Nuptial Doom: The Bride in the Attic is a downloadable MP3 audiobook narrated by Kat Cressida, based on the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. The story offers an origin for the Bride, the Ghost Host, and the mansion itself.
Nuptial Doom was written by Cressida and John Starling, and derived from Cressida's childhood conversations with her father, who worked with Disneyland's PR department and the original Imagineers.
The tale was inspired by The Legend of Captain Gore, an early story concept for the attraction by Ken Anderson that was ultimately unused, involving a pirate named Captain Gore and his wife Priscilla.
The story[]
A lone antebellum mansion, known as Gracey Manor, which stands on a huge piece of land in a desolate area of the bayou of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana, has been long unoccupied for 150 years. It also became the subject of many stories, myths, and legends. Due to these, it is suspected to be haunted.
After the war of 1812, New Orleans, then dubbed the "Paris of the West", was a prosperous city where many of the elites lived. On one day, an extremely wealthy sea captain arrived in the city. A quiet man, his status of having more wealth made him stand out from the rest of the New Orleans society. He worked his way to ingratiate himself into the upper strata of New Orleans society and began to make appearances at the functions of the most noteworthy families in the city.
When the captain started to make his forays into polite society, rumors began to swirl about his status and wealth. No one knew exactly where he or his riches had come from. One of these rumors state that his wealth may have come from sources less than honest while another stated he was a bloodthirsty pirate with a life-long experience of crimes and was a compatriot of Jean Laffite himself. However, not one ever spoke of these in his presence nor dared to ask the captain about his lineage directly.
Despite the rumors, the captain remained an imposing and arresting figure but was not so when he engaged in conversations. He was known to be charming and somewhat friendly in some ways. On one event, he was introduced to one of the city's nobleman, a wealthy mercantile business owner through a suggestion of the latter's peers. During an conversation, the nobleman accepted the captain's invitation to dine with him at the city's finest restaurant. While taking time away from the presence of the captain, the nobleman had second thoughts, and decided to cancel the engagement, only to find that he had no way of contacting the sea captain to send his regrets. But being a gentleman, he decided to keep his appointment the following night.
The two met again in the same restaurant and bonded over a dinner of the finest delicacies in the city. With their friendship growing, the nobleman forgot all about his earlier intentions to extricate himself from the new acquaintance, and decided to arrange for the captain to come visit his house the following day. By the next morning, the captain came as expected and caught a glimpse of the nobleman's only daughter.
Like the captain, the nobleman's daughter was a mysterious figure praised and looked upon in public while being gossiped about in private because of her unparalleled beauty and complexion respectively. She did not have the lily-white skin of the rest of her family. Similar to the captain being rumored to be a pirate with a life of crime of which he got his wealth, the daughter was also subjected to rumors because of her ethnicity; one rumor stated that she was of mixed race, possibly being the illegitimate child of one of her father's many servants. These rumors didn't stop the most eligible bachelors from seeking her hand in marriage.
Although the nobleman wanted to keep her safely ensconced in the upstairs rooms when the captain was around, the daughter had a strong will of her own, and crept to the door of the drawing room, briefly locking eyes with the captain. They then fell in love from then on.
When the captain sent word the following day to the nobleman that he would like to court his daughter, the latter was surprised and dismayed but his reservations were tempered, however, by the wondrous gifts of gold and jewels that accompanied the request, all as an offering of good faith. In spite of the fact that he had already offered the hand of his daughter to the son of another New Orleans society family, the nobleman agreed.
A staid and proper courtship followed, as was the custom of the time, but it was, even by modern standards, extremely short. After only one visit on the veranda with the daughter, surrounded by chaperones, the captain asked the nobleman permission to marry his daughter. The nobleman was caught quite off guard, and had a conversation with the captain. In this conversation, he remarked the captain as a man of some wealth and station, as he began revealing of his daughter's status of being descended from great nobility and becoming an heir to a great fortune. When the nobleman asked of what the captain could offer, the latter promised to offer as much as he can, and that she will live like a queen if she marries him. Although hesitant at first, the nobleman was fixed by the hypnotic gaze of the captain, and intrigued by the what the limits of the latter's wealth might be. He then agreed on the the captain's request by asking him to build for her the grandest mansion in all of New Orleans, to which the captain agreed.
