Madame Leota

**Madame Leota** is a character from the Haunted Mansion who also appears in Phantom Manor.

## History

Madame Leota is somewhat unique as a character in that her backstory seems to change depending on what incarnation of the Haunted Mansion she is featured in. Within the shared Disney Parks/mythos, Phantom Manor and the Disneyland version of the Haunted Mansion are the only which appear to be cannon.

### The Haunted Mansion

#### Disneyland

Madame Leota was a Romani woman who sold services as a clairvoyant, fortune-teller and apothecary in New Orleans at some point in the 18th-19th century. She operated out of a vardo that was used to store her personal goods and which was also likely used as a makeshift home. At some point, Leota came to be affiliated with the house which would become known as the Haunted Mansion.

At some point Leota would die and become a prominent ghost in the manor while bound to her crystal ball. She would have the occupation of lending her powers to summoning and materializing the 999 spirits of the Haunted Mansion.

Leota likely has some affiliation with the mansion's, "Ghostess" Little Leota of whom she looks identical to and shares a name with. Adaptations and other stories tend to put forwards that Madame Leota is the mother of Little Leota which while likely given its prevalence and fitting with the, "Little Leota" moniker is still unconfirmed in direct cannon.

#### Walt Disney World

Madame Leota was a witch who lived in Salem, Massachusetts during the 17th century. Around 1692 she fled Salem due to the colony's infamous witch-trials which threatened her life and livelihood and took up shop in an unidentified upstate New York village along the Hudson River Valley. In this colony, Leota established a shop called Memento Mori where she sold many seemingly paranormal services.

Leota also developed some relationship to the Gracey family, a wealthy clan that lived in the nearby Gracey Manor. They were so close that by the time of Leota's death, she would be buried in the family plot of the manor with a tombstone reading, "Dear Sweet Leota, beloved by all in Regions Beyond now, but having a ball" along with a cast bronze mould of her face. In death she would haunt her crystal ball and would have the occupation of lending her powers to summoning and materializing the 999 spirits of the Haunted Mansion.

Leota likely has some affiliation with the mansion's, "Ghostess" Little Leota of whom she looks identical to and shares a name with. Adaptations and other stories tend to put forwards that Madame Leota is the mother of Little Leota which while likely given its prevalence and fitting with the, "Little Leota" moniker is still unconfirmed in direct cannon.

### Phantom Manor

Despite Phantom Manor's developed story and Madame Leota's prevalence in the attraction, Madame Leota's presence in the attraction is unexplained. Advertisements around Thunder Mesa in the 1880s/1890s establish her services as a medium and fortune-teller as still being sold, presumably posthumously. She seems to serve the purpose of summoning spirits into Ravenswood Manor for the Phantom to torment the bound should of Melanie Ravenswood but it is unknown when Leota took up this occupation or how.

It is also possible that the Madame Leota in this attraction is a separate character from the Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota given not only their different settings in a shared cannon but also how the Madame Leota in Ravenswood Manor has a noticeably different fake and voice. Along with this, the Phantom Manor Leota has a much more noticeably sinister and deranged personality than her Haunted Mansion counterparts who are fairly contained and proud. This evidence is however conjectural given the ambiguousness of the diegesis in her changed portrayal and how the stories might connect.

### Alternate versions

#### Ghost Gallery

In the non-cannon Ghost Gallery storyline created by cast-members of the Magic Kingdom, Madame Leota was an early-20th century medium who was born in New Orleans to a voodoo bokor and a Romani clairvoyant. She would later move into Gracey Manor in New York to work for one George Gracey, Jr. of whom she had an affair with, even giving birth to his illegitimate daughter, "Little Leota".

Leota was involved in many deaths at the manor, notably those of George's brides Lillian O'Malley Gracey and Emily Cavenaugh Gracey. The first of these brides Leota killed with magic by summoning an alligator to eat her in a botched tightrope performance and the latter she murdered in the attic by locking her in a chest to suffocate. When George secluded himself in grief, Leota began using the manor to create a portal to the spirit-world which George objected to. Leota would attempt to bound his spirit in a crystal-ball only for Gracey to hang himself first, causing Leota to be bound in the crystal ball instead.

#### Haunted Mansion (comics)

In these comics, Madame Leota was the medium for Captain William Gracey, a former pirate who had hired her to keep the spirits of his victims from haunting him. Leota however harboured a crush on Gracey and when he chose to marry a woman named Emily de Claire, Leota summoned the spirit of his former captain Randall Pace to murder Emily in the mansion's attic.

#### Haunted Mansion (2003 film)

In this film continuity, Madame Leota was hired by Master Gracey's mother Abigail to make contact with the souls of Abigail's children who had died of scarlet fever. Leota assists the protagonists in their quest and for unexplained reasons, doesn't pass on to the afterlife with the other ghosts but rather stays in her crystal-ball with the ghosts.

#### Once Upon a Time

In this ABC series, Madame Leota is a witch bound inside of a crystal ball who runs a shop called Memento Mori in the Enchanted Forest. She is also a member of a group known as the the Coven of Witches composed of many different fairy-tale sorceresses.

## Appearances and allusions

### Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail

A poster for, "Mme. Leota's Music Lessons from Regions Beyond" is hung in Disney Springs along this trail.

### Phantom Manor

Madame Leota appears within the Phantom Manor attraction, summoning the spirits from the doomed wedding of Melanie Ravenswood and her groom Jake to torment her. During refurbishments (set in 1882),

### Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

Madame Leota makes a cameo in the queue for *Star Tours: The Adventures Continue*. Here, she is seen in her crystal-ball being smuggled through a Star Tours base along with several books from the Haunted Mansion.

### Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger

Madame Leota's services as a medium were advertised on posters and again advertised in the Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger.

### In other media

#### Film

##### The Princess and the Frog

Madame Leota's tombstone makes a cameo in this film set in New Orleans.

#### Printed materials

##### Disney Kingdoms

In these shared-continuity comics, Madame Leota is one of four spirits who actually died on the Haunted Mansion's grounds along with Constance Hatchaway, the Hatbox Ghost, and "The Captain" (based on the character of Captain Bartholomew Gorelieu/Gideon Gorelieu). She is an enemy of the Captain who brings the protagonist Danny Crowe to the mansion to fight him and free the spirits of the estate from his wrath.

## Connections

### Blackbeard's Ghost

Madame Leota's spell book (or necronomicon) features a page on how to materialize the souls of those bound in limbo. Of the incantations is, "*Kree Kruh Vergo Gaba Kalto Kree"* which was a spell written by the witch Aldetha Teach to summon the ghost of her husband Blackbeard in the 1968 film Blackbeard's Ghost.

## Trivia

* Madame Leota, the staring busts and the Singing Busts are the only physically-appearing characters which appear in both the Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor, the Singing Busts being a play on how the Ravenswood family was named for the lead singing bust Uncle Theodor's actor, Thurl Ravenscroft. Several changing-portraits also used to be seen in both attractions but following a 2018 refurbishment, only that of the Flying Dutchman remains.

## References

1. ↑ http://doombuggies.com/history7.html
2. ↑ https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2019/12/04/deck-your-halls-with-the-adorable-christmas-tree-trail-posters-in-disney-springs/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf7HMyW49XI&list=ULsS8WZcuSFhk&index=4390