Ravenswood Manor

**Ravenswood Manor** was once the home of Henry Ravenswood and his family in the town of Thunder Mesa. It is the setting of Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris.

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## Description

### Features

Ravenswood Manor is a three-story french-gothic mansion constructed on a hillside in Thunder Mesa, Arizona alongside the Rivers of the Far West. It is located adjacent to the town's Boot Hill Cemetery as well as the haunted rock formation of Phantom Canyon while additionally being surrounded by lush greenery such as pine trees. Originally it was a white manor with a crimson, gold and green trim but years of disrepair lead to the paint shedding and leaving exposed dark wood.

#### Exterior

* **Front Gardens**:
* **Boot Hill Cemetery**: Boot Hill was a cemetery used by the people of Thunder Mesa which was located beside Ravenswood Manor.
* **Catacombs**:
* **Gazebo**:
* **Sortie Uniquement**: La Sortie Uniquement (French: Unique Exit) is a tile-roofed, wooden structure extending from the base of the mansion from the wing facing the river. The passageway connected to the catacombs below Boot Hill which connected to Phantom Canyon.

#### Interior

##### 1st floor

* **Foyer**:
* **Secret Room**:
* **Portrait Hallway**:
* **Grand Staircase**:
* **Ballroom**:

##### 2nd floor

* **Endless Hallway**:
* **Music Room**:
* **Corridor of Doors**:
* **Séance Room**:
* **Melanie's Boudoir**:

#### Unused

* **Stables**:
* **Wine Cellar**:

## History

In 1849, gold was discovered in the hills of Big Thunder Mountain. Henry Ravenswood started the Big Thunder Mining Company, helping establish the town of Thunder Mesa. He built a large manor in the highest hill in the town, moving in with his wife Martha and his daughter, Melanie. It was the crown jewel of the town, until Ravenswood perished in an 1860 earthquake. Melanie disappeared and the manor fell into disrepair, left to rot on the dead end of town.

In the 1880s, the people of Thunder Mesa began to complain about strange occurrences, such as hearing voices or seeing mysterious figures walking the manor's grounds. The town council of Thunder Mesa closed it, so they could do an investigation. One group who went inside lost their sanity and another group never came back out, but a third group determined that it was all a hallucination, without even going near it. The sheriff felt confident enough in the latter report that he reopened the manor, letting any poor mortal to wander in and learn about its secrets.

## Connections

### Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Ravenswood Manor was owned by the founders of the Big Thunder Mining Company and Big Thunder's peaks can be seen from Phantom Canyon.

### The Society of Explorers and Adventurers

The Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger implied that one of the groups sent to investigate the manor in 1884 was made up of S.E.A. members, all of whom would never be seen again.

### Pirates of the Caribbean

One of the portraits in the portrait corridor of Ravenswood Manor is of Davy Jones' ship *The Flying Dutchman* from the Pirates of the Caribbean film-series.

### Disney Kingdoms

A picture of the manor appeared in *Disney Kingdoms: The Haunted Mansion,* hanging in the Ghostly Materials Gallery and identified as being connected to the Haunted Mansion via the endless staircase along with places such as Rainbow Ridge, Museum of the Wyrd and the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

## Trivia

* The facade was inspired by the Forth Ward School House in Virginia City, Nevada. Despite the similarities, it was not inspired by the Bates house from *Psycho*.

## References

1. ↑ Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger
2. ↑ http://www.ravenswood-manor.com/pmmaking2.html