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The Mariner is one of the ghosts haunting the Haunted Mansion.

In modern incarnations he has been given the name of Captain Culpepper Clyne although there are perceived incongruences between the identities.

Description[]

The Mariner is the ghost of a sea captain who drowned at sea in a shipwreck. He is the subject of a portrait hanging in the Walt Disney World loading area and the Tokyo Disneyland Portrait Corridor. The painting portrays the ghost of a large man wearing a cap and slicker holding a harpoon in a rainstorm.

He is covered in seaweed, barnacles, and a starfish. A ship wrecking on some rocks is visible behind and through the sea captain.

Behind the scenes[]

Origins[]

The figure originally appeared in a piece of Marc Davis concept art, as a portrayal of Ken Anderson's murderous sea captain character (referred in old concepts as Bartholomew Gore or Gideon Gorelieu, though both names were dropped by the time Davis started working on it). Another script by Anderson had the character replaced with, "The Commodore" who drowned at sea.[1]

Like many unused concepts, the character resurfaced as a Sinister 11 portrait, albeit with a beard and a ship wrecking in the background. The character would later go through a third transformation, in 2011, when a character said by his creators to be a new version the Mariner, with an alternate backstory, named Culpepper Clyne got a crypt in the interactive queue.

Effects[]

The "staring-eyes"  effect was accomplished by painting pupils on ping-pong balls cut in half. The eyes were cut out and the balls were set behind the painting and backlit, giving the impression that they are moving.

Appearances[]

Walt Disney World[]

When the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, a painting of the character appeared hanging over the doorway from the Portrait Corridor to the Library as part of the Sinister 11. His eyes glowed and followed Doombuggies passing beneath him. In 2007, his portrait was taken down and hung in the Loading Area. His eyes were painted in and do not move anymore. In 2011, a crypt of "Captain Culpepper Clyne" appeared in the queue area of the Mansion, meant to be the crypt of the Mariner, but with a slight retcon concerning the circumenstances of the Mariner's death, here having the epitaph,

"Here floats Captain Culpepper Clyne Allergic to dirt so he's pickled in brine He braved the sea and all her wrath But drowned on land while taking a bath"

while in the portrait it is suggested that the captain died in the shipwreck. It is possible however that the Mariner survived the shipwreck after facing the "sea's wrath" but died on land while washing off the sea debris and that the Mariner's transparency is simply the artistic elements of the portrait reflecting his fate. Some however have taken this to mean that the Mariner and Captain Clyne are separate characters.

Tokyo Disneyland[]

Similar to Walt Disney World, The Mariner hangs above the Library with the Sinister 11. His eyes glow yellow and follow passing Doombuggies.

Epic Mickey[]

In the video game, an alternate version of the Mariner portrait can be seen in Lonesome Manor. Contrary to the real portrait, the game's character has a beard, making him look more like Bartholomew Gore as in the early concepts. This makes sense, as Lonesome Manor is made up of forgotten ideas for the real ride, like the rest of Wasteland.

Haunted Mansion (2023 film)[]

Mariner movie portrait

The movie's Mariner portrait

The Mariner plays the role of Ben Matthias's hitchhiking ghost, having followed him home from his initial dismissive investigations of the Mansion, locking his television onto broadcasts of the reality series Deadliest Catch and flooding the house in order to force him back to the Mansion. The Mariner primarily interacts with the mortal characters as an unseen poltergeist communicating through written messages, only being briefly visualized in one of the Mansion's paintings, reflections and in spectral photography. In exchange for helping Ben find the Hatbox Ghost's hat at Crump Manor, he asks to be taken back to the sea after being freed from the Mansion's curse. In the film's epilogue, he takes off on a motorboat searching for adventure.

Trivia[]

  • Although he later got his own Alternate Version, the Mariner is himself something of an alternate version to Bartholomew Gore.
  • In the early 1970s, a design very similar to that of the Mariner was used by Marc Davis for the ghost of Captain J. Flint in an unbuilt Treasure Island walkthrough attraction.
  • Culpepper having been killed within a bathtub mirrors unused concept art created by imagineer Ken Anderson for Bloodmere Manor.
  • Marc Davis concept art of the character shows him holding an item sometimes identified as being an oar or a peg-leg. The most likely identification of the object however is that it is a bent speaking trumpet, a sort of simple megaphone which was used by captains and commanding naval officers.

References[]

Gallery[]

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