The captain secretly bought large parcels of land just outside the city, mostly swampland and bayous that bordered the sea. He justifies this reason as being the love of the water but it again became the subject of rumors that it had more to do with the captain's desire to keep his comings and goings known only to the night creatures of the swamp. After breaking ground on what was to be the most legendary, admired and talked about home in New Orleans, the construction of the mansion then began and was hailed as an enormous undertaking, with a veritable army of artisans seen marching into the swamplands to work the land. Work went on wherein sounds of hammering and sawing could be heard late into the night.
One day, the nobleman and his daughter journeyed to the location to see the beginnings of the glorious mansion. Upon arrival, the two were intrigued, as the nobleman thought only of the area as a swamp, which made him think of his daughter living in the wilds outside the city. This was due to him being a product of the old world and its notions of class and lineage However, he now realizes that the captain's status of a man of wealth was clear. On the other hand, the daughter was spellbound despite seeing only a portion of the first floor having completed, envisioning the place to be an estate unlike any other. She began thinking that the place and location seemed to be a lush green fairytale kingdom of their own making.
The nobleman now knows that this land was where money was fast becoming the only mark of nobility. As he began to think that his own fortune was starting to diminish, the nobleman agreed to give the captain his daughter's hand in marriage.
When they met, the captain embraced the daughter, and offered her the most opulent wedding her heart desired: he will buy the finest gown from Paris that she would wear on their wedding day, and the feast will have the best musicians playing, and will be filled of servings of the finest food anyone in America had ever tasted, alongside many others. However, he made one request that she must excuse his absence for the next several weeks as he will make a prolonged but important voyage out to sea which can help him earn more for her. The daughter agreed in joy, promising to wait.
The captain gave instructions on how to help him find his way back to the home. To let her know that he is on an hour away, he will have his second mate ring the ship's great bell and light a lantern atop the highest sail, and when she sees the vessel, she must light up a candle so that he may imagine her lovely face, and leave it burning to help light his return. With the daughter planting to mind these instructions, she and her father spent one last night with the captain. By the next day, the captain began his trip to sea.
During his long absence, the construction of the house continued, and as it had before, the work continued long into the night. From his veranda, the nobleman heard the sounds of hammering from deep in the bayou, and his mind began to work as well. While he simply thought that he couldn't offer his daughter's hand to this man, he went on with his plan as it had been promised to another.
When the captain returned, he found a letter from the nobleman, who hadn't wanted to face his unnerving gaze, stating that the marriage was now an impossibility. Using his wise mind, patience, and resolution, the captain informed the nobleman of the mansion's completion and called upon him to visit and view it, reminding the latter of the promise to make it the finest in all the land.
Before the nobleman could find the words to respond, the captain called to his carriage, loading it with a great chest. He meets the nobleman at their designated meeting place wherein the former opened the chest, filled with highly-valued treasures beyond the latter's dreams - jewels and heirlooms from faraway lands. The captain requests the nobleman to accept the gift as a gesture of faith and goodwill. With that, the dumbfounded nobleman agreed to allow the hand-in-marriage. However, the captain unexpectedly stated that he had to do one more voyage to earn a little more; he adds that this will be his last, and that the wedding will commence after this trip.
Unknown to him and the nobleman, the daughter was overjoyed, having secretly eavesdropping from the upstairs veranda. She began preparing plans for the wedding day. While busily setting the nuptials, her father fretted over what to do. While still unsure about the wedding, he finally made up his mind after weeks passed.
The daughter then received a letter from the captain, addressed from a foreign port. This letter announced his return, stating that he had built a turret just above the mansion's attic, overlooking the sea, where she could await in private the ship's signal, as he had promised her, as a final gift. The final message of this letter asked she was prepared for the wedding, adding if he might look forward to a candlelit glow beckoning him from her turret above the attic. At the same time, her wedding dress had just arrived that same day from Paris, and she readily fitted it, which suited her well.
The nobleman stood out in the hall for awhile, steeling himself. He checked on his daughter to see her in the wedding dress. Mesmerized, he wept to see his daughter in great beauty, but these were to conceal a later-revealed-to-be-false tragic news he received: the sea captain was dead, drowned at sea.
