It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written anything related to the Disney Corporation, and I\u2019m sure you can understand why.<\/p>\n
A lot has been going on since my last post. I\u2019ve received a lot of questions and concerns from folks who read my first-hand account of Mowgli\u2019s Palace\u2026 a resort that was built and abandoned by Disney.<\/p>\n
I want to thank everyone who mirrored by post. It\u2019s been taken down from a few places, mostly corporate sites that were easily leaned on by a larger power. However, for every nuked topic or disappearing blog post, it seems like a hundred more have popped up.<\/p>\n
This is something they\u2019ll have to face. There\u2019s no turning back for them\u2026 none for me, either\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019m definitely being followed. For the first month or two, I chalked it up to paranoia. Any casual glance or half-smile in my direction set me off. Hairs standing on the back of the neck and everything.<\/p>\n
The first one, or rather, the first one I was actually able to spot, was a telephone worker milling around my apartment complex.<\/p>\n
He was middle-aged, doughy, dressed just as you\u2019d expect, but something just seemed off about him. I couldn\u2019t place it, but I knew this wasn\u2019t just my imagination acting up. He was awkward and out of place, not somebody who was comfortable doing his routine job.<\/p>\n
I followed him around a corner, only to lose him there. When I turned back to go home, there he was. Staring directly at me, about ten feet behind me. Expressionless and cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cExploring?\u201d he asked. That was all he said, and there was an accusing tone to his voice.<\/p>\n
Tell me what blue collar phone jockey does that.<\/p>\n
I guess that\u2019s the worst part. Never feeling safe. Never feeling alone. That, and the occasional Disney merchandise left somewhere for me to find. Little rubber Mickeys in the mailbox, a Disney Adventures magazine on my bookshelf.<\/p>\n
They hide little Mickeys everywhere. Three circles, one big, two small, in the silhouette of the famous mouse\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve started keeping a running list of Mickeys I\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n
Coffee cup rings on my coffee table. One big, two small. Colored glass bottles left on the doorstep, viewed from the top down. (All red.) Graffiti on the wall on my way to work; a huge Earth, small Sun and Moon in the proper locations.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re everywhere.<\/p>\n
People have emailed me about this as well. If you repost anything I have to say, you\u2019re going to start finding those son of a bitch outlines. I guarantee it.<\/p>\n
The best one by far, one that actually made me laugh because of the horror of it all, was a drawing in chalk next my car. I was taken aback at first, walking through the parking garage, keeping an eye out for people following me.<\/p>\n
The outline seemed a perfect match for\u2026 well, a \u201cmurder victim\u201d you\u2019re probably familiar with if you\u2019ve read my past posts.<\/p>\n
Written in yellow\u2026 paint, I\u2019m sure\u2026 was a single word.<\/p>\n
\u201cRETRACT\u201d<\/p>\n
The only good thing that has come out of all this is that I know I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s seen something they shouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to give their names, because\u2026 well, if I have to tell you why, you haven\u2019t been paying attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearcher\u201d goes to Disney parks whenever he can, all throughout the year. He\u2019s not going to have fun, enjoy the rides, etc.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s looking for the Gascots.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a long tradition, apparently, of people reporting strange patrons throughout the park. Silent, motionless, staring patrons of every age, shape, and size. Men and women, adults, children, and teens.<\/p>\n
All wearing Disney-themed gas masks.<\/p>\n
Way back when, Disney would get tons of complaints about \u201coddly dressed\u201d folks following others around the park. Folks who would then merge into crowds and disappear.<\/p>\n
Later on, the gas masks caused folks to draw other conclusions, and reports of \u201cpossible terrorists\u201d and \u201cbombers\u201d started flowing.<\/p>\n
All of those reports most likely went straight into the trash can. I know I can\u2019t find any sign of any such occasions reported on by the media. (Although you should be aware of the fact Disney can pretty much control its press like no other.)<\/p>\n
