Sign for the GRD found in the hearse outside the Haunted Mansion.
The Ghost Relations Department (abbreviated as GRD) is an organization within the Haunted Mansion mythos.
Description[]
The Ghost Relations Department is an organization which seems to be responsible for overseeing the ghosts who come to inhabit the Haunted Mansion for post-lifetime leases. While acting for the betterment of spirits, the GRD shows implications of a disaffection towards the lives of mortals; clearly showing a preference for them to be deceased.
They are often portrayed as being affiliated with Disneyland as an organization although the exact nature and continuity of this may vary. This is due to the highly metafictional nature of the concept, changing continuity and different levels of immersion within the mansion (namely the manor being located in-lore in New Orleans, Louisiana).
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion (attraction)[]
The only direct reference to the GRD in any of the final attractions is within a hearse outside of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. There is a sign within the hearse which is visible via glass, advertising reservations for the Haunted Mansion and asking for reservations to not be in-person.
The hearse was not installed in the Haunted Mansion until the 1990s by imagineers Tony Baxter and Bob Baranick. Walt Disney World has a similar hearse outside the mansion, but without any allusions to the Ghost Relations Department or reserving leases.
Possible References[]
- In the Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion, the Ghost Host makes mention of final-arrangements being able to be made at the end of the tour with the Ghostess. This could reference to an incarnation of the GRD being prevalent in that park's Haunted Mansion.
- The character of the Ghostess in-general might be affiliated with the GRD considering her seemingly having the position of informing mortals on how to become residents of the Haunted Mansion and insisting that they do so.
- When mortal guests encounter the Hitchhiking Ghosts in their Doom Buggies, the Ghost Host mentions how they have selected the guests to fill, "Our quota". This once again seems to implicate the Haunted Mansion as having some form of organization behind its providing residence for spirits. This also could implicate Ezra, Gus and Phineas as being possible agents of the GRD or something similar to it.
The Ghost Post[]
The Ghost Relations Department was a central focus of this interactive game. In 2016, the GRD began facing a new and inexplicable problem: ghosts could no longer leave the mansion. Since the attraction's opening, the GRD has helped the spectral residents of the mansion follow guests home, where they would return from after a good and active haunting. However, a mysterious ethereal fog began to engulf the mansion, causing any ghosts that entered it to become eternally lost if they attempted to leave - strangely, the fog only seemed to exist for the ghosts, while mortals could still come and go as they pleased.
To help the happy haunts, the GRD - in conjunction with the Committee of Wandering Ghosts - created the Ghost Post as a means to allow mortals attuned to the spirit world to lend aid to the ghosts. The GRD saw to the care and shipping of "scare packages" to 999 living souls, entrusting them with various items and artifacts provided by the spirits.
Main Street Cinema[]
There is an advertisement from the Disneyland Casting Agency of Main Street, U.S.A. which reads, "Ghosts and Restless Spirits Wanted: Seeking ghosts and goblins to perform with ghoulish delight in haunted house musical. Spirited performers only. Auditions at Ghost Relations".
In other media[]
Disneyland Showtime[]
In the Haunted Mansion segments of this special, the Ghost Relations Department concept and behind the scenes footage are weaved together by way of describing the attraction's animatronics and special effects as physical vessels for the ghosts brought into the Mansion to inhabit and be made visible to visiting guests.
Promotional materials[]
The GRD was originally presented as being small but dedicated branch of the Walt Disney Company that handles ghost-to-human affairs. Its stated purpose is to "foster good relations between the mortal and aetheric realms," which includes helping wayward souls find a place to haunt and giving living humans a chance to interact with the deceased.[1]
The infamous sign that advertised the Haunted Mansion.
The GRD was established in 1963 while planning was underway to bring a Haunted Mansion attraction to Disneyland. As per Walt Disney's statements, this mansion was to be occupied by ghosts from all over the world, in particular those restless phantoms who no longer had a place to haunt. The GRD spent several years seeking out all sorts of marvelous wraiths and disembodied spirits and offering them the finest in new un-living accommodations; while in the meantime, an antebellum mansion appeared along the banks of the Rivers of America, marked only with a cryptic sign advertising "post-lifetime leases now available."
The Haunted Mansion would not open its doors to the living until 1969, and by then the GRD had managed to fill it with 999 happy haunts from across the globe.
Random Rings[]
In the episode "Scratch Calls the Haunted Mansion", Scratch's phone call to the Mansion is directed to a Ghost Relations operator named Booverly, who informs him that Scratch does not have a personal referral from one of the other residents to get in. Scratch claims to know some of the various residents and Booverly redirects his call until he is directed to and rejected by every single one of them, who still hold a grudge against him for various reasons.
Printed materials[]
Disney Kingdoms[]
The GRD makes an appearance in the Haunted Mansion series of Disney Kingdoms). The protagonist Danny Crowe is the one who sets up the sign outside of the Haunted Mansion to give those outside a better understanding of the manor's purpose.
Trivia[]
- Within the characterization that the GRD is a Disneyland department for dealing with ghosts in the park, it is likely that they'd have ties to other attractions with ghosts and spirits. This may include: Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the now defunct Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. More ambiguous inclusions would be Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye and Snow White's Scary Adventures.