"Requiescat Francis Xavier
No time off for good behavior
R.I.P."
―Francis Xavier's tombstone
In the family plot of the Haunted Mansion is a tombstone for Francis Xavier. The tombstone is one of the original eight tombstones at the mansion in Disneyland and also makes an appearance in the Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion.
Description[]
Background[]
The tombstone alludes that the character of Francis Xavier died in a prison although the specifics are not known. Francis was likely a good friend or relative of the family which owned the mansion in life.
History[]
The tombstone is a tribute to Francis Xavier "X" Atencio who wrote the script for the Haunted Mansion, the lyrics for Grim Grinning Ghosts, and who voiced the Coffin Occupant.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
The tombstone appears in the queue of the attraction in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Other Appearances[]
The Ghost Gallery[]
In the Ghost Gallery, Francis Xavier was said to have been an 18th century pirate was kidnapped from his family by the pirate Whitebeard who subsequently trained Francis to become his successor. The pirates used the then abandoned (Liberty Square incarnation of) Haunted Mansion as a lair as at the time it served as a tavern, inn and brothel for pirates travelling upriver and due to their love of the mansion, when Whitebeard died Francis buried him in the manor's berm cemetery.
Francis replaced Whitebeard as captain and became a feared pirate in his own right, even going so far as to steal the crypt of the 15th century pirate Bluebeard and moving it back into the mansion to serve as a trophy. Francis wound up arrested and executed via hanging but his ghost remained in the Haunted Mansion.
Trivia[]
- Chauncey Xavier's tombstone in Tokyo Disneyland has the same epitaph.
- When the Disneyland tombstones were removed in a refurbishment, X. Atencio took the Francis Xavier tombstone home and displayed it in his backyard until his death.
- In the Servant's Quarters at the Disney World Haunted Mansion, there is a bell for Ambassador Xavier's Lounging Lodge which either means that Francis Xavier was either an ambassador or related to said ambassador.