Walt Disney Imagineering shared early Haunted Mansion sculpts, including a grinning sheet ghost that was almost a Hitchhiking Ghost and a witch from a scene never built.
The Haunted Mansion almost had a very different hitchhiker, and he looks a lot friendlier than Gus.
Walt Disney Imagineering posted a set of early Haunted Mansion sculpts on Instagram, WDW News Today reported Sunday. One of them is a sheet ghost that Imagineering called an early idea for one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts.
He never made the ride. He’s pretty charming anyway.
The little guy is pale, with dark eye holes, a giant grin and skinny arms. He holds a tiny top hat in one hand and gives a thumbs-up with the other, like he already knows you’ll stop for him.
The sculpts are the work of Imagineer Jack Ferges, who worked in the WED model shop in the 1960s. His job was turning early ride ideas into maquettes, the small sculpted models designers use to try out a character before anybody builds the real thing.
Imagineering took its own peek behind the Mansion’s curtain in this video from its YouTube channel:
Who are the Haunted Mansion’s Hitchhiking Ghosts?
The three who made the cut are Ezra, Phineas and Gus. They wait at the end of the ride and, as the story goes, follow you home.
Ezra is the tall, skinny one in the bowler hat. Phineas is the short, round traveler with a carpetbag and a top hat. Gus is the bearded prisoner dragging a ball and chain.
So the sheet ghost’s top hat does ring a bell. Phineas wears one.
Imagineering’s set includes an early Gus, too. He has a big shaggy beard, a long nose, a ragged reddish outfit, his ball and chain and a raised thumb. He’s been bumming rides since the Mansion opened at Disneyland in 1969.
The Mansion opened with Magic Kingdom in 1971. The trio there got new effects in 2011 that let them mess with riders’ reflections in the mirrors.
What other Haunted Mansion ideas never got built?
A witch, for one. Ferges sculpted her for a planned trio of witches around a cauldron, an idea that never fully came together.
She wears a tall, crooked hat over yellow hair and leans forward with a pair of bellows, like she’s fanning the fire under the pot.
There’s also a ghost from a graveyard tea party. Imagineering said he and his friends were supposed to have tea around a hearse in the graveyard scene. He’s grinning with a teacup in hand, in a dark hat, green top, knee-length pants and buckled shoes.
Then there’s Pickwick, a ghost you’ve probably seen. He’s the round-bellied fellow swinging from the chandelier in the ballroom, and his sculpt has the top hat, scarf and short pink coat.
The post’s first photo shows six character busts with big, stretchy faces, from wide grins to deep scowls.
What was the Museum of the Weird?
It was a Mansion add-on that never opened. The post points to Ferges’ work on the Museum of the Weird, a concept built around Imagineer Rolly Crump‘s designs.
The idea was a gallery of strange objects guests would wander through after leaving the Haunted Mansion. The museum never got built, but some of its ideas ended up inside the Mansion anyway.
Is there a Nightmare Before Christmas nod in the Haunted Mansion?
Yep, and Imagineering pointed it out the same day. In a separate Instagram reel, an Imagineer named Jessica showed off a little The Nightmare Before Christmas tribute hiding in plain sight, WDWNT reported. It’s in the library scene at Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion.
A Nightmare Before Christmas book sits on top of a stack on a table. A bigger book on the floor beside it has a black and red cover with a white drawing of Jack Skellington.
It’s an easy one to miss from a moving Doom Buggy.
Jack fans get a much bigger dose out west. Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay turns the whole ride into a Nightmare Before Christmas party, and it’s been a fall tradition there since Oct. 3, 2001.
And the sheet ghost? He’s still back in the model shop somewhere, thumb out, waiting on a ride that never came.
Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
WDW News Today, Austin Haughton (Oct. 25, 2026), Imagineering’s early Haunted Mansion sculpts by Jack Ferges and the Museum of the Weird
WDW News Today, Megan K (Oct. 25, 2026), the Nightmare Before Christmas books in Magic Kingdom’s library scene
WDW News Today (April 2011), Magic Kingdom’s updated Hitchhiking Ghost scene
Walt Disney Imagineering on YouTube (Oct. 31, 2025), the Haunted Mansion behind-the-scenes video
AI Disclosure: All articles are assigned, edited and reviewed by an experienced human editor before posting. Like most modern newsrooms, WebReef Media uses a variety of AI tools to help with accuracy and efficiency. Ways AI may be used in article creation include research, grammar, fact-checking and ideation, as well as occasional AI generated or enhanced thumbnails or graphics. No articles are generated or posted without human oversight or involvement.