In a heartbeat, the bride-to-be's world was shattered. In grief, sorrow, and despair, she left the house, running across the town and fleeing into the swamps, the wedding dress dragging in the green weeds behind her, as she made her way to the mansion, of which now bore a foreboding ambiance instead of a welcoming atmosphere. Entering through the massive front doors, she bolted every door behind her to ensure no one followed, and ascended to the attic and to the turret window where she had vowed to watch for her sea captain's return.
Her father searched for her throughout the town, and with the help of the authorities, eventually made his way to the mansion in the swamps with a squad of police in tow. One of the police officers spotted a bright light wavering through a window, as if held aloft by an unseen hand. The police platoon were frozen in shock and silence, which was shattered only by the scream of a raven. They and the nobleman regained composure and hurried to the large veranda, but when they reached the front doors, they had to use forced entry. Eventually, they reached the door to the attic and called her name. With no response coming, they tried to break it down but not one of them, even the stoutest policemen, could do so. After yelling themselves hoarse, they left, believing the desolate girl must in fact have fled elsewhere. A young policeman, who lagged behind, did notice something rather odd. While the attic door was clearly locked, the strongest of them had failed to breach the latch, yet there were no signs of an actual lock on the door. However that attic was sealed by a strange lock not him or anyone could have ever known.
Some time passed, the sea captain arrived in port, surprised and not a little displeased to discover no one around to greet him. The noblemen, whether in shame over the lie he had told or in fear of the sea captain's wrath, had left town entirely, possibly using an excuse of searching for his beloved daughter. Some believe that the nobleman had sent nefarious men to deal with the sea captain and bring truth to his own black lie; the men had either been defeated or never materialized. No matter the cost, the captain's demise would come soon.
Sensing immediately that something was wrong, the captain raced to his mansion out on the bayou, his heart pounding with every step. He raced up the stairs to the attic and tried the door, which took on the hardest blows from the policemen and did not budge. However, it now swung open with his fearful touch. Inside the attic, and in the turret above, he found it empty, there was no sign of his waiting bride, except a torn, forlorn wedding dress draped beside a burnt out candle.
Knowing in his heart that his bride was dead, the captain was struck with a maniacal, grief-stricken rage. He ordered the mansion shuttered and closed, sealing himself inside. As the guilt-ridden nobleman returned to announce the funeral rites for his beloved daughter, unknown to him and many, the captain's grief took the best of him and he committed suicide by hanging himself from the inner rafters of the mansion's grand gallery.
A long time would pass with the mansion standing undisturbed until courageous and curious people explored the property. During a raid, with the doors broken down, a further exploration led to the discovery of the captain's hanged corpse.
With the secrets of the mansion exposed, many strange and frightening things seen and heard made rounds, but the most notorious was a steady thump of an ever beating heart, which could be heard in the attic, or in the turret, or in an attic trunk, only to move to a dark corner whenever the trunk was opened. The sound moved when searched for, but grew louder at night in answer to the sounds of the sea. As of the present, the beating never stopped and still could be heard. The townsfolk have since stated that this was the beating heart of the bride.
Script[]
Have you ever believed yourself to have wandered into that most fabled mysterious part of the old South known as the bayou, just beyond the edges of New Orleans? Ah, so perhaps you have. And perhaps, in the spirit of adventure, you might have strayed away from the bustle of its French Colonial streets, away from the charming, the everyday, the world of logic and knowingness, and accidentally stumbled after a spell upon a set of high wrought iron gates protecting, hiding one of the bayou's deepest mysteries. If you have, then you know the place of which I speak. For, beyond these gates and up a winding path, stands a lone antebellum mansion, graceful, well-maintained and lovely, despite one unmistakable fact: no one has lived in it for over 150 years.
That large, graceful house is known far and wide as Gracey Manor, and since you are a visitor to these parts, allow me to explain that it has a long and storied history. The mansion has inspired many myths and legends, some bounded in truth, and some no more than modern fantasy. Conventional wisdom of the house's origin and the intentions of its various occupants have been somewhat fluid over the passing years, but one thing remains certain: the mansion is most assuredly haunted.
