Mélanie's Suitors are a group of 4-5 deceased individuals from Phantom Manor.
Biographies[]
The suitors were the men who pursued romance with the beautiful and wealthy Mélanie Ravenswood. Mélanie's father Henry Ravenswood however was overprotective and psychotic leading him to arrange for the death of each man.
Current[]
In the ride as it is the suitors were (in no particular order):
- Captain Rowan D. Falls: Captain Falls was the captain of the Mark Twain Riverboat and was killed by falling off a waterfall in a rowboat.
- Ignatius "Iggy" Knight: Ignatius Knight was a dynamite manufacturer who sold explosives to the Big Thunder Mining Company. He died in an explosion within one of the caves of Big Thunder Mountain.
- Barry Claude: Barry Claude was an oil-field master who was mauled to death by a bear and her baby.
- Sawyer Bottom: Sawyer Bottom was the owner of the Thunder Mesa Sawmill and he was killed within his own saw-mill where he was tied to a log on a conveyor belt then bifurcated by an industrial buzz-saw.
Pre-2019[]
In the original rendition of the attraction, the only suitor presented was that of Jake, an employee of the Big Thunder Mining Company who wished to run away with his beloved Mélanie. Henry refused to let her marry the boy but his opinions were silenced in the earthquake of 1860 when Henry and his wife Martha were both killed.
Mélanie and Jake intended to marry within the Great Hall of Ravenswood Manor but before the ceremony, Jake was lured into the manor's rafters by the Phantom who proceeded to murder Jake with a rope tied into a noose. Mélanie refused to believe that her beloved would abandon her so it's said she chose to stay within the halls of the manor until her dying days.
Appearances[]
The suitors are first alluded towards in the foyer where in the background of a portrait depicting Henry and Mélanie in-front of the manor, a tree can be seen in the background. Said tree has four crossed out carvings of hearts in it, foreshadowing the four suitors we see in the next seen. There is also a noose on the tree which while likely a reference to Henry's murders or a potential cause of death for Mélanie, might be an easter-egg regarding Jake.
The suitors are first directly referenced in the Stretching Room where portraits of Rowan, Iggy, Barry and Sawyer are mounted on the walls, each with the gentleman beside Mélanie. As the room stretches, Mélanie disappears from each portrait and leaves the suitor alone to meet their fate. Rowan is shown in a row-boat about to go off of a waterfall, Iggy is standing atop a heap of explosives, Barry is on a tree branch with hungry bears below, and Sawyer is tied to a log on a conveyor belt in a lumber-mill, headed towards a buzz-saw.
The suitors are once again referenced in Phantom Canyon where their crypt can be seen, sunken down into the depths of the canyon apparently as a result of the earthquake of 1860. Barry Claude's skeletal hand extends from a hole in his crypt as he attempts to reach for his beloved Mélanie's spirit or at the very least, escape.
Trivia[]
- Broadly speaking, Mélanie's suitors are the Phantom Manor equivalents of Constance's Husbands. Although in the case of Constance's husbands, they were murdered by the bride herself rather than the father-in-law.
- It is possible that each of Mélanie's first four suitors were business-affiliates of Henry's as the Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger mentions each of their close connections to the family and how the Big Thunder Mining Co. could have easily had connection with any of their businesses.
- Each of the four suitor's names is a morbid play on words retaining to their cause of death. Rowan D. Falls is made to sound like "Row on the Falls", Iggy Knight sounds like "Ignite", Barry Claude sounds like "Bear Claw" and Sawyer Bottom sounds like both "Saw your Bottom" and "Sore Bottom".
Gallery[]
