Boot Hill is a small local cemetery located adjacent to Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. It is the final resting place for the Ravenswood family, as well as many of the residents of Thunder Mesa.
Details[]
Guests exploring Boot Hill can find the graves of Henry and Martha Ravenswood, as well as a nameless black sarcophagus that seems to vibrate with the pulse of as beating heart (possibly the grave of their daughter Melanie Ravenswood). Other tombstones contain humorous epitaphs and other sight gags for macabre comedy.
The eerie atmosphere is occasionally punctuated by the barking and howling of unseen coyotes. The Disney Imagineers behind Phantom Manor stated that the majority of the tombstones have legitimate backstories behind them which they created in an attempt to expand the world of Thunder Mesa. The term "Boot Hill" was a common term for cemeteries in the American Old-West with the implications being that it was for "those who died with their boots on", alluding to gunfighters who would kill and be killed. The director and undertaker of the burial grounds is J. Nutterville.
A poster hung outside Phantom Manor during the 2018 refurbishments.
Graves and Epitaphs[]
Henry Ravenswood, 1795 - 1860
Martha Ravenswood, 1802 - 1860
“Quarreled And Fought As Man And Wife
Now Silent Together Beyond This Life”
Jasper Jones, Loyal Manservant, Died 1866
“Kept the Master Happy” Anna Jones, Faithful Chamber Maid, Died 1867
“Kept the Master Happier”
Mary Murphy, 1837 - 1859, “Til Death…
Frank Ballard, 1829 - 1859, …Do Us Part.”
Ma Ballard, 1800 - 1859, “Over My Dead Body”
B. Arnold
“Cold Is My Bed
But Oh, I Love It
For Colder Are My Friends Above It.”
Here Lies Leadfoot Fred
“Danced Too Slow And Now He’s Dead”
1802 - 1866
Rest In Peace, Barroom Benny
Seems He Took One Drink Too Many
“Shorty” Smith, 1862
Red Hot Harry
“He Got Hot
But He Was Slow
So He Got Put
Six Feet Below”
Valentin,
dit le Desosé
Ici reposent les miettes d’un homme brisé. (Valentin,
“the boneless”
Here lie the pieces of a broken man)
Dakota Dick
Pendu le 17 octobre 1867
Descendu le 18 janvier 1868
Poignardé le 18 décembre 1868
Empoisonné le 21 mai 1869
Il Reviendra (Hanged October 17, 1867
Shot January 18, 1868
Stabbed December 18, 1868
Poisoned May 21, 1869
He’ll Be Back)
Jacques Shrillman
Lynché par une poignée de mélomanes
“Une fausse note l’aura tué”
le 9 mai 1865 (Lynched by a bunch of music lovers
“A wrong note was his end”
May 9, 1865)
No. 39
These Miners Were Told
About Digging Too Fast
They Lost All Their Gold
In A Dynamite Blast
Peg Leg McBrogue the River Rogue
Walked the Plank
and Sank.
(Squirrel tombstone) November 13, 1865 – Breakfast time
(Cougar tombstone) November 13, 1865 – Lunch time
(Hunter tombstone) November 13, 1865 – Dinner time
(Bear tombstone) November 13, 1885 – Hibernating in Happiness<br After Years of Hearty Hunting
Trivia[]
- The unmarked tomb is believed to be an allusion to the Beating-Heart Bride of the Haunted Mansion.
- Boot Hill is inspired by the Family Plot of the mainstream Haunted Mansion attractions.
- The tomb used for the Jones siblings was originally planned to have been used for Goliath, the undead dog seen in the ride.
- Remnants of tombs intended for planned but unimplemented members of the Ravenswood Family can be found in Boot Hill.
- The unmarked beating-heart tomb in the cemetery was originally intended for Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon.
- The base for a crypt intended for Arthur and Gabrielle Ravenswood can be found.
- The bear's tombstone appears to be modelled after the character of Big Al from the Country Bears Jamboree. This might be in-reference to how that character was designed by Marc Davis who was one of the main character designer's behind the Haunted Mansion.
- The Shorty Smith tombstone might have inspired the Julia Shrub tombstone outside of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion which uses a similar gag.