How and why it came to be haunted, and by whom, is how most of the tales differ, and one of the oldest tales - a tale that begins even before the existence of the house itself - has now largely been forgotten, save for one curious, incongruous artifact. In fact, if you stand at the base of this manor, and shade your eyes from the blinding sun piercing the bayou as you look to the highest most reaches at the glorious mansion, you might see this mystifying artifact. There, perched atop the turret of the old house, sits a weather vane in the form of a ship.
It was sometime after the War of 1812, in that glorious age when New Orleans was truly the Paris of the West, that a mysterious sea captain appeared in the city. Whence he had come, none could tell, but one thing was clear: he had wealth. Even in this city of 100,000 people (the richest city in America at the time), the sea captain had enough wealth to stand out among his peers.
Though he was a mysterious and quiet man, this notice did not displease him. In fact, he went out of his way to ingratiate himself into the upper strata of New Orleans society. He began to make appearances at the functions of the most noteworthy families in the city.
Just as the sea captain started to make his forays into polite society, rumors began to swirl. No one seemed to know exactly where he (and more importantly, his money) had come from. There were some that hinted that his wealth may have come from sources less than honest. There were some even (once the sea captain was hours gone, for they feared to say so anywhere near his imposing presence) that intimated that he had been nothing less than a bloodthirsty pirate - a compatriot of Jean Laffite himself. But as much as they wondered, no one ever dared to ask the captain about his lineage directly.
The sea captain was an arresting figure, and never more so than when he engaged someone in conversation, which is not to say that he was intimidating, for this is not entirely correct. It was more of a seductive, menacing charm - an effect that was never more pronounced than the evening when the captain introduced himself to one of the most noteworthy noblemen of New Orleans. He was head of an old mercantile family, and the sort of man who would never have spoken with a sea captain of any sort, were it not for the introduction by one of his peers, who insisted he must meet this extraordinary man.
So it was that the nobleman found himself speaking to the captain and, within minutes, accepting an invitation to dine with him at the city's finest restaurant. Later, away from the presence of the mysterious man, the nobleman had second thoughts, and decided to cancel the engagement, only to find that he had no way of contacting the sea captain to send his regrets. As a gentleman, he had no choice but to keep his appointment the following night.
Over a dinner of the finest delicacies the city had to offer, the nobleman was swayed again by the charming captain. So much so, that he forgot all about his earlier intentions to extricate himself from the acquaintance, and even so far as to arrange for the captain to come and call upon the nobleman's house the following day. And so it was that the captain came to lay eyes on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen - the nobleman's daughter.
The nobleman's only daughter was a mysterious creature herself, praised in public because of her unparalleled beauty, and gossiped about in private because of her complexion. For she did not have the lily-white skin of the rest of her family, and there were rumors that she was in fact of mixed race, perhaps (it was whispered) the illegitimate child of one of her father's many servants. These rumors, however, did nothing to prevent the most eligible bachelors from seeking her hand in marriage.
The captain never spoke a word to her during his visit to the nobleman's house, only once just catching a glimpse of her while having cigars and brandy with the nobleman, in the drawing room. The nobleman had, of course, hoped to keep her safely ensconced in the upstairs rooms while the dark stranger was about, but his daughter had a will of her own, and so she crept to the door of the drawing room and briefly locked eyes with the mysterious man of the sea. From that moment on, they were both deeply in love.
It was to the nobleman's surprise and dismay that the captain sent word the following day that he would like to court his daughter. His reservations were tempered, however, by the wondrous gift of gold and jewels that accompanied the request - an offering of good faith from the captain to the nobleman. And so, in spite of the fact that he had already offered the hand of his daughter to the son of another New Orleans society family, the nobleman agreed.
The courtship was very staid and proper, as was the custom of the time. But it was, even by modern standards, extremely short. In fact, after only one visit on the veranda with the daughter, surrounded by chaperones, the captain asked the nobleman permission to marry his daughter. This was most unexpected, and the nobleman was caught quite off guard.
Not wanting to confess that he had already promised her hand to another, he simply said, "Sir, you may be a man of some wealth and station, but my daughter is descended from great nobility, and is heir to a great fortune. What could a sea captain, even one such as yourself, possibly offer her?"
