Granny, also known as Grams or The Old Lady, is a character in the Haunted Mansion.
Description[]
Appearance[]
The ghost appears in the Haunted Mansion's Grand Hall near the fireplace, sitting in a rocking chair. The Old Woman rocks back and forth in her chair as she fades in-and-out of sight causing her chair to look like it's rocking itself (which in terms of technical effects, it is).
History[]
The Old Lady's appearance resembles both concept art and an unused scene made by imagineer Ken Anderson. The planned scene's directions read, "The room 'comes to life' as a green fire ignites itself in the fireplace and an empty rocking chair beside begins to rock.".
Concept art of the character made by Ken Anderson
Identification[]
The Old Lady is also considered by some to be the same character as Granny Ghoul, a spirit character who appeared in promotions for the attraction voiced by Paul Frees.
Other appearances[]
2003 video game[]
Grams appears in the 2003 video game as one of the six friendly ghosts enslaved by Atticus Thorn, albeit identified as Old Lady's Ghost. She was voiced by the late Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 until 2019.
The character first appears in the Great Hall, talking with the other ghosts and commenting of Zeke's good attitude, viewing him as a person worthy of helping them destroy the mansion's curse. When Zeke faints, Grams hopes he feels better after she and the other ghosts nurse him back to health. She later reappears in the Parlor level where gives Zeke a weapon upgrade upon the level's completion. At the end of the game, Grams and the other ghosts gather to commend Zeke for his bravery and success in defeating Thorn and, along with Leota, becomes his mentor and guide for his career as an author.
This version of the character has a backstory in which she died after drinking poisoned tea in the parlor.
The Haunted Mansion: Frights of Fancy[]
The Old Lady Ghost, referred to as Grams, appears in the comic as part of a crew of ghosts that Sydney is assigned to work with to improve the effectiveness of scares at the Mansion.
Trivia[]
- The animatronic used for the ghost is a copy of the animatronic-figure used in Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress for the Grandmother. Some fans headcanon them to be the same character
- Like all of the other ghosts in the Grand Hall sequence, her animatronic utilizes the Pepper's Ghost illusion to maintain a ghostly appearance.
- The Lady's rocking-chair has a Rolly Crump inspired design which makes it resemble the arm-chair from the Endless Corridor.
- Russi Taylor, who voiced the character in the 2003 game, was married to fellow voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death on May 18, 2009. Taylor would pass away ten years later.