Master Gracey

Full Name	Gracey (First name unknown)
Alias	Master Gracey William Gracey Edward Gracey E. Gracey George Gracey Jr. The Aging Man Captain Blood
Origin	The Haunted Mansion
Occupation	Pirate (possibly) Aristocrat
Powers / Skills	Unknown
Goals	Flaunt his wealth (pre-death)
Crimes	Treachery Serial murder Theft Piracy
Type of Villain	Sophisticated Ghost

Villain Overview Gallery

NOTE: This article is about the attractions version for the movie version see: William Gracey (2023)Master Gracey, also known as the Aging Man, is the main antagonist of the popular Disney Parks ride The Haunted Mansion, which appears in Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, and Tokyo Disneyland.

History

Possible Past

Gracey as Captain Blood.

Much of Gracey's possible history was revealed in the comic book series The Haunted Mansion by Slave Labor Graphics, which ran for seven issues from 2006 to 2007.

William Gracey was born into a wealthy family, which owned the mansion. However, he wanted more money and a more adventurous lifesyle, so he took up being a pirate. During a mutiny that he lead, he took the life of the ship's gunrunner and became the captain, under the alias of Captain Blood. However, his adventures ended costing the lives of much of his crew.

After acquiring what he believed was a reasonable amount of money, it is suggested that his father passed away and left the mansion to him. Gracey retired his life of piracy and went on to inherent the mansion, where he flaunted his wealth and held large parties. Presumably at one of these parties, he met and fell in love with Emily de Claire. The two courted for only a short time before professing their love and becoming engaged.

After his engagement, Gracey began experiencing paranormal occurrences within the mansion, which he took to be ghostly. He hired the traveling medium Madame Leota to look into these events and to drive any spirits that may be there out. However, as Leota was doing this, she fell in love with Gracey and made several advances towards him. However, loyal to his fiancée, he refused her. Angry, Leota continued to contact the spirits, eventually contacting Gracey's former crew and captain, who reveal to her Gracey's dark past. Leota used this knowledge to conspire with the ghosts, who she summoned on Gracey and de Claire's wedding night. The ghosts approached Emily before the wedding, telling her of Gracey's crimes while scaring her to death.

Infuriated and vengeful, Gracey tracked Leota down, who was performing a séance to draw more ghosts to the mansion. Gracey found her and snapped her neck, instantly killing her and causing her to become one of the other ghosts in the mansion. After three months of grieving for his lost love, Gracey hung himself from the rafters above the Stretching Room, joining the rest of the undead in his mansion.

He was buried in the cemetery in the front of the mansion. It is also hinted that he may be narrating the comic series.

Other Appearances

The Haunted Mansion (2003 film)

• See Edward Gracey on Heroes Wiki.

In the 2003 live action film, Master Gracey is reimagined as Edward Gracey, who lost his bride-to-be to an apparent suicide and thus hung himself for it. Years later, he tries to get his bride's reincarnation, Sara Evers, to remember her past life and fall in love with him so he may break the curse of the mansion that occurred when he died. However, here he is interpreted as a tragic and misguided hero with no truly evil intentions, and later helps in revealing the film's true villain.

Personality

William Gracey in the comics is a polite and generally kind gentleman, though he does have his limits and a temper when provoked. While a murderous and cutthroat pirate, he was also capable of great amounts of love, which he showed to his bride-to-be. Even after killing himself as a result of her death, he still maintained his sophisticated and charming personality in death, though he did go a bit mad and embraced the scary ghost he now was.

Trivia

• Master Gracey was named after late Disney imagineer Yale Gracey.
• In the Servants Quarters, there is a bell for Master Gracey's Bedchamber.
• Master Gracey's tombstone reads: "Master Gracey laid to rest; No mourning please at his request; Farewell".
• A common misconception popularized by the Ghost Gallery which is abundant in the Mansion's spin-off adaptions is that Master Gracey is the same character as the Ghost Host, however, they are entirely separate characters.
  • Speaking of which, the Aging Man, George Gracey Jr., Edward Gracey and William Gracey are all separate characters, in which the Ghost Gallery, 2003 film, and SLG Comics are not considered the canon Master Gracey, neither does the Aging Man according to imagineer X. Atencio.