The captain was not phased by the affront. He simply replied, "There is nothing that I will not provide for your daughter, sir. What can I do to show you that, in marrying me, she will live like a queen?"
The father hesitated, and then, fixed by the hypnotic gaze of the captain, and intrigued by the what the limits of the captain's wealth might be, he said, "If you can build for her the grandest mansion in all of New Orleans, I will reconsider your request." Thus, did the construction of that most famous of mansions begin.
The captain had been secretly buying up large parcels of land just outside the city, mostly swampland and bayous that bordered the sea. It was here that he broke ground on what was to be the most legendary, admired and talked about home New Orleans had ever seen. It was an enormous undertaking, and a veritable army of artisans were seen marching into the swamplands to work the land. The sounds of hammering and sawing could be heard late into the night. The location, the captain had said, was chosen because of his love of the water, but there were many who believed that it had more to do with the captain's desire to keep his comings and goings known only to the night creatures of the swamp.
When the daughter was invited, along with her father, to see the beginnings of the glorious mansion, she was spellbound. Only a portion of the first floor had been completed, and yet, she could already see that this was going to be an estate unlike any other. And more than the promise of the grand house itself, her heart leapt to think that she would soon be sharing it with this fascinating man, in what seemed to her a lush green fairytale kingdom of their own making.
To the nobleman, it was just a swamp, and it made him shudder to think of his daughter living here in the wilds, outside the city. But the house, the foundations and the columns alone were grander than anything he could have ever imagined. This captain was a man of enormous wealth, that much was now clear beyond a doubt. The nobleman was a product of the old world and its notions of class and lineage, but this was not the old world, but the new. This was the land, after all, where money was fast becoming the only mark of nobility, and the nobleman's own fortunes were in fact starting to diminish. And so, the nobleman agreed to give the captain his daughter's hand in marriage.
Pulling the daughter aside, the captain embraced her, and offered her the most opulent wedding her heart desired. He would request the finest gown from Paris, the best musicians, the finest food anyone in America had ever tasted - anything she could possibly desire. But there was just one request: she must excuse his absence for the next several weeks while he made an important voyage out to sea. She of course agreed, happier than she had ever been in her life. "My voyage may be prolonged," he said. "Will you wait for me?"
She replied, "As long as my heart beats. That's how long I shall wait for you. I will wait for you until the last beat of my heart."
"I'll have my second ring the ship's great bell and light a lantern atop the highest sail. That is how you'll know that I am but an hour away. When you see me, light up a candle so that I may imagine your lovely face, and leave it burning to help light my return to you."
The bride-to-be smiled her consent.
The construction of the house continued during the captain's long absence, and as it had before, the work continued long into the night. From his veranda, the nobleman could hear the sounds of hammering from deep in the bayou, and his mind began to work as well. He simply couldn't offer his daughter's hand to this man. After all, it had been promised to another, and nothing in the world could change that. The fact that this other family also had enormous wealth certainly made it easier for him now to suddenly stand on principle.
Thus, when the captain returned, he found a letter waiting for him. It was from the nobleman, who hadn't wanted to face the unnerving gaze of the captain in person, and it stated that the marriage was now an impossibility. Patient but resolute, the captain called on the nobleman one more time.
"The mansion is finished," the captain said, "and if you will but come and view it, you will see that, as promised, it is the finest in all the land. I intend to hold you to your promise."
Before the nobleman could find the words to respond, the captain called to his carriage, and a great chest was brought forth. It was opened at the nobleman's feet, and inside were such treasures as the nobleman had never dreamed of - jewels and heirlooms from faraway lands. The captain continued, "And for your keeping your promise, please accept this. One more gift to your family as a gesture of my faith and goodwill."
The nobleman was dumbfounded and could only nod. The captain said, "So, will you keep your word and give me her hand?" The nobleman nodded again. As he prepared to depart, the captain said, "I will make one more voyage to sea, and I don't make it lightly, for your daughter's heart calls to me as no sea siren ever could. But make this voyage I must. When I return, we will have a wedding beyond anything you could imagine."
The daughter, who had secretly been eavesdropping from the upstairs veranda, was overjoyed, and immediately began making plans for the fateful day. As his daughter busily prepared for her nuptials, her father fretted over what to do. Surely he wasn't actually going to let his daughter marry this man. Finally, when several weeks had passed, he had made up his mind.
