Haunted Mansion
Joel Styer and Rick Davis
The Welcome
"Welcome, friend! I am the Welcomer. So nice that you could join us here on such a frightful night! We don't get many visitors since that day. What's that? You don't know? 
Ah, that explains why you appear so calm. Let me take a few minutes of your time and tell you a bit about the mansion before you decide to spend the night... you may change your mind! "
"Back in 1973 my former employer, an archeologist, bought this magnificent house for his lovely fiance, Ruth. He was very busy finishing the excavation of an ancient tomb at the time and anxious to return for the wedding. He was warned about the consequences of disturbing the tomb, of course, but he was not a superstitious man and the legend of the curse was the last thing on his mind. 
He completed his research in that strange land and soon returned home to Ruth."
"The renovation of this great mansion was completed on the very day of their wedding, a night much like tonight. With visions of a happy life ahead, they enjoyed a lavish wedding and reception. My master should have heeded the warnings about the tomb, though."
"When the happy couple returned to spend their wedding night in the new home, the curse took hold. For reasons no one knows to this day, he ran from the house screaming, never to be seen again. Strange things still happen from time to time, but don't worry...yet.
"Ruth still lives here, of course, so please, don't be alarmed when you meet her- you'll be able to recognize her, because to this day, she still wears her wedding dress, awaiting her husband's return."
"She does not live here alone though. She has many friends ... some former guests that have been "hanging around" since their first visit. Funny, some guests stay, while others are never seen again. I wonder which YOU will be?"
"While I prepare your room, please listen as the Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts staff relates the history of the local area. I'll return shortly to take you on a tour of the mansion. Don't... run... away...HA...HA...HA!"
A Park Born From The Creek
The introduction above is the storyline for what is considered by many to be the best traditional darkride in the country, the Haunted Mansion (also known as the Haunted House) at Knoebel's Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. This ride follows a long tradition of entertainment that goes back to Henry Knoebel, grandfather of the current owner, Dick Knoebel.
During the early part of the twentieth century, Henry would dam up the creek that ran through the family property, at the beginning of each spring. This attracted visitors from town that were weary after a long six-day workweek and eager for a little relaxation and anxious to take a dip. Henry, the entrepreneur, would charge twenty-five cents to water, feed, and brush their horses.
He was rumored to tell local boys that they could swim all that they wanted during the week, but on Sunday, it would cost them a dime!
The resort really got its start around 1917 when the first privately owned cottage was built on the land. With in a few years Knoebel was building and renting cottages of his own. In 1925, a swimming pool was built. While they no longer dammed the creek, they still used it as a source of water (filtered) for the new pool.
The following year they signed an agreement to bring in a carousel as a concession. This machine was eventually purchased by Knoebel and was used until 1941. Ten days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Knoebel bought another carousel that is currently known as the Grand Carousel.
The park continued to grow and prosper until June 22, 1972 brought an unwelcome guest named Agnes into the history of the park. The aftermath of this hurricane brought devastating rains to the very creeks and streams that helped create the park. When the rain finally stopped, the rides were underwater and full of mud, and most of the cottages were either destroyed or rendered unusable, but the park quickly reopened with almost half of its rides operating.
With the major clean up behind them, the park decided to make the 1973 season the best ever and began to plan a spectacular new attraction. Between Christmas and New Years, they started digging footers, pouring concrete, and laying block. The only thing they knew about the new building they were erecting was that it would be built seventy feet wide - they had previously salvaged seventy-foot trusses from a roller rink being torn down to make room for a mall.
At this point, it hadn't been decided if the new building would become a new skating rink and their old one would become a darkride or vice-versa. As we know now, they made a good decision and used the new building to create the Haunted Mansion.
With the building complete, there was a collective effort at the park to design and build the interior and exterior that make up the three and a half-minute ride. Some of the gags were built by Funni-Frite, some came from the darkrides at the former Westview Park in Pittsburgh, PA and Rolling Green Park in Hummels Wharf, PA, and the park built much itself. 
