Benjamin "Ben" Matthias is a main protagonist that appears in the 2023 film, Haunted Mansion. He was portrayed by LaKeith Stanfield.
He was once an astrophysicist engineer working on a camera that could perceive paranormal activity, but after the death of his wife, his life fell to pieces. Now he’s an unenthusiastic ghost tour guide in the French Quarter of New Orleans who no longer believes in the paranormal.
Biography[]
Haunted Mansion[]
An astrophysicist who specializes in optics, Ben Matthias attended a New Year's Eve party at a bar with his co-workers where he would meet a woman named Alyssa, a ghost tour guide. Ben eventually married Alyssa and became entranced with her belief in the supernatural. He builds a camera that can detect ghosts, but she dies in a car accident and in a state of grief, puts his equipment away, becoming a ghost tour guide himself.
Ben is visited by priest and exorcist Father Kent who hires him to photograph the ghosts at Gracey Manor. Ben is initially incredulous until he returns home and is haunted by a ghost Mariner who forces him to return to the mansion. Ben learns that Gabbie, Travis, and Kent have also fallen victim to hauntings, forcing them to stay in the mansion.
Personality[]
Ben was a quiet man who always kept to himself as he was focused on his work as an astrophysicist. Though he was not a social person, he was able to bond with his future wife, Alyssa over their shared interest of the supernatural, leading them to fall in love and get married. However, after Alyssa's death, Ben became wrecked with depression and guilt, blaming himself for his wife's untimely death due to being too focused on his job to spend time with her. In addition, Ben grew more anti-social than he ever was before meeting Alyssa where he developed no other bonds with people while being acquainted with a bartender as he draw alcohol to cope with his grief. He also lost his belief in the supernatural due to never finding his wife's ghost and gave up his career in astrophysics, taking over his wife's job as a ghost tour guide which he was terrible at due to his anti-socialism and his disbelief in the supernatural.
However, after being haunted by a ghost who followed him from the Gracey Mansion, Ben's belief in supernatural was restored and became determined to investigate the cause of the hauntings at Gracey Mansion. He was amazed when Harriet revealed her ability to speak to dead and was hopeful that she could contact his deceased wife until Harriet told him she couldn't due to revealing and theorizing to him that Alyssa's spirit being at peace in the afterlife. As Ben investigated the cause of the mansion's hauntings and worked to stop the Hatbox Ghost from collecting one thousand souls to free himself and terrorize the world, he began to realize the dangers of holding onto grief over his wife's death, especially when learning how William Gracey never let go of his grief over his own wife's death and was tricked into committing suicide. Ben was also able to express his heartache over the loss of his wife to his new friends and sympathize with Travis upon discovering him to be mourning for his father's death. In addition, during and after the final battle with the Hatbox Ghost, Ben was able to let go of his grief over his wife's death and find peace with it, becoming an astrophysicist again and give away some of Alyssa's old belongings that he held onto after her demise.
Appearance[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ben's Spectral Camera invention may be an allusion to the Spectral Cameras found in the parks.