Henry Ravenswood, also known as The Phantom is the main-antagonist of Phantom Manor, and a major villainous character from the backstory of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland Paris, being founder of the Big Thunder Mining Company and one of Thunder Mesa's founding-fathers. He is portrayed by late classic horror actor Vincent Price along with French voice-actors Gerard Chavalier and Bernard Alane.
History[]
Background[]
Origins[]
Henry Ravenswood was a man born in 1795, his nationality unknown though he had a thick transatlantic accent and could seemingly speak in both English and French. Henry became a prospector, who married a younger-woman named Martha Ravenswood with whom he had a daughter named Mélanie. In 1849, Henry found gold in the sacred Shoshone mountain of Big Thunder Mountain within the Western River Valley of Arizona, nearby a trading settlement.
Henry established the Big Thunder Mining Company to extract gold from the mountain; in doing so becoming one of the founding fathers of the town Thunder Mesa, which chased the Indigenous Shoshone peoples out of their own land. In Thunder Mesa, Henry had a mansion constructed for himself and his family atop the hill overlooking the town and its rivers, adjacent to the Boot Hill cemetery. Throughout this all, Henry's desecration of Big Thunder Mountain and mistreatment of its people upset the mountain's spirit the Thunderbird causing disasters for the town and its people, though this did not prevent Henry from continuing his mining.
Murders[]
Henry and Martha had an unhealthy marriage, with the two constantly fighting while Henry cheated on Martha with their servant, Anna Jones. Henry was also incredibly possessive of their daughter Mélanie, murdering any man who pursued her romantically. Of those whom he murdered were Captain Rowan D. Falls of the Mark Twain Riverboat who he set on a rowboat over a waterfall, oil-field owner Barry Claude who Henry brought into the woods to have him fed to grizzly bears, Big Thunder Mining Company explosives provider Ignatius "Iggy" Knight whom Henry left in a cavern of the mountain rigged to explode, and lumber-mill owner Sawyer Bottom whom Henry sawed down the middle with an industrial buzz-saw.
At some point in time, Henry had a duel outside of Ravenswood Manor which he cheated at, shooting his opponent in the back. Henry had a portrait hung in the manor to commemorate this duel. Henry also seemingly employed the services of Romani clairvoyant Madame Leota.
The events of having all her lovers die left Mélanie increasingly melancholy. In the late 1850s, she is believed to have fallen in love with a Big Thunder Mining Company foreman named Jake whom she planned to run away with. Before Henry could kill Jake, an earthquake hit Thunder Mesa and caused a large portion of the town to collapse and killed all within, including Henry and Martha. With both of her parents dead, Mélanie planned to marry Jake in Ravenswood Manor before fleeing town, only for Henry's ghost to lure Jake into the attic on his wedding day and hang him to death by a noose. Left at her wedding, Mélanie was never seen outside of the manor again and eventually died within the manor.
Phantom Manor[]
The ghost of Henry Ravenswood became a malevolent spirit haunting the manor, known simply as, "The Phantom". Other spirits were active in the manor including Madame Leota, ghostly attendants of Mélanie's wedding, a corpse hound, and the undead corpse victims of the earthquake who inhabited the (literal) ghost town of, "Phantom Canyon". Various individuals disappeared within the manor, presumably due to being murdered by the Phantom; the first notable instance being Milo "One-Eye" Jones who disappeared in the manor after robbing the Big Thunder Mining Company. These incidents resulted in the Town Council of Thunder Mesa closing off access to the mansion in 1884.
Mayor Artemus L. Hector and Sheriff Will Ketchum sent various parties to investigate Phantom Manor. The first group left the mansion, screaming and half-mad, while the second consisted of several explorers and adventurers who vanished within; presumably being killed by Henry. The final group consisted of eastern United States sceptics who, "Debunked" the paranormal ongoings of the mansion as hallucinations. After this, the town council reopened the mansion with Henry himself appearing in the human form of an elderly man, claiming to represent the Big Thunder Mining Company.
Development history[]
Appearances[]
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad[]
There are references to Henry Ravenswood as founder of the Big Thunder Mining Company. He is quoted saying, "From the first nugget discovered in its heart, to the booming economy that Big Thunder Mountain ensures for the town of Thunder Mesa, we, at Big Thunder Mining Co., are forever grateful for Nature's Wonders".
Disneyland Railroad[]
A mural in Paris' railroad shows the silhouette of the Phantom lurking behind Mélanie.
Phantom Manor[]
The Phantom is the main-antagonist of this attraction.
Trivia[]
- In the Magic Kingdom/Disneyland versions of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the founder/president of the Big Thunder Mining Company is one Barnabas T. Bullion, who received his land-grant on the September 23 of 1848 and who ran the company in the 1880s-1890s. However, both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland versions of the ride contain references to Thunder Mesa and the Thunder Mesa mountain, while the newspapers in Disneyland Paris' Frontierland also contain allusions to the Disneyland/Magic Kingdom story, meaning they exist in the same continuity. Because of this, the relationship/history of Bullion and Ravenswood is unknown.
- Ravenswood Manor contains a portrait of The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
- The Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger refers to, "intrepid explorers and adventurers" going missing in the mansion, implying that Henry murdered members of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.
- Ravenswood's quote in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a tribute to Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland.
- Henry dresses similarly to Professor Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective (1986), who was also voiced by Vincent Price.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Phantom on the Haunted Mansion Wiki.