Researcher goes to the parks, talks to a few people, and tries not to draw any attention to himself. He\u2019ll just ask three or four families if they\u2019ve seen \u201chis friend\u201d, who\u2019s wearing a \u201cfunny mask\u201d.<\/p>\n
He has yet to see a gascot for himself\u2026 though on one occasion, a child pointed him toward Frontier town. As he raced through the crowd, he heard a single voice ahead cry out \u201cMommy! I want a Goofy air-mask too!\u201d<\/p>\n
A fellow I\u2019ll call \u201cLifeguard\u201d worked in a Disney water park from 2001 through 2003. He stood at the top of a huge water slide and made sure none of the kids got too rowdy. He passed the kids through, one at a time, telling them over and over again to be safe, keep their arms in, and so on.<\/p>\n
One day, as he tells it, this fat kid goes down the tube and doesn\u2019t come out the other end.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s sent two or three kids after, the whole thing moves at a steady clip, so naturally you\u2019d expect that if fatty got stuck, the kids that followed him were stuck, too.<\/p>\n
Not so. Only the big kid disappears. Everyone else comes out the other end, cheering and splashing like nothing\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n
Lifeguard shuts down the slide, much to the aggravation of the kids waiting. Before he can go through any of Disney\u2019s strict procedures\u2026 SPLASH\u2026 fatty finally comes out.<\/p>\n
Staff members pulled the kid out of the water. He sank like a stone when he hit, his skin already blue and his eyes wide. All he would say was \u201cNo-face Kids\u201d and \u201cStop squeezing\u201d.<\/p>\n
The kid was okay, in case you\u2019re wondering. He got carted right off to the medical center. When Lifeguard was told to open the slide back up, he made a big stink about how it clearly wasn\u2019t safe. Despite his complaints, he was threatened with firing and begrudgingly opened the slide again.<\/p>\n
From that point on, he kept a closer eye on the kids. Every so often, they\u2019d come out in the wrong order\u2026 never as stunned as the fat kid, but always with a vague look of concern\u2026 a dreamy half-stupor that seemed as if they were trying to figure out what was reality.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d take on some water and choke a bit\u2026 and they\u2019d never come back up to ride again.<\/p>\n
I read his emails with the same sort of unease you might be feeling right now. I wanted him to share his own story, but in the end he didn\u2019t want to expose himself that way. I can\u2019t say I blame him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnow White\u201d, which wasn\u2019t the actual role she played, was a \u201ccharacter\u201d in the park. She had a nice little tidbit for me. You know what happens when a costumed employee drops dead in his suit?<\/p>\n
Like, one second he\u2019s taking a picture with little Jimmy, and the next he\u2019s had a fatal stroke?<\/p>\n
A second costumed mascot in the area has to sit with the corpse on a curb or bench and wait for a designated \u201cDry Cleaner\u201d to arrive and cart the body away in a discrete manner. All the while, patrons have no idea they\u2019re sitting with a dead body for photo ops.<\/p>\n
Feel free to check your photo albums at this point.<\/p>\n
That was bad, but another fellow, \u201cJanitor\u201d, went completely off the creepy charts.<\/p>\n
Disney World (and probably others) is built with a series of underground tunnels just below your feet. Three stories\u2019 worth. Anything and everything you can imagine is down there, for use of the employees.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re called Utilidors. Utility Corridors.<\/p>\n
Basically, that\u2019s the reason you don\u2019t see character out of place or Janitors wandering through the park. They pop in and out of hidden doors, and travel a concealed town you\u2019re walking on.<\/p>\n
Janitor told me something that might be common knowledge, but was nonetheless news to me.<\/p>\n
Walt Disney had several apartments built into his parks. There\u2019s one above Cinderella\u2019s Castle\u2026 there\u2019s one in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. They\u2019re all over the place.<\/p>\n
More than that, there are night clubs, a movie theater, a bowling alley, and much more. All behind doors built right into the whimsical facades you passed by without a second look.<\/p>\n
Club 22 is one such hidden area. If you have the cash to join the exclusive club (you don\u2019t) then you\u2019ll have access to it and much more.<\/p>\n
Club 22 is a place where anything goes. Disney Co. calls these places \u201cDark Zones\u201d. Spots where the squeaky-clean visage of Mickey Mouse gives way to drinking, drugs, and, yes, sex.<\/p>\n
Conversely, the rest of the park is the \u201cBright Zone\u201d, with a few \u201cGray Zone\u201d utilodors between.<\/p>\n
