Haunted Mansion (Efteling)

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The Haunted Castle (“Spookslot” in Dutch) is an attraction in the amusement park Efteling in the Netherlands. It was the first attraction built outside the Fairy Tale Forest.

1 The Making Of
2 The Interior
3 Funfacts
4 External links

[edit] The Making Of

On July 24th 1976 the announcement on the making of Europe’s biggest haunted house appeared in Brabant’s daily newspaper “Het Brabants Dagblad”. The article mentions that the mansion would be built at a small angle of inclination between the Fairy Tale Forest and the rowing- and canoeing pond. The costs were estimated at 2.5 milion guilders (€ 1.134.450), but they turned out to be over 3.5 milion guilders (€ 1.588.823). The mansion was designed by Ton van de Ven and, in the style of Anton Pieck, does not look like it is newly built, but more like a decayed old castle that was once beautiful and majestic, but is now haunted and in ruins and somewhat romantic. The construction took 18 months and the mansion was officially opened May 10th 1978. On may 12th a television special was broadcast with Kate Bush singing in and around the mansion. She had a big hit around the globe with Wuthering Heights at the time. Reportedly this was Kate Bush’s first television appearance.

[edit] The Interior

The Haunted Mansion is a walk through attraction. Upon entering, a number of scary statues and scenes prepare the audience for the main course: a look upon the inner court and graveyard of the ruins of a monastery at night. When the clock strikes twelve, the graveyard comes to life and a number of skeletons and ghosts are seen. The music is the very appropriate Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns.

[edit] Funfacts

Who looks closely to the exterior of the Haunted Mansion can discover a number of faces in the ruins. The largest can be seen above the main entrance: two windows are the eyes and the entrance itself is a gaping mouth, through which the visitors enter. When it rains, one window appears to be crying.
Two of the tombstones outside the mansion carry the logos of the National Railway Organisation and the Rabobank. There is also a tombstone inside the mansion with the name ‘Den Hegarty’, an Irish rock singer who happened to be on the radio when the stone was made.
One tombstone inside the Mansion is labeled 'Puella Innocenta' (innocent girl). The years on her stone (in Roman numbering) reveal that she has been living backwards in time!