HE'S HOME AND I'M SO HAPPY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I wrote a 10 page research paper on him in high school. I was made fun of SO much. But now he's back. So everyone who made fun of me in high school that's all amazed by him now can leave. I told you he was real. I. TOLD. YOU.

4:56 This photo is absolutely frightening. Seriously, any time I look at it I immediately get chills.

"I am the box ghost... Beware!"

HE RETURNS!

He is materializing today!! I cannot wait for him to come out and socialize.

Omg that old footage!!! I want to see more!!! More!!! More!!!

Wow... A rare piece of footage, this. I knew the original Hatbox Ghost existed, but to actually SEE him 'live'... Crazy...

The photograph you used may be in part why the hatbox ghost was removed: flash photography would ruin the effect. In particular, any and all guest photos would have the effect spoiled, because low light photography was pretty much non-existent at the time, so flash bulbs would be the only way to get the shot. Which would make it look cheesy in the picture and for anyone else nearby.

THAT IS FANTASTIC! :). My mom and aunt actually went to Disneyland back in '69 the weekend Haunted Mansion opened. She remembers it being quite an event, the cue almost starting where Pirates is located. Recently we were talking about the Haunted Mansion, and I had to ask her did she see this figure. Thanks to the internet, found a pic...and she was like "whoa!!...I remember that!...he was creepy..but we didn't get what he was supposed to do..." this very cool, thanks for posting.

That is amazing...I’ve been fascinated with this guy since randomly stumbling upon an article online about him. I recently went to Disneyland, and without knowing he’d been added back to the mansion rode the ride...imagine my delight at seeing him waiting there passed the bride, I was awestruck! Thank you so much for this video, it still puzzles me over what could’ve happened to the original animatronic, but I’m so happy there’s a new one honoring his rightful place there.

Watching this is so fascinating. All of this stuff that was there when the attraction opened that's not there anymore.

Excellent job and presentation. I did see the Hatbox ghost in 1969 (I was 12 and remember it distinctly). I am so glad someone got it on film!

Who took that video of the hatbox ghost? Was it your family's video?

Fascinating. I'm ashamed to say I knew very little about the hatbox ghost.

Y'know, it's a wonder that through all these renovations of the Haunted Mansion, they never brought back the idea of the Hatbox Ghost. I'm pretty sure with modern technology, they can pull off the effect better than they did back then. I know the guy said it seemed to grizzly, but I think it would've looked more cartoony compared to the bride. I remember seeing THAT bride(the one with the glowing eyes and glowing heart) before they switched it over to the modern one, and let me tell ya, that ALWAYS used to scare the hell out of me as a kid. It, in itself, is far more "nightmare fuel-ish" than the Hatbox Ghost, IMO. Maybe that was also something that lead to it's removal, the contrast(Hatbox being cartoony looking, the Bride looking like something out of a legit horror movie).

Amazing footage of the Hatbox Ghost. By the way, that photo of the bride is most likely a prototype and not the original bride. Long Forgotten posted some good evidence that the original bride was "Corpse Bride". Notice how the bride in the photo is not holding the flowers. This is good evidence that it was a prototype and not the original bride. Check out Long Forgotten's "Here Comes the Bride" posts for more about the original bride.

Still can’t believe this is the video that pretty much started the whole Hatbox craze and was the origin of the Hatbox ghost footage.

You guys might notice that in the mock up photo of the Hatbox Ghost in the Haunted Mansion is black and white. But, the face and hair of the Hatbox Ghost is green. And, in the photo, it was different.

Now that's an amazing discovery. :) That beats the Zapruder film hands down IMHO.

And now, he's back.

I remember watching this video when I was young, and now finally this year I got to see the hatbox ghost in the ride!

Hatbox ghost looks AWESOME!!!! I rode it one day (I go to Disneyland a lot), and I nearly banged my head on the top part of my carriage when I went right by him. I didn’t realize he had been put in again! He looks great, and I’m glad they worked out the kinks.

And now he’s the star of a movie. How far we’ve come. I remember this video being like proof of a Yeti. Such a great revisit

Question: has any thought that maybe the Hatbox Ghost was recycled? Meaning his robotic skeleton was put to use in another location? After all, it saves money (think about when they moved America Sings audio animatronics to Splash Mountain) and explains why no one can find the original anymore.

This made me SO happy. It reminded me how much I love this ride. And the hatbox ghost. He is one of those characters what Mansion fans hold dear and this takes the cake. He is one of those mansion legends.

I LOVE THE HATBOX GHOST. I'm obsessed with him!!! Saw him at Disneyland yesterday

Hattie also recieved a brief cameo in the Halloween episode of House of Mouse alongside other Haunted Mansion characters. Even if they haven't put him back in the ride, its nice to see them give a nice wink to the fans now and then.

I was there as a kid summer of '72, so missed it. Good detective work on this video!

If the hatbox ghost really had a Facebook page he would probably be like "hey y'all why'd ya kick me outta the mansion?"

HE'S BACK.

Here is a crazy theory I thought up. The hatbox ghost is the ghost host. It all adds up. The hatbox ghost used to be a young master gracy who was going to get married but the bride either killed her self by jumping out the attic window or falling out. After gracy finds out what happened he became depressed and grew old to look like the hatbox ghost. then one day he had enough of depression and hung himself in the rafters of his art gallery aka stretching room.

Thank you Thank you!! You had us sitting on the edge of our seats! I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!!

This video is amazing. Thank you so much for putting it together!

This is awesome! Love your videos!!

Really enjoyed this, thanks for posting :D

This is awesome! Keep posting more videos they're all great.