Park artist and curator of the carousels, museum, and band organs, Dave Wynn, created many of the paintings found in the ride. One of the details that is often overlooked is the eye of the "oven monster"; it's eye is actually a football that was a given away as a prize for one of the games at the park at the time the ride was built.
This is one of the few darkrides in the country that does not use a fence to protect its gags from vandalism. Dick Knoebel realized that much of the vandalism occurs when the troublemakers get bored with repeat rides and decide to get out of the cars. The solution was to exclude the ride from the pay one-price plan. This reduced the number of repeat rides, and with it, the boredom and familiarity with the ride layout that helps create the problem.
All of the sound effects used in the ride were created in house. One day the park office staff heard strange noises coming from the office upstairs. When they investigated, they discovered John Fetterman, Dave Wynn, John Moyer and Chris Paul practicing the scream that would be used for the "Ooga Booga Man" voice in the jungle scene. John Moyer was the "chosen one" and has been "yelling" ever since.
The track was bought new and laid by the park staff. Ten cars were purchased from Pretzel and five cars from Rolling Green Park were purchased, rebuilt and brought up to Knoebel's standards. The Pretzel cars were originally equipped with 1/3rd horsepower split phase motors, but it was discovered during testing that they did not have enough torque for this installation. They were then replaced with half horsepower capacitor start motors.
The ride was supposed to open to the public on May 30th 1973, but the date was postponed due to the birth of Brian Knoebel. A sign was posted at its entrance reading, "Sorry, not open, it's a boy!" The ride did in fact open on June 30th, Rick Knoebel's third birthday!
The Welcomer has returned, so let's let him continue.
A Terrifying Adventure in Darkness
"Ah, I see you are still here! Good! Let's begin our tour."
"As I said, I am the Welcomer and I normally greet all of the guests, those brave enough to come in anyway. Follow me and I'll introduce you to the wizard. He is normally here in the library researching the mysteries of the curse. We still hope to bring the master home again some day."
"I see the lady of the house, Ruth, is entertaining in the parlor with her friend Frank (A gag formerly at Westview Park.)
The Organist is playing for us tonight. (The organ was created by the park from furniture parts, cardboard tubing, and keyboards.)
It seems that one of our guests, coming down the stairs, appears to be upset that his beauty sleep has been interrupted by tonight's entertainment."
"The grandfather Clock was specially built for us by Funni-Frite. Don't get too close though, our pet lives inside! Note the portrait on the wall; he is one of our longtime residents."
"Let's see what's cooking in the kitchen. There is a surprise for you in the oven, but it's not a cake or a pie! Be careful not to get to close to the oven door."
"Ah, how precious! One of the children is stirring the pot in the fireplace. Making tonight's dinner!"
"Oh! Look, it's the Organist's cousin Red having a drink. My, he must be thirsty! It looks like he is hungry, too! Why, you can see his ribs!" (A Funni-Frite gag.)
"Some of our more vain friends spend quite a bit of time in the next room; it's all mirrors! Not that they need to worry about having a bad hair day. They have none!"
(Observant guests will note that the lights are on in this room, until you enter it. This allows the objects in the skull room to charge with light, producing the eerie green glow-in-the-dark effect. The use of mirrors on all sides creates an "infinity" effect, making the number of skulls staring at you seem enormous!)
"Lets go up this incline (anti-rollback device built by Dick Knoebel) towards the attic. Watch out for the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling."
"Duck! Keep your eyes open, we have a few bats as well here in the attic" (A bat mounted on a garage door opener flies overhead.)
(Three doors slam shut in rapid succession as we approach the pile of junk typical of a normal attic, but is it?)
"Don't get too close to that box, the person living there is a bit 'touchy'! " (A pair of hands spring out from a box in an attempt to grab the visitor. This gag was made by Funni-Frite.)
"I must apologize for the condition of the attic. As you can see by the enormous cobwebs overhead, the spiders are rather large and tend to frighten the exterminators. They do tend to keep nosey people from snooping around the treasures stored here in the attic, though."
