Thunder Mesa

Thunder Mesa is the fictional town in Frontierland at Disneyland Paris.
==Background==
=== History ===
According to the folklore of shoshone tribes which inhabited Thunder Mesa, Thunder Mesa was the roost of the legendary Thunderbird, who guarded the gold within Big Thunder Mountain from any who dared take it, creating earthquakes with flaps from its powerful wings.
In 1840, white colonists arrived in the area of Big Thunder Mountain searching the land for precious minerals and other riches, their search would soon prove successful. They would violently force out the local shoshone peoples in their greed and xenophobia to do this. A rich vein of gold was discovered in the red rocks of Big Thunder Mountain and as soon as word got out, more and more settlers streamed into the area, transforming the serene wilderness into a lively and steadily-growing gold-rush town. The founder, an evil man called Henry Ravenswood, named the town Thunder Mesa.
For his own family, the increasingly-wealthy Mr. Ravenswood began construction on a grand mansion on a hill overlooking the sprawling town. Apart from the four-story manor-house painted in white with a red gable roof, the estate encompassed vast gardens decorated with marble statues as well as the family cemetery on the banks of the river.
Its owner’s dearest pride and joy, however, was his beautiful young daughter Melanie. She grew up protected, free to pass her time in the expansive manor gardens under Henry’s watchful eye. However, as she grew older, things began to take a turn. Henry was incredibly overprotective of his daughter, distrustful of any man trying to court her and he had hoped to keep her in town. Additionally, townspeople were undermining his authority and taking gold nuggets from the mine without him knowing. In 1860, shortly before Melanie was to wed a train engineer named Jake Evans, an earthquake struck Thunder Mesa, killing Henry and dropping half of the town into what is now known as Phantom Canyon. Melanie's groom however would be killed shortly before the wedding by a mysterious Phantom, said to be Henry's restless spirit. Melanie began endlessly searching for him, never to be seen again, with Ravenswood Manor becoming known by the locals as Phantom Manor.With the loss of the Ravenswoods and Big Thunder's gold, Thunder Mesa settled into a quieter river town.
=== Notable features ===
* Big Thunder Island:
* Boot Hill:
* Cottonwood Creek:
* Ravenswood Manor:
* Rivers of the Far West:
== Appearances ==
=== Disneyland ===
==== Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ====
In Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a sign in the town of Rainbow Ridge, pointing towards Thunder Mesa along with the locations of Tumbleweed, and Grizzly Gulch.
==== Rivers of America ====
An illustration of Thunder Mesa appears on an advertisement for the Mark Twain Riverboat, depicting locations such as Fort Comstock.
=== Disneyland Paris ===
==== Frontierland ====
Thunder Mesa is the setting for Frontierland in Disneyland Paris.
==== Main Street, U.S.A. ====
=== Magic Kingdom ===
==== Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ====
In the queue for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a portrait of Big Thunder Mountain which shows Big Thunder Island as part of the range. During refurbishments, newspapers for the, "Butterfly Stage Line" are hung up identifying the coaches as connecting Rainbow Ridge and Tumbleweed to Thunder Mesa.
== Trivia ==
* Its name derives from the unbuilt Thunder Mesa mining complex that would have housed Western River Expedition at the Magic Kingdom.
== External links ==
* Thunder Mesa on the Haunted Mansion wiki.
Category:Towns
Category:Frontierland
Category:Disneyland Park (Paris)
Category:Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Category:The Haunted Mansion
Category:Theme park locations
Category:Haunted locations