Ravenswood Manor

"Non Omnis Moriar"

―Ravenswood Credo

Ravenswood Manor also known as Phantom Manor is the central and titular location of Disneyland Paris' Haunted Mansion inspired attraction, Phantom Manor.

Summary[]

Description[]

Ravenswood Manor is a French-gothic mansion with three floors and a mezzanine. It is built on the hillside overlooking the mesa and is surrounded by greenery, namely pine-trees. Originally it was painted white with gold and green coloured trims but over the years as the estate fell into darkness and decay, it's paint shed to the barebones wood.

Chambers[]

History[]

Background[]

Of Things to Come — The Ravenswood estate as seen in the calm before the coming storm

In 1849, Henry Ravenswood found gold in Big Thunder Mountain, which was considered sacred grounds by the Native Americans and the nesting place of the Thunderbird. After forcing the natives off the land, Henry established the mining town of Thunder Mesa along with the Big Thunder Mining Company which he used to extract gold in the mountain. With his newfound wealth, Henry commissioned a large French-Gothic manor to be built for him on the hillside overlooking the town and the mountain which he his wife Martha and their daughter Mélanie Ravenswood would all live in.

Being an overprotective father, Henry refused to let Melanie leave the estate for her entire childhood causing her only friends to be the siblings Anna and Jasper Jones, the chambermaid and manservant respectively. As a young woman, Melanie was allowed to journey outside of the house's grounds where she met several men who would become her suitors.

Mélanie's Suitors[]

Being beautiful and wealthy, in Thunder Mesa Mélanie was sought after by many men. One of these men was Captain Rowan D. Falls who was the captain of the Mark Twain Riverboat and the leader of the Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing. Henry being ever the overprotective father refused to let his daughter pursue romance and chose to kill Rowan by having him fall off of a waterfall in a riverboat.

There was also Ignatius Knight or "Iggy" who was a dynamite manufacturer that sold explosives to the Big Thunder Mining Company. Still not wishing to have his daughter be stolen from him, Henry killed Iggy by arranging for him to be killed in a dynamite blast within one of Big Thunder Mountain's caverns. Another suitor was Barry Claude, an oil-field master that sought Mélanie's hand only for Henry to have him mauled and eaten by bears. Then there was Sawyer Bottom, the owner of the Thunder Mesa saw-mill who Henry had strapped to one of his own lumber mill's conveyor belts where he was bifurcated with an industrial buzz-saw.

The Foreman[]

Mélanie finally fell in-love with a line-foreman working for the Big Thunder Mining Co. named Jake. Melanie and Jake fell in love and planned on getting married, though Henry was strongly against the union due to Jake's social class, and how Jake wanted to take Melanie away from Thunder Mesa.

The 1860 Earthquake[]

In the year 1860, a major earthquake hit the town of Thunder Mesa. Large swaths of the town were swallowed up by fissures in the earth, and many lives were lost, including Henry and Martha Ravenswood. Rumor said the quake was the wrath of the Thunderbird, or the result of a large explosion from a mining accident located deep underneath Big Thunder Mountain. Strangely, the Ravenswood Manor remain largely unscathed by the quake.

The Doomed Wedding[]

With her parents dead, Melanie decided that she wanted to marry her beloved Jake and they planned to wed in the Great Hall of Ravenswood Manor with a large assortment of guests. While still in the process of getting ready for the ceremony, Jake found himself lured into a secret chamber in the Manor where he was attacked by an undead spirit known as the Phantom who tied a noose around Jake's head and hanged him to death in the Manor's cupola. Melanie refused to believe that her beloved would ever abandon her and as such she chose to stay in the Mansion in her wedding gown even after the guests left the reception. Melanie wasn't seen outside of the Manor's grounds since that day and she eventually died on the estate of unknown causes. They say her ghost yet walks the manor's halls, forever being tormented by the malevolent Phantom while she waits for her groom to return to her.

1880s Missing Persons Investigation[]

Over the decades following the fate of the Ravenswood family, Ravenswood Manor became unofficially known as "Phantom Manor" and became notorious as being a Haunted Mansion where supernatural occurrences would be seen and people would disappear. One notable disappearance was that of a criminal named Milo "One Eye" Jones who robbed the Big Thunder Mining Co. in 1882 and was suspected to have hid out in the abandoned manor only to never be seen again. Around the year 1884, admittance to the mansion was indefinitely cut off under the orders of Sheriff Will Ketchum and the Thunder Mesa Town Council in order to investigate a large number of mysterious disappearances of people who journeyed into Phantom Manor or merely the Boot Hill cemetery.

The first group of investigators was hired by the Thunder Mesa Town Council but after one visit to Ravenswood Manor they were spotted leaving town in a panicked hurry, frightened half-mad. The second group was a party of intrepid explorers and adventurers who after entering the manor were never seen again. The third and final group was made up of scholars from different institutes from the eastern states and they concluded in writing that any and all supernatural sightings seen on the estate were hallucinations and illusions. Sheriff Ketchum stated ,"For the life of me I didn’t understand half the words them learned folks wrote but it sure looks like they figured out what’s goin’ on without so much as settin’ foot here!” and later stated that he had no responsibility over those who decided to enter the manor and the grounds were officially re-opened.

Other Appearances[]

Disney Kingdoms[]

In Disney Kingdoms' Haunted Mansion comic, Ravenswood Manor is shown as a picture in the Ghostly Materials Gallery as one of the spiritual locations connected to the comics' Haunted Mansion by the Endless Staircase which is only traversable by the Hatbox Ghost.

Trivia[]

The Ravenswood's family Credo is ,"Non Omnis Moriar" which is a latin expression meaning ,"I will never die Completely"
When examined the Thunder Mesa Town Council poster denying admittance to Ravenswood Manor has the Ravenswood Credo hidden on it, on the poster several letters are written in faded grey ink rather than blue, when put in chronological order these letters read ,"Non Omnis Moriar"
According to Craig Fleming, the show writer, Ravenswood Manor was a suggested name for Phantom Manor, but was rejected.