A trip to the inspiration behind Disney World’s Haunted Mansion
If you have ever been driving through Pennsylvania, you will notice one thing. Between the two major cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, there is not much to look at other than four hours of God’s country. However, nestled in the small town of Jim Thorpe you will find a very rare Disney connection – the Harry Packer Mansion.
In 1874, Asa Packer, who was the founder of Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, built this mansion as a wedding gift to his son Harry. Asa’s mansion sits at the bottom of the hill and now serves as a museum. Harry’s mansion overlooks the quaint Victorian town at the top of a steep hill.
Unfortunately, the mansion fell into disrepair after years of neglect. Until 1983, when it was purchased by Robert Handwerk and his wife Pat. They renovated the mansion into the bed and breakfast it is today.
The original Haunted Mansion attraction in Disneyland is located in New Orleans Square. It is themed after beautiful bayou architecture. In the 1970s Disney Imagineers were trying to find a home for Walt Disney World’s version of the attraction.
Staying true to “Walt’s way” they couldn’t use the same blueprint as they did for California, because it didn’t fit the theme. They tried fitting it off Main Street, and Frontierland. Thankfully, those didn’t pan out and it was built in its current location at Liberty Square.
Looking for a Dutch Gothic-style mansion, Imagineers found the Harry Packer Mansion. After extensive research I couldn’t find what led them to Jim Thorpe.
However, once you turn up the hill and look at the mansion for the first time. You can instantly see the Disney resemblance.
Walking around I felt transformed back to the 1970s. Standing across the street imagining what it was like to sketch the slanted roof and high arched windows. Overall, just a great way to find some Disney history and connection to the parks.
You can check out all of the bed and breakfast information at www.murdermansion.com. I probably should have prefaced that with “they hold murder mystery weekends at the mansion” (insert menacing laugh here).
I am definitely planning to go back and actually stay at the mansion. Sadly, time didn’t permit that in this trip. We did get a chance to walk around the town a little and find some lunch. What a beautiful and quaint town. The narrow streets are lined with shops and restaurants. You can even take a scenic train ride around the town (it is a full
