As promised elsewhere, I am uploading photos of the mansion that inspired The Mansion... the Harry Packer mansion in Pennsylvania that Jason Surrel mentioned
in his Haunted Mansion book. I grew up heaing about this mansion before I learned about Disney's Haunted Mansion, so you can imagine my joy at discovering
the connection between the two!
Read more of the story, and see lots more photos at my blog at http://happyglyphs.blogspot.com/2009/06/house-on-hill.html
Cheers, JOHN :0)
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The House on the Hill that inspired The Mansion
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 ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
The House on the Hill that inspired The Mansion |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 34 (06/29/09 20:01:39) |
Last Edited By: ghostpirateskeleton 06/30/09 12:52:45.
Edited 4 times.
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pathsofdarkness |
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Ballroom Dancer
Posts: 247 (06/29/09 21:02:08) Foolish Mortal |
Very cool. Definitely looks worht a visit. Any cool ghost stories from here?
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ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 36 (06/30/09 17:19:24) |
There were some ghost stories, but unfortunately I don't remember them. The place has been there for 150 years, so you just know it has its share of
history. :0)
I'll let you know if I can get Dad to tell me the stories. Meanwhile, here's another photo! Cheers, JOHN :0) 
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gothikrose01 |
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Obviously Didn't Turn Back
Posts: 2091 (06/30/09 21:22:23) Ballroom Dancer |
Thank you for sharing the photograph. This mansion is so very beautiful, and if haunted, what a bonus! I would love to visit.
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ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 41 (07/01/09 06:31:07) |
It is very beautiful, especially when the wisteria are in bloom all across the front porch. If I can find those pics, I'll post them.
I'm moving far away from the mansion, but it's a bed and breakfast now, so maybe I'll stay there when I return? I'm quite sensitive to spirits, so if they're still hanging around, I'll let you know :0) JOHN :0) |
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Capt Quirk |
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Grim Grinning Ghost
Posts: 1055 (07/02/09 06:41:16) Hitchhiking Ghost |
That house was up for sale too I believe. Of course, we are in the process of buying 25 acres in Georgia, and I plan on using the abundant red clay to make
bricks, and build my own HM, only 2 stories with a basement though. No stretch room, the hydraulic ram would cost a fortune!
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ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 46 (07/02/09 07:13:57) |
Ahoy, Captain! The house was for sale, but was taken off the market. I believe the price was in the millions, or I would have seriously considered it. :0)
Send me any Civil War relics or arrowheads you dig up in that Georgian red clay, please. And plant some peach trees, huh? I hear Georgia has a shortage of them. :0) As for the hydraulic ram, maybe you can have a 'sunken living room', instead? Sorry, bad joke. :0) Good luck with your Mansion! Which Mansion are you styling it after? The red bricks suggest WDW's. JOHN :0) |
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Capt Quirk |
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Grim Grinning Ghost
Posts: 1058 (07/02/09 15:26:07) Hitchhiking Ghost |
The one in WDW of course! I love the style of it way more than the colonial.
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The Ghost Host |
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Wall-to-Wall Creep
Posts: 1964 (07/02/09 15:45:53) Wall-to-Wall Creep |
I agree that the Harry Packer Mansion, and his father's mansion Asa Packer's are both beautiful places. I only live about 2 hours away from them and
love going on the Asa mansion's tour about once a year. It's a beautiful mansion with a parlor, library, dining room, women's parlor, kitchen and
pantry, two master bedrooms, servants quarters, and guest rooms. It's quite an impressive place to tour and I highly recommend it.
Here's some pictures I took of the mansions from one of my trips three years ago. http://disneyshauntedmansion.yuku.com/topic/2895 |
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tregnier |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 36 (07/05/09 18:10:43) |
Despite the WDW Mansion and the Harry Packer Mansion being of entirely dissimilar styles, the Asa Packer Mansion has some details quite reminiscent of the the Disneyland Mansion (most quite characteristic of both the Georgian and Italianate styles). |
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ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 50 (07/09/09 18:45:43) |
Good point! What's the model all about?
I'm not an architect, but the Harry Packer mansion, or manor as I believe it was once called, served as inspiration for the Disney World Mansion... The Mansion was never an exact copy, since we all know Imagineers are going to 'up' whatever they get their hands on. :0) Personally, I can see some resemblance, and inspiration, and can admire the additions and expansions the Imagineers added, all to make The Mansion forboding and imposing as you approach. The Asa Packer mansion does seem to share some architectural traits with the Disneyland mansion. My question is... of all the mansions in all the world, what made the Imagineers travel to Mauch Chunk Pennsylvania to visit Harry Packer's place? I know, the answer may not amount to a hill of beans, but i'd like to know. :0) Cheers, JOHN :0) |
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Capt Quirk |
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Grim Grinning Ghost
Posts: 1064 (07/10/09 07:40:07) Hitchhiking Ghost |
Likely there was one like you, who grew up in that area.
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tregnier |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 39 (07/13/09 10:59:19) |
ghostpirateskeleton wrote:I know the mansion is not meant to be an exact copy; other than the cupola, I see no real resemblance. The Mansion is a Dutch Colonial Hudson River Valley Gothic, while the Harry Packer Mansion is something of a brick Second Empire (mansard roof) with a few more styles thrown in. The houses here weren't the only influence, as houses with such styles are located across the entire U.S. |
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Dan Olson |
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Obviously Didn't Turn Back
Posts: 2473 (07/13/09 18:21:16) Obviously Didn't Turn Back |
IMO, it's a little silly to keep talking about Harry Packer or the John Hopkins Evergreen House, going over them with magnifying glasses and muttering
about influence. That stuff got blown out of the water when it was discovered that there was a volume in the WED library with pictures of the Shipley-Lydecker
house in Baltimore and this one:
That's obviously THE prototype for the WDW HM. |
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ghostpirateskeleton.tellnotales |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 51 (07/13/09 18:33:15) |
Perhaps we'll never know the whole story. :0)
As a kid, it was a real thrill for me to discover an association between a place where my Dad snuck into as a kid, and Disney's Haunted Mansion! Any association at all was cool by me. :0) Cheers, JOHN :0) PS Nice pic, but hey, all these mansion's look alike after a while... Just kidding, all you architects out there. ;0) |
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Capt Quirk |
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Grim Grinning Ghost
Posts: 1067 (07/14/09 06:36:27) Hitchhiking Ghost |
I can definitely see where they drew from more than one house. A little of this one, a little of that one... a little from House on Haunted Hill...
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tregnier |
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Foolish Mortal
Posts: 40 (07/25/09 12:29:59) |
Dan Olson wrote:Does anyone know the publication date and name of the book? Photo credits for the picture? Is it a picture from a patternbook or an engraving of an actual house? |
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- Our Mouldering Sanctum
- Welcome, Foolish Mortals
- Where Hinges Creak in Doorless Chambers
- Gathering For A Swinging Wake
- No Flash Pictures, Please
- Frightfully Sensitive to Bright Lights
- Creepy Old Crypts
- Club 33
- Chilling Challenges
- Madame Leota's Cart
- And a Ghost Will Follow You Home
- Here, in this Gallery
- Only Ghost Stories Of Course