As far as Janitor has said, it wasn\u2019t always that way. It was more of a slow decline and the gradual relaxation of social norms within that elite group.<\/p>\n
The reason he knows all of this? You may have already guessed \u2013 He\u2019s cleaned it.<\/p>\n
After a lengthy background check and a non-disclosure form, Janitor moved up from a park attendant to one of the Dark Zone cleaning crew.<\/p>\n
Now, before you get some Satanic \u201chuman sacrifice\u201d vision in your head, Janitor saw nothing of the sort. Lots of empty alcohol bottles? Yes. Used condoms scattered like deflated New Years balloons? Oh, yeah. He cleaned up his share of blood, piss, and vomit, but it was all down to the unrestricted behavior of patrons as opposed to any sort of cult behavior.<\/p>\n
At least that\u2019s how he sees it in retrospect.<\/p>\n
All that trash, that profane shit, went into a furnace and mingled with the smoke of a quaint cottage\u2019s chimney.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been to Disney World, you\u2019ve breathed ultra-condensed sin.<\/p>\n
Backing up this information was \u201cHammer\u201d. Hammer mailed me the old-fashioned way, though I don\u2019t know how he got my home address. He sent me photocopies of work papers proving his employment, with the instruction to burn them when I was convinced.nWhich I did gladly.<\/p>\n
Hammer worked around the Disney World park, doing demolition and construction. At one point, he approached a superior regarding some strange construction plans.<\/p>\n
There was wide, rectangular area marked off on the blueprints, about the size of a supermarket. The area was left unnamed, and only bore the words \u201cDO NOT DIG\u201d.<\/p>\n
Not only was his superior in the dark, but he was super-fucking-purposefully in the dark. He didn\u2019t want to talk about it, didn\u2019t want to know about it, and ended the conversation with \u201cthis space intentionally left blank\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hammer didn\u2019t get it. The area seemed a waste of space, and it was directly conflicting with the work his team had been given. He started poking around the area on his off-time, finding only a derelict steel door, and a great span of concrete just beyond.<\/p>\n
It was a \u201csupermarket\u2019s worth\u201d of blank, gray floor.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Hammer started picking gascots out of the crowds.<\/p>\n
Unlike all other reports, the people\u2026 the things\u2026 would stand in full view of the guy. They\u2019d cluster together in the distance, or they\u2019d just be pressed against a wall when he turned a corner.<\/p>\n
He said they \u201cmoved weird\u201d, like they were weak or injured\u2026 like a deer that\u2019s been run down by a hunter and can\u2019t flee anymore.<\/p>\n
The gasmasks\u2026 the Disney character faces with filters jammed in\u2026 he noted that they seemed wet on the inside, like condensation on a car window. Tiny beads of water glimmered behind the glass, making it impossible for any of them to actually see.<\/p>\n
Probing further, Hammer started asking questions of anyone and everyone who had been working in the park for a decade or more.<\/p>\n
He hit dead ends throughout, until he was directed to Ida, an elderly woman who worked in a restaurant on Main Street. She\u2019d been there since way back, and though nobody had the balls to ask directly, everyone KNEW she had plenty of terrible stories to tell.<\/p>\n
Hammer asked about the empty space, then about the gas-masked customers, and at first he thought he would receive the same non-answers he\u2019d gotten so far. She was quiet. Eerily quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoom Zero.\u201d She croaked, a single, shaking hand placed to her cheek as if she were a little girl fearing a Father\u2019s punishment.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t meet the man\u2019s gaze for the entire conversation.<\/p>\n
Room Zero, as it turned out, was yet another hidden room just like the apartments and Club 22. However, its sheer size and its spot deep beneath the park set it apart from any of the \u201cfun\u201d dark zones.<\/p>\n
It was a bomb shelter.<\/p>\n
Room Zero was built to withstand a massive attack, be it conducted by foreign or domestic enemies.<\/p>\n
Room Zero was to be stocked with enough rations to feed the entire park\u2019s average number of patrons at any given moment, and housed a smaller yet lavish \u201cpanic room\u201d of sorts for Disney higher-ups.<\/p>\n
During World War II, official Disney gas masks were actually produced for children to wear in the event of an attack. The idea was that it would be less scary for kids if Mickey\u2019s face was emblazoned on the wartime safety device.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know the obvious problems with that.<\/p>\n
