"Here floats Captain Culpepper Clyne
Allergic to dirt so he's pickled in brine
He braved the sea and all her wrath
But drowned on land while taking a bath"
—Captain Culpepper Clyne's crypt
Captain Culpepper Clyne is a character who is buried in the family plot of the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World. He is based off of the Mariner character from the Sinister 11 portraits.
Biography[]
Culpepper Clyne was a sea captain who "braved the seas and all her wrath, but drowned on land while taking a bath." His body was interred in a brine-filled crypt located outside of the Haunted Mansion in upstate New York. Occasionally, his ghost can be heard singing the Drunken Sailor sea shanty from his crypt, as well as sneezing underwater, occasionally splashing passing guests.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
The Mariner
Captain Clyne's crypt can be found within the queue of the Haunted Mansion where his voice can be heard singing sea shanties and occasionally water or bubbles sprays from the crypt as the Captain's ghost sneezes. Along with this, Clyne was intended to be the same character as "The Mariner," who is a character that appears as a portrait in the loading zone whose eyes used to use an effect that made them follow guests. The Mariner was inspired by deleted-concepts of the character Captain Gore from deleted story ideas made by Ken Anderson.
Tales from the Haunted Mansion[]
In the second volume, Captain Culpepper Clyne's stone bathtub is an oddity displayed at a carnival in "Remain Seated Please".
Inconsistencies[]
It has been noted by fans that the new retcon that he "drowned on land while taking a bath" seems a little inconsistent with the original portrait, in was alluded that he had drowned when his ship was wrecked, his appearance as a ghost (with seaweed and starfishes all over his suit) emphasizing that he had, well, spent some time at the bottom of the sea. It is, however, possible to imagine that he did not actually drown in the shipwreck, but almost did, and was finally washed back on the shore, all covered in seaweed and starfishes ("facing the sea with all its wrath"). He'd have then taken the deadly bath to try to get rid of said seaweed and starfish. This would be consistent with the epitaph. What does muddy the theory however is the Mariner in the portrait being transparent, showing him as already being a ghost but this can again be explained off as his ghost returning to the wreck site post-mortem or as the artistry of the portrait representing what Clyne's fate was rather than showing the literal series of events.
Concept art made by Ken Anderson of a corpse within a bath-tub
Trivia[]
- Culpepper having been killed within a bathtub mirrors unused concept art created by imagineer Ken Anderson for Bloodmere Manor.