambulatory friend the importance of--
MADAME LEOTA: I know very well what you are up to with that committee of yours, Ms. Slater. You and your litter of misinformed ghouls can waste as much time as you like trying to recruit foolish mortals. To solve a problem like the one at hand, you'd need a whole host of mediums as powerful as I was in life. It's highly unlikely you've found even one.
SALLY: Well not yet, but I have a very good feeling about this!
MADAME LEOTA: So as you waste your energy on your feelings and schemes, I will consult my cards to find a real solution to the problem, a task that would be much simpler but for your proselytizing and prattling. I will let you know when you and your friends are needed, and will thank you to desist until then!
SALLY: Of course, Madame Leota. But really, you should --
MADAME LEOTA: SHOULD I? REALLY, SHOULD I? Or should YOU return to your tightrope?
SALLY: Dearie me. I beg your pardon, Madame, I fear I've taken a wrong step.
MADAME LEOTA: As the alligators know, it isn't your first wrong step.
SALLY: Right, I'll just be off then.
MADAME LEOTA: Be gone!
SOUND OF SALLY LEAVING
MADAME LEOTA: Her, in charge of a committee. Really, if there was anybody in the Mansion that should head anything, it'd be me!
Check out the rest of our guide on the next page:
Teacup
The Haunted Mansion teacup is probably the coolest part of this first box. Of course, it is more than it seems as is revealed when scanned:
PEARL E. GATES: Pardon me. The Grim Gazette is conducting a poll, to see how the typical spirit feels about the current difficulties.
GUS: Fantastic!
PEARL E. GATES: May I ask how you feel about the situation?
GUS: Yes!
PEARL E. GATES: Right, so how do you feel about the situation?
GUS: It's safe to say I'm a bit spooked.
PEARL E. GATES: I understand. And you are not unique in your opinions. Are you doing anything to cope with the situation?
GUS: Like what?
PEARL E. GATES: For instance, do you consult the Gazette's Tasseomancy column?
GUS: Tasseomancy. Reading tea leaves? I don't know, isn't that just a superstition?
PEARL E. GATES: Oh, not at all. No. It's a very powerful form of divination.
GUS: I dunno, I never quite saw how that's supposed to work.
PEARL E. GATES: I don't claim to be an expert. But we do have a regular tasseomancy column in the Gazette, and so I've had quite a few chats with some experts in the field. Apparently, you don't even need to drink the tea.
GUS: Well that's good. Every thing just goes right through me these days, you know? No flesh... How does it even work, then?
PEARL E. GATES: They say it has something to do with the cup you use. The glazing, the reflections can give you a glimpse of the unseen.
GUS: The reflections?
PEARL E. GATES: Yes. And they say you can get an even more perceptive reading by turning the cup upside down. Something about the multiplicative powers of inverting a reflection. It's all highly arcane.
GUS: Huh. Whodathunkit?
PEARL E. GATES: Indeed. So the next time you're feeling frightened about what's to come, may I suggest consulting the Gazette's tea leaves column?
GUS: Maybe I will -- if I can scare up a cup, that is.
GUS LAUGHS, PEARL LAUGHS POLITELY
Put the teacup upside down on the Today's Tea Leaves page of The Grim Gazette to see the message "Beware Madame Leota"
Leota's Cards Month 1
Next, we have a series of cards featuring iconic scenes from the Haunted Mansion. Scan them to hear an interaction between Pearl E. Gates and Madame Leota.
PEARL E. GATES: -- tell the readers of the Grim Gazette your reaction to the Committee contacting mortals for assistance?
MADAME LEOTA: Tell your readership that we will find a solution. Ourselves. Without a committee! This revealing of our secrets to outsiders is ill-advised. I'm sure you agree.
PEARL E. GATES: As editrix of the Gazette, I must remain neutral. But I have several ghostly sources who say - off the record - that they've sensed a peculiar resonance with our--
MADAME LEOTA: -- WAIT! QUIET!
SOUND OF STATIC
PEARL E. GATES [chastened, whispering]: May I speak yet?
MADAME LEOTA: No. Someone is listening. Someone who should not be.
PEARL E. GATES: Where? Here?
MADAME LEOTA: No! From regions beyond our Mansion.
PEARL E. GATES: A shocking development! Who could it be?
MADAME LEOTA: I don't know who. But I'll bet that I know how.
PEARL E. GATES: How? I might be able to hold the next issue for a scoop--
MADAME LEOTA: Sssssh! I am trying to find them. I can't quite focus on them with this infernal spectral fog. This interloper must be far, very far from the Mansion.
THEY ARE CUT OFF BY STATIC
Leota's Challenge
Once all the items have been scanned, Madame Leota takes over the Phantom Radio app and has you use the tarot cards to perform a magic trick.
MADAME LEOTA: STOP! Just what do you think you are doing? You are meddling with forces that are beyond your comprehension. HALT! Put down those things.
How did you get your hands on them?
Oh. Of course. When I get hold of those doghearted members from the Committee of Wandering Spirits, they will know what it is to awaken the wrath of a real Medium.
For uncountable years, this Haunted Mansion has flourished under my scrupulous guardianship. But now this... this... COMMITTEE!... thinks it knows better than me? It really believes it can simply vote itself the solution to greatest peril the spirit realm has ever faced?! The arrogance! The impudence! The sheer, inconceivable hubris! Bringing FOOLISH MORTALS like you into private spectral affairs, honestly.
Do you think you have aught to contribute to our great troubles? You are without talents, without abilities, without wisdom. But somehow the other ghosts seem to think you have some special talents - some connection to the spirit world. That you are some sort of medium, but I highly doubt it.