"Some of the items in here in the attic once belonged to Dick Knoebel. The 1938 Wards Airline radio came from Dick's basement and the strange looking sawhorse with the head on it was actually part of a "Walking Charlie" midway game. "
"The master was a bit eccentric as you can see by the next two rooms. He liked some usual devices such as this laser that projects patterns on the wall.
This rotating barrel was something that was formerly used as a concrete form in the construction of Interstate Route 81."
" Oh dear, I didn't really intend for you to see this next room. The master appears to have expected unruly guests, so he built a dungeon of sorts.
"The creature caged on the right was created in a misguided experiment by park artist Matt Rusnak, who also carved all of those great 3-D signs found through out the park."
Hmmm, I see a few guests are still hanging around...HA, HA, HA!"
For a little bit of fun, on our left is the electric chair.
And here are some guests who is just 'hanging out'. "
"This guy must have just washed his hair and hung his head up to dry!"
"I see we have a few prisoners...er...GUESTS, enjoying our facilities."
"It looks like the ogre mistook the "box" for a sauna; he doesn't seem happy."
"At least the damsel seems to be having a good time. She appears to be playing hard to get tonight."
"The master was thoughtful though, he even included a fountain of blood for some of our, shall we say, nocturnal visitors?"
"Let's take a shortcut through the grave yard. Well! If it isn't Ishmael Hepple, the former owner of the mansion! It looks like he is dying to meet you. By the way, his close friend calls him Spooky"
"My, it's a bit windy out tonight. Be careful walking along this dark road, it tends to be a bit dangerous at night." (The blare of an air horn and the glare of headlights suddenly appear heading straight for you, they illuminate the dark passage and shatter the relative quiet.) This gag was borrowed from Tom Spackman's former darkride at Indiana Beach. Here it is reduced to its simplest and most effective form; the "semi truck" is merely a collection of floodlights, light bulbs and a refrigerator shelf for a grill. The long dark passage ending with bright "headlights" and loud air horn never fails to shock first time riders.)
"The master brought back a few animals that he captured during his adventures, too. This jungle-like area is home to many of them, such as this hippo and small dinosaur. I see our resident bear is just awakening from hibernation. Don't walk near the cave; he looks hungry! (The bear's head is real, by the way.)"
"We'll be out of the jungle soon, but beware of the snakes and the ape that lurk in the trees."
" Don't be frightened! That was just the "Ooga Booga Man". He enjoys jumping up to frighten new guests, but he is relatively harmless. It's been days since he has attacked anyone."
"The master had a sense of humor, too, as is illustrated by the shower of water flowing down before the next door we must use. Don't worry, it normally stops just before we pass through."
"I hope you enjoyed your tour of the Mansion. You are welcome to stay of course, but I see you are still not sure. Others have felt the same way, but one visit is never enough, most seem to come back here for another visit. As you can see, some never leave! I see your Darkride friends are waiting for you so I will bid you ado. Please come back soon; we are dying to see you again!"
Additional Information
- The water curtain is just before the exit of the ride was copied from a traditional PTC dark ride gag that made it appear you would be soaked to the skin. Of course it would shut off just in time...usually! This version uses switches to control first the water supply and then a drip catcher that activates just before the car goes under the waterfall. Although it was once a common stunt, this is one of just a handful left in the US.
- The library contains many books from the Knoebel family and employees including 5 years worth of Popular Mechanics magazines!
- The Skull Room originally contained music from the movie "A Clockwork Orange". Later it played the "Monster Mash" and finally, the theme from the movie "Halloween"
- The Skull Room was previously the "Optic Room".
- The new (current) Optic Room (the room with the black and white lines) was previously known as the "Wreck Room". It featured ride cars that were thrown off the track and into a pit.
- The barrel once had poor souls tied to the outside.
- The attic really was an attic! It contained left over amusement park items such as signs, miniature carousel horses, and Walking Charlie's.
- A devil featuring a plaster likeness of Pete Knoebel's face was once were "Spooky" is now.
- The Haunted Mansion is consistently voted #1 in the annual National Amusement Park Historical Association's (NAPHA) survey.