During the Cold War scare of the 60s, when Disney World was constructed, Room Zero was stocked with similar masks, as well. Whether they cared about the fears of children, or just callous branding, the things found their way down there.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, some genius decided that kids would THEN be frightened by the gas masks their parents wore\u2026 and so all masks, adult and child, were made to comply to this insane standard.<\/p>\n
Ida described it as \u201cTreating a wound with lemon juice.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of this explained what Hammer had been seeing, though. Not only the seemingly supernatural appearances, but the emptied out room as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in there,\u201d he explained, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing but a cement floor and four walls.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Ida shook her head and covered her mouth, stifling a sob, \u201cYou\u2019ve been on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone or something sounded the alarm one day, when the park was at full capacity. The warning was clear. It was supposedly an air attack.<\/p>\n
Security ushered everyone down, down, down into the tremendous shelter. There, they were ordered to put on their masks and hunker down for the duration fo the assault.<\/p>\n
Everything was quiet for about thirty minutes, save for the crying children and the frightened whispers. No one wanted to die, and so they were thankful in a way for this strange measure of safety.<\/p>\n
Then, the first scream rang out.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d a man shouted, \u201cQuit pinching!\u201d<\/p>\n
Waves of shrieks and yelps rippled through the crowd, from one wall to the other, back and forth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s running around? Settle down!\u201d Someone hollered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s laughing? This isn\u2019t funny!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOw! Who stepped on my foot?!\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite security guards\u2019 urging to calm down and keep their cool, the crowd became more and more agitated until, finally, after nearly an hour of madness\u2026<\/p>\n
The lights flickered\u2026<\/p>\n
Then died.<\/p>\n
What followed could only be described as utter chaos. In the dark, only the wails of the young and the anguished cries of adults could be heard in a massive, swelling din that bloodied the ears of all within that black echo chamber.<\/p>\n
A group of staff members and a select few patrons made it out of the door, ready to face the War above rather than the insanity below. What they found, of course, was a desolate, yet untouched theme park. The music continued to play, echoing through silent storybook towns.<\/p>\n
Upon returning to Room Zero, the few who stood at the top of the steel staircase that lead down into the pitch blackness heard no sign of the previous fray. There was only silence.<\/p>\n
Ida herself descended that staircase despite the begging of those she left above.<\/p>\n
She reached the reinforced doors, herself now awash in darkness and hearing only the buzzing in her ears.<\/p>\n
A single voice came out of the darkness. The echo made it impossible to tell whether the mocking, raspy voice was at the back of the bomb shelter, or if it was right in front of her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cShut the door, dear. You\u2019re letting out the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gripped by terror, she did just that. Within days, the entire thing\u2026 shelter, staircase, all of it\u2026 was covered with feet upon feet of cement. Air systems and generators above its ceiling were removed, creating the large, empty space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all still down there.\u201d Ida told Hammer, \u201cDown there with whoever that was.\u201d<\/p>\n
You might notice I\u2019ve used Ida\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, she passed away soon after telling her story. Accidental fall, supposedly, after getting out of bed to turn on a light.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a company devotee,\u201d the paper reported, \u201cthat her entire bedroom was covered with Mickey silhouettes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written anything related to the Disney Corporation, and I\u2019m sure you can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[15,29,22,25,16,18,24,17,21,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/88"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehorror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}