...The stakes are too high. Don't you understand? Our ability to haunt beyond the Mansion could be obliterated FOREVER. It would be our doom. There cannot be any failure. We simply cannot afford it. And in that light, we cannot afford to turn away assistance. Even if it comes from the mortal world.
So! The spirits tell me they have sent you ten cards from my private deck. A futile gesture, really. But... what's done is done. Are you ready? You best be. Now...
So that we may communicate, set your device - the one through which you hear me speaking - set that device upon the box that traveled to you from our most Haunted Mansion. Now should you knock on this box - like you mortals would knock on a door, I may hear your knocks and respond. Set your device on the box and try out a single knock. Yes. Knock once on the box now. I will hear you.
MADAME LEOTA: Good, that's loud and clear. Now to the cards. First, turn the cards face up, and order them by number from the smallest to the largest, with the smallest number on top. When you are finished, knock once on the box to continue. Yes, knock, I will hear you.
MADAME LEOTA: Mmm Hmm.
Now - Pick up the cards and turn them face down in your hands.
Next, you will divide the deck in two parts and move the top stack below the bottom stack - what you mortals call cutting the cards, I believe. After cutting the cards once, then you will cut them a second time. Knock once when you are ready to continue.
MADAME LEOTA: Let's continue. Hold the cards in your hands, keeping them face down as if you were ready to deal them out in one of your mortal card games. With the other hand you will perform a ceremonial ritual. Don't be alarmed, it's a simple incantation.
Do the following: Take the top two cards on the deck, turn them over together, and then replace them on top. That's right, face up. Now you should have all the cards face down except for the two cards you turned face up at the top. To you, these should seem totally random, but if you have any connection to the sprits, they will have guided your hands in ways yet unseen.
Next, you will cut the deck once more, the same as you did before. This will relocate the two face up cards to somewhere in the middle of the deck, and give you two new face down cards on top. Do this, and knock once when you are ready to proceed.
Madame Leota: Next, you will take the two new face down cards from the top and repeat the ritual - turn them over together and replace them - face up - on top. Then cut the deck once more. This time depending on where you cut, the cards on top may be face up or face down. The fates will decide. Knock once when you have done so.
Madame Leota: Repeat the ritual a third time: turn over the top two cards together. Depending on how the spirits have guided your hands, you may have a face up card on the top of the deck - that is not your concern. Trust in the spirits and turn over whichever two cards happen to be on top, no matter if they are face up or face down. When you have done so, cut the cards again, and knock once to let me know you are done.
Madame Leota: With all this you have turned over many cards. But if you feel like you need more guidance from the spirits you may repeat the ritual again. You may choose to do this once, twice - or let the cards rest as they are. Whatever your mortal judgment feels is wise. Each and every time, turning the top two cards over together and replacing them, then cutting all the cards. Remember the ritual: turn over the top two cards together, then cut. [beat] Turn two and cut. Do this once more, twice more, or leave the cards as they are. You decide how many more times is sufficient. Let the spirits guide your intuition, if you can. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Knock once when you are ready.
Madame Leota: Alright. After you have completed the ritual, some of your cards will be face up, and some of them still face down.
The cards will appear to be in total chaos - to the uninitiated. But it is here we shall uncover any shred of mediumistic skills you might possess.
Spread the cards out between your hands without changing the order and see how many cards you have face down. Perhaps you see two, or five or nine. Perhaps you don't have any cards turned over, because the spirits did not guide your mortal hands, and you merely turned them all by chance. It makes no difference; the true medium will be able to pluck order from the chaos. Take the cards into your hands and deal all of them, one at a time, into two alternating piles - just as they are, without turning any of them over. Left, right, left, right. Continue in this way until you have no cards left.
Knock once when you are finished.
Madame Leota: Now listen closely. You should have two piles of cards. They may be mixed between face up and face down, or perhaps some of them are all one way or another. No matter what, see if you can feel the spirits guiding your hand to one of the piles. Now, lift that pile off the table, and then - turn it over completely - and put it on top of the pile that is still on the table.
Knock once when you are ready to proceed.
Madame Leota: And now, we shall see. Only a natural medium, as you claim to be, will have been able to maintain the supernatural control of the cards necessary to succeed.
Hold the cards in your hands, and in your mind, silently spell my name, one letter at a time. Here, I will help you. L - E - O - T - A.
Consider this: how many letters does my name contain? Only a moment ago you held a random mixture of face-up and face-down cards mixed by your own mortal hands. Were there two, four, seven cards facing the other way?
Look at the cards now and divide them into two groups, the face-down cards to the left and the face-up cards to the right. Count the number of cards in the piles. Let us see how many you managed to keep face-up. Knock once if you have five cards face up. If you find that you do not have five cards face up, indicate thusly on your device. Go on. I'm waiting.
Madame Leota: What? Five? In each group? Five face-up and five face-down? It's...not...possible...No! How did you manage to...? No ordinary mortal could have managed this, and yet... You don't even see it do you? Any medium with a tiny spark of talent could manage to get the cards to five face-up and five face-down. But only a supremely sensitive or powerful medium could separate the living from the spirits.
Look! All the cards in one pile picture ghosts and ghouls. The other pile contains individuals in their more corruptible, mortal state. I don't understand how this could have happened. But witnessing what I have just seen, it is clear that you possess great powers, even if you do not yet understand them. Your innate abilities seem particularly strong - however, we have a long road ahead. We will soon be in touch with additional tools. Until then, you must ready yourself, fellow Medium. We have important work to do.
Madame Leota: Hmmm...something is not right. Perhaps you are experiencing some of the aetheric interference yourself. Let's try once more, and this time focus on your connection to the spirit realm. Let my voice ring inside your mind. Focus on my instructions and follow closely. Knock once on the box when you are ready to try yet again.
That wraps up this first box. Those near the Disneyland Resort can participate in two in-park experiences. We will have more on those options next week.