The Hatbox Ghost: What's Your Head Doin' in That Hatbox?

In the last hullabaloo, I strained credibility by using the notion of a 'ghost in the machine' to discuss Paul Yanover's interview in yesterday's edition of Forbes about his work with Disney Online. Having no shame, I extended my creaky reference to the Haunted Mansion and happy haunts.

But that dark literary cloud had a spectrally silver lining because it led me to the cool blog of former Disney designer Kevin Kidney who last year sculpted an absolutely evil, horrendous replica (I mean that as a compliment) of the Hatbox Ghost, an apparition channeled decades ago by Disney's Imagineers for the Haunted Mansion but long since dispelled.

The Ghost used to appear in the Attic Scene with the Forlorn Bride whose every heartbeat would cause his head to disappear from his shoulders and re-appear in his hatbox.

In Happy Haunt Materialized, Kevin explains how the trick worked and then he launches into a fascinating account of how he and his partner, Jody Daily, sculpted a scale replica of the Hatbox Ghost using everything from wood and plastic to lots of cloth and lots of needles (lots of band-aids, too, I bet...).

Their creation is astounding - and it went to the highest bidder at last year's D23 Expo. How'd you like to go to that guy's house next Halloween and see the Hatbox Ghost in the shadows?