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The Aging Man also referred to as the Master of the House and often semi-officially as Master Gracey is a character from a changing portrait in the various Haunted Mansions.

Description[]

Design & Effects[]

The portrait initially represents a healthy, handsome young man. However, as the guests look at it, it progressively begins to age in front of their very eyes. In about a minute, the young man is dead, and all that is left is a still-decaying corpse with blazing, haunting eyes.

History[]

Inspiration[]

The portrait is inspired by the fictional character of Dorian Gray from the 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This would have been in-line with the, "Famous Ghosts" motif which was frequently utilized in development for the attraction, taking figures from history, literature and folklore to integrate into the Haunted Mansion.

Gray was a self-absorbed aristocrat who sold his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty on his body with physical changes only being shown on a portrait which he had commissioned of himself. Over the years Dorian became a misogynist, a blackmailer and a murderer and he ultimately died after becoming obsessed with being a better person and stabbing his own portrait when learning that it hadn't changed to show him as beautiful again, resulting in Dorian dying as an ugly old man and the portrait being restored to its former beauty.

Character Identification[]

Fans have frequently associated this composite character with "Master Gracey," a name on a Tombstone in the family plot, based on a misinterpretation of the term "master", which was meant to be the 19th century usage of the term for a male too young to be called "mister". In spite of this, the dual link found its way into various merchandising items, and the Aging Man was used as the basis for the appearance of "Master Gracey" and has semi-officially remained as such.

The Aging Man's prominent position in the foyer, coupled with its transformation as the Ghost Host welcomes guests, was taken by guests to imply that this portrait was that of a former "Master of the House", and very likely of the Ghost Host himself. This was coupled with how in some early attraction concepts, the Ghost Host was supposed to talk from a bust located above the fireplace, and introduced himself as "the lord and master" of the Haunted Mansion.

However, the portrait features no clear indication towards the Ghost Host's character, appearance, or manner of death (via hanging). The Ghost Host's character is given a visual identification via a portrait known as, "The Hatchet Man" portrait which does display the correct hair and clothing to correspond to the Ghost Host's corpse as seen in the cupola. As befits the authorial intent that this (supported by the attraction's direct text), the Hatchet Man and not the Aging Man, is the “hidden” portrait of the Ghost Host.

Differences in facial structure, hair-colour, eye-colour, complexion body structure and hair style make it difficult, although technically not impossible (but not without intensive speculation), to posit that both the Hatchet Man and Aging Man portrait depict a single individual. If the Ghost Host, Aging Man and Master Gracey are all taken to be the same character this is again further complicated by the Ghost Host's corpse being seen in the cupola while Master Gracey's remains are seen to be laid to rest in the Family Plot. Once again, intensive speculation can work around this detail but not without complications and with little-to-no support from the ride's textuality.

Attractions[]

Walt Disney World/Tokyo Disneyland[]

Here the portrait hangs in the foyer, where it slowly morphs through its four phases while the Ghost Host delivers his pre-show spiel. As most things in the Tokyo Mansion, the Aging Man's role is copied directly from the Walt Disney World version.

Disneyland[]

Although initially absent from the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, where its purpose was essentially fulfilled by Miss April-December's portrait, the portrait was eventually added in the 2000's, next to the other changing portraits in the gallery, taking the spot formerly occupied by April-December.

This decision was presumably a homage to the prominent place the "Aging Man is Master Gracey" concept had taken in the fans' minds. This version flashes between young and skeletal like the other Portraits, rather than shifting progressively as did its Walt Disney World counterpart.

Other Appearances[]

Ghost Gallery[]

The cast-member created Ghost Gallery was a backstory created for the WDW mansion which is the first notable instance of the affiliation between Master Gracey, the aging man, and furthermore to the Ghost Host. In this story he is given the name of George Gracey Jr. and serves as a composite of the three figures.

SLG Comics[]

The SLG comics once again transformed Master Gracey, the Aging Man and the Ghost Host into a single entity. In addition to this, the comics decided to make him take influence from the unused character of Captain Gore from Ken Anderson's proposed Gore Mansion script for the Haunted Mansion. These comics even did a sort of redesign of the classic skeletal changing-portrait with the addition of the Ghost Host's noose and Captain Gore's moustache.

This story identifies the character as being named William Gracey who formerly went by the alias of Captain Blood back when he was a notorious pirate captain.

2003 Film[]

The appearance of Master Edward Gracey in this film is an adaptation of the Aging Man portrait.

Muppets Haunted Mansion[]

The Muppet Newsman appears as the Aging Man portrait in the special's Portrait Gallery.

Disney Story Beyond[]

StoryBeyondGracey

The Aging Man, referred to as "The Withering Man" on the campaign's website and "Name Unknown" in merchandising is one of the highlighted characters.

He is described as the most mysterious ghost in the Mansion, his name having been lost to time, with his page in the Ghost Registry consisting entirely of observations of his behavior by the staff or rumors spread around by the other ghosts in the Mansion. However, the Withering Man never says a word, only letting his gentlemanly actions speak for him and whenever the question is raised, he taps his cane twice and disappears from the room to dramatically avoid the subject. Z.J. believes him to be an Englishman from his cane and his strict adherence to tea time, which some ghosts have come to use as a clock. The Withering Man's page, along with his cane and a cup of tea, are found in the Conservatory, with the password protected portion of the website surmising that he stole his page to maintain the mystery surrounding himself.

Merchandise[]

In merchandise, the Aging Man is typically explicitly identified as Master Gracey. This can be found in art of portraits which name him as such and artwork of the aging man's undead spirit being found alongside the Gracey tombstone.

Trivia[]

Images[]

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