The daughter had received a letter from the captain, off in some foreign port. He was returning soon. As one last gift, he had built a turret just above the mansion's attic, overlooking the sea, where she could await in private the ship's signal, as he had promised her. Ending the letter, he asked if she was prepared for the wedding, and if he might look forward to a candlelit glow beckoning him from her turret above the attic. She smiled to herself, "Yes." Even better, her wedding dress had just arrived that same day from Paris, and she was having it fitted that very moment.
The nobleman stood out in the hall for awhile, steeling himself. Then, he knocked on his daughter's door. Upon entering, there she was, in her wedding dress, looking like an angel. He wept to see his daughter so beautiful, but he pretended his tears were for the news he was about to tell her: the sea captain was dead, drowned at sea.
In a heartbeat, the bride-to-be's world was shattered. Sobbing, she ran from the house. In sorrow and despair, she ran across the town and into the swamps, her immaculate French wedding dress dragged in the green weeds behind her, as she made her way to the lonely mansion. It no longer looked inviting or welcoming. Instead, it now had a foreboding ambience. No matter. She pushed through the massive front doors, and once inside, ascended to the attic and to the turret window where she had vowed to watch for her sea captain's return.
Her father, having searched for her throughout the town, eventually made his way through the swamps, to the mansion, with a squad of police in tow. "Look there!" exclaimed one of the men. "The light! There's a light in the window!" And so there was. One bright white light. It wavered, as if held aloft by an unseen hand. A chill ran through the group of men, and the silence was shattered only by the scream of a raven.
The group of men hurried to the large veranda, but when they reached the front doors, they had to force entry, as the clever girl had bolted every door behind her to keep everyone out. Eventually, they reached the door to the attic and called her name. Alas, there was no response, and more mysterious - even the stoutest policemen could not break down the door. After yelling themselves hoarse, they left, believing the desolate girl must in fact have fled elsewhere.
One young policeman, lagging behind, did notice something rather odd. While the attic door was clearly locked, the strongest of them had failed to breach the latch, yet there were no signs of an actual lock on the door. However that attic was sealed, it was not by any lock he'd ever known.
And so, it was some time later that the sea captain arrived in port. He was, however, surprised and not a little displeased to discover there was no one there to greet him. The noblemen, whether in shame over the lie he had told or in fear of the sea captain's wrath, had left town entirely. Perhaps he'd fled on the excuse of searching for his beloved daughter. If, as some believe, the nobleman had sent nefarious men to do away with the sea captain and so bring truth to his own black lie, those men had either been defeated or never materialized. No matter. The captain's demise would come soon enough.
Sensing immediately that something was wrong, the captain raced to his mansion out on the bayou, his heart pounding with every step. He raced up the stairs to the attic. He tried the door, and though it held fast before the hardest blows from the policemen, it now swung open with his fearful touch. But inside the attic, and in the turret above, there was no sign of his waiting bride. There was no body to be found - only a torn, forlorn wedding dress draped beside a burnt out candle. He did not need to be told. He knew in his heart that his young bride was dead.
In a maniacal, grief-stricken rage, the captain ordered the mansion shuttered and closed, sealing himself inside. A full new moon waxed and waned, and at last the guilt-ridden nobleman returned to announce the funeral rites for his most misfortunate daughter.
And so it was, that it was a long, long time before the courageous and curious finally broke down the doors to that mansion. Perhaps you can guess what they would have seen inside. High above the grand gallery, as high as the dim light would allow one to see, was the gently swaying body of the captain. For surrounded by a hall of grand portraits, he had hanged himself from the rafters of his glorious mansion - the mansion he had built for his bride.
It was not long after that many strange things were seen and heard in that mansion, but of all the frightening, displaced sounds that could be heard, the most prevalent was the sure, steady thump of an ever beating heart. It could be heard in the attic, or in the turret, or in an attic trunk, only to move to a dark corner whenever the trunk was opened. And though it moved when searched for, it grew louder at night in answer to the sounds of the sea. It never stopped beating. Some say it is beating still. Perhaps, if you listen closely...do you hear it? The beating heart of the bride.