Happy Hatbox Day! 5/9/2015

This is such an amazingly done video even to this day even though he’s there again now REALLY WELL DONE WITH THIS PIECE OF WORK 👏 please make more content like this

This is so mindblowing! Its amazing that YOU found evidence from your own home videos! (Although my heart was pounding throughout the video, because all of the silence throughout the video made me feel like something was going to pop up on the screen and scare me!) Awesome Hatbox Ghost Sighting!

Very cool! Enjoyed this video a lot.

SWEET...you can even see the effect of the head appearing/disappearing in the hatbox...this is EPIC...;)

Nice work. Thanks for the video!

Amazing vid mate!

Great video and I like how you combined different pieces of old footage and told the story in detail. Thanks for putting this together. Ignore the haters.

This video is priceless!!! Well done!

Finally,I was losing my head!

This is great! Thanks so much for the video! :)

Wow this was awesome! Loved the information! Cant wait to see The Hatbox Ghost return to his home!

Well, a "replica" of the Hatbox Ghost was built for the 2013 D23 convention in the Audio Animatronics section of the Imagineering open house. Who knows? Maybe they will install this "replica" in the Haunted Mansion in the next refurb. They certainly have the technology to make it happen now.

I never thought I would like to see that. Cool! Thanks for posting.

speculation says that the hatbox ghost may have been composed of human remains much like the skeletons in the grotto on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and was taken off the attraction, spooky

Outstanding! Thank you for sharing:D

Good for you for finding that footage! TOO COOL!

Wonderful work!

This is amazing and I literally got the chills. Ah, to go back in time I would love to see this eye to eye.

IT'S OFFICIAL, HE'S RETURNING!!!

Great work! Magnificent.

Really nicely put together. And a pretty amazing story - I would have pooped myself had I found that footage. How incredible that your family captured it. I heard tell that the head 'switcheroo' effect on the hatbox ghost followed the heartbeat of the bride, which would mean that the head popped back and forth pretty fast. If you watch your footage carefully, you can see how fast the hatbox light goes on and off. This tricky effect is rumoured to be the reason this character was removed.

FANTASTIC video!!!

I know it's just about an attraction, but something about the way this video is presented sends chills down my spine.

This just blew my mind! I've been a fan of the Hatbox Ghost since forever....

That's so cool!!! Though it only explains that in fact the Hatbox Ghost DID exist, not where he's gone to now. I've often wondered how it is something like a piece of a ride could just dissapear from the attractcion COMPLETELY without there being any records of it. This is a great find

how lucky for someone to have home video's from 1969, I didn't even realize that non-movie people had access to camera's then, it must have been huge and heavy to lug around DL. Thank you for sharing that bit of history =)

Really awesome! Kudos to you!

I officially love you now. Thanks for putting this up! Now, if only Disney would bring him back...if only if only!

great work!! very interesting.

Awesome video! :)

He's back!

That is so awesome!! That is wonderful to see proff and footage of him in action :D

Old Hattie is back with more hatboxes

Omg, this is amazing. Thank you so much for this. Wow!

Tony Baxter is incorrect The head of the Hat Box Ghost is still in the Haunted Mansion It’s on one of the Pop Up Ghost in the graveyard Also the mold for the Hat Box Ghost was and is used for the head of the tall skinny Hitchhiking Ghost

Happy 50th Birthday, Haunted Mansion! (And in a few days, Happy 50th Disappearance Day, Hatbox Ghost!)

That was the era of cool Scooby Doo-esque ghouls and goblins, etc. Definitely shines through in the original Hatbox.

I love this video still. I am looking for the Murphy dragon video however. I am still wondering if it’s still on your Channel?

i went to disneyland 6 years in a row from 1973-1979 and i remember the hatbox ghost lifeless and in darkness but could see it by looking back to yor right after passing it like it was behind a curtain ... this was in 73 if i had to put a year down

nice work!

Nice video, i love this ride!!(:

this is amazing.

Who knew, home videos would solve the mystery of the Hatbox Ghost

Hallelujah!! I'm so glad you found this!

i've heard rumors in other forums about a "hatbox ghost" in the Haunted Mansion but i never actually knew anything about it. thanks for the depth, really. it helped me understand the whole thing a lot

As scary as the current hatbox ghost is, I would love it if the original one was not thrown away in the trash and has been preserved in the Disney Vault. We just don't know that yet.

That's astonishing! I never thought I'd ever see ANY video footage of the old guy!

wow that was really cool. I feel bad for the poor schlep who had to haul that camera around all day (I'm sure it was no camera phone!) but I'm so glad they did it.

Really? HM is supposedly haunted. But it's a little hard to believe your story because there are no longer pop-up heads in the attic, and the bride that's in the attic now isn't Emily. Her name's Constance....

great video

Wow, very interesting, great video

2:22 ew he's the bride ghost lol

Wow. This was amazing.

So awesome! : )

it makes me so happy that the hatbox ghost is going to be returning next month (i believe). hopefully it will be a full time thing. cause i cant make it down there this year!!

Wow, what an incredible find!

I remember when the antique also contained many great victorian furniture props, which also seemed to disappear over the years. There was combination oak bookcase desk that I loved and would always check on each visit. I have not checked lately to see if those artifacts have reappeared????

So Excited, Hattie's coming Back May 9th :)

Excellent!!! Thank you!

I think the original Hatbox Ghost was much more scary than the new one. Just something about the face that's more terrifying.

Whoa,I didn't know that the Hatbox Ghost is in the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. I've been there a lot of times and didn't realize that the Hatbox Ghost isn't in the attic anymore. Still it's a great video.

Awesome! Hope he returns!!!

I;ve been on this ride for years, and I have never heard of the Hatbox Ghost until last october. Hopefully when they reinstall him, I'll get to see him.