Edward Gracey carrying Elizabeth's body
"Yes, my dear heart; I will marry you. I will love you for all eternity. And tonight, at last, we will be together. I do!"
—Elizabeth Henshaw's letter to Edward Gracey
Elizabeth Henshaw is a character in the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion who is portrayed by Marsha Thomason. She was inspired by the ghostly Bride from the original attraction.
History[]
Elizabeth Henshaw was the multiracial daughter of respected mixed-race servants at Gracey Manor. Growing up with the mansion's master Edward, the two became close friends. During those times in society, whites and people of color were forbidden to interact with each other but this friendship was an exception for the Gracey butler Ramsley, who allowed it as Edward had less friends due to living far away. Their friendship led to the two falling in love.
Following the end of slavery and the conclusion of the Civil War, Elizabeth promised Edward marriage and wrote a letter to him of the same promise. Unknowingly, Ramsley discovered this and though of Edward's actions as a disgrace, believing that it would tarnish the Gracey family name, despite the fact that Edward himself was willing to extend his legacy to people of color.
Death[]
On the eve of Edward and Elizabeth's wedding, Ramsley confiscated her letter to Gracey and penned a false letter which stated that Elizabeth never loved him (Gracey) before giving her a poisoned cup of wine. Ramsley then handed the false letter to Master Gracey, which drove the latter to a rage and caused him to hang himself from the ceiling of the mansion in his grief. But despite the letter, he still loves her, and anxiously awaits her return, which was prophesized by a gypsy woman named Madame Leota.
After she died and unknown to Edward, Elizabeth's spirit remained in the mansion as an orb (or "ghost ball").
The Evers' involvement[]
Elizabeth is first encountered in her orb form by Michael Evers when he tries to play a music box, frightening him. Megan arrives to investigate wherein she sees the same form. Elizabeth leads them to the attic, where they discover her portrait, which arises their curiosity as they find a striking resemblance between her and Sara. They meet Ezra and Emma, and they tell them what happened to her. Thus, Megan, Michael, and their father Jim must find out the truth, or their mother, Sara, will follow in her footsteps.
When the truth was made known about what Ramsley had done to Elizabeth, he was pulled into Hell. After Sara collapses, Elizabeth's orb form reappears, and Jim asks her to leave them alone, but Megan and Michael convince him that the orb will do them no harm. Elizabeth then possesses Sara and appears to Gracey, wherein Michael and Megan realize her identity. After reviving Sara, Elizabeth was released from her orb form and reunited with Edward as they ascended to Heaven with the rest of the spirits.
Trivia[]
- Elizabeth is similar to Emily de Claire, from the Haunted Mansion comics from Slave Labor Graphics. Both fell in love with the owner of the mansion. Both were killed the night before their wedding. Both remained there, in the afterlife.
- She is based on the Ghostly Bride from the original theme park attraction.
- Elizabeth's death may have been racially motivated on Ramsley's part as he insisted that marrying her would have ruined Master Gracey and his family's reputation. Upper class African Americans were prominent in the 1800s following the American Revolution. Many of them were biracial (one black or brown parent, one white parent), historically labeled as Mulatto, but were conceived through unsavory means.
- Marsha Thomason herself in real-life, is of biracial origin, somewhat supporting this notion.
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