The Groundskeeper, better known as "Caretaker", and also named semi-officially as Silas Crump, is one of the only living residents of the Haunted Mansion, working as the caretaker of the Mansion and the graveyard found on it's grounds. He appears at the gates of the cemetery along with his dog.
Description[]
Appearance[]
In the New Orleans Square and Liberty Square Haunted Mansion the caretaker is portrayed as a shaven older man with long white hair but in the Tokyo Mansion he is much younger having brown/ginger hair along with sideburns and a beard. The caretaker wears a brown jacket, a green scarf, and a hat and carries both a lantern and a shovel.
Background[]
Silas Crump is the caretaker of the grounds which hold the Haunted Mansion in place where he appears to work at night with his dog. Silas is an old man who is believed to have worked at the mansion for many years, likely starting in the 20th century though due to the mansion's floating timeline this is uncertain. He and his dog are some of the only living inhabitants of the Haunted Mansion, the only others being assorted animals which prowl the grounds.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
Trembling in terror, the caretaker holds a lantern in one hand and a shovel in the other hand. His dog cowers at his feet, whimpering in fear as part of cowering with his owner.
Haunted Mansion Holiday[]
The Caretaker and his dog are replaced by Jack Skellington and Zero in this annual overlay. In 2019, the two appeared as gingerbread men in the mansion's 50th anniversary gingerbread house.
Walt Disney World[]
The crate identifying the Caretaker as Silas Crump
At Liberty Square's Haunted Mansion, there was once a crate addressed to him which reveals his name is Silas Crump.[1] Also, he and is dog are referenced in the front queue by the Emergency Exit where the footprints of both he and his dog are engraved in the pavement right by a gate leading to the staircase which goes around the mansion where a small metal dog door is found in the exit gate.
Live Appearances[]
On a few occasions he appeared for Meet 'n' Greets where he refers to his dog as "Bones". He is sometimes seen with a second, unidentified groundskeeper.
Other Appearances[]
Film & Television[]
Spooks and Magic[]
In Spooks and Magic, a 1972 episode of The Mouse Factory which took place inside the Haunted Mansion, the Caretaker briefly appears in stock footage where his name is given as "Clyde" by host Phyllis Diller, who tells him to keep watching the gates.
The Caretaker and his dog as ghosts in the 2003 movie
2003 film[]
The Caretaker and his dog make an appearance in the 2003 film adaptation as ghostly versions of themselves and can be seen populating the cemetery along with many other ghosts. While the caretaker bears a lantern and shovel just like his ride counterpart, the dog's breed is identified as a Labrador retriever and depicted as being healthy in shape rather than being skinny, the latter of which is found in the attraction.
An early version of the script had him as a supporting character with Don Knotts playing the part. However, Knotts dropped out before filming and the character was cut but retained as a cameo. Ironically, this role as the Mansion's only living resident would have been Knotts' final role in a live-action film prior to his death in 2006.
2023 film[]
The Caretaker, played by Rick Andasco, appears in this adaptation along with his dog and is among the supporting ghost characters. Like the 2003 film, the two appear as ghosts and make their first appearance in the graveyard alongside the Hitchhiking Ghosts. When Ben is drawn to a vision in order to identify the cause of the mansion's curse, he visits the graveyard wherein he is met by the aforementioned characters.
A difference should be noted however in this version. To maintain their ghostly appearances and characteristics and be more faithful to the ride, the Caretaker dons his attire in full color similar to the attractions and bears his lantern and shovel whereas his dog is depicted to be skinny, all while still surrounded with blue mists.
Muppets Haunted Mansion[]
Darren Criss plays the Caretaker in the special. He meets Gonzo and Pepe as they arrive at the Mansion for the Great MacGuffin Anniversary challenge and tells them to keep their voices down as not to wake the dead, singing the song "Rest in Peace". At the end of the special, as Gonzo and Pepe make their escape, he can be seen putting the finishing touches on their tombstones, having expected them not to survive the night, though he misspells Pepe's name as Pepper.
Chibi Tiny Tales[]
The episode "Haunted Mansion Hire" is a comical origin story of the Caretaker. Seeing a Help Wanted sign at the Mansion while on a drive, the caretaker is mostly oblivious to the Mansion's ghosts while his dog keeps trying to bring his attention to them. When he finally sees the full-on midnight spree, he and the dog are frightened off from the Mansion, but are followed home by the Hitchhiking Ghosts.
Printed-Materials[]
Ghost Gallery[]
In the cast-member created Ghost Gallery, the Caretaker is reimagined as being named Dick O' Dell. This caretaker was born in 1931 to a gravedigger and a Romani woman who both died in a rollercoaster accident when he was a boy. Dick then worked at said carnival until it 1971 when it went broke, and Dick subsequently moved to Florida in order to work at Walt Disney World. Dick was given the job of being caretaker of the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square and he was given his own room in the mansion to call his own.
Horace takes tea with his not-so-departed wife.
Slave Labor Comics[]
In the SLG comics, he is known as Horace Fusslebottom, working as a groundskeeper for the cemetery behind Gracey Manor. Both he and his dog have a cowardly streak, but Horace has a good reason for staying: as revealed in "The Groundskeeper's Secret" by the Singing Busts (in song, of course), Horace traverses the graveyard nightly so he can take his dinner breaks and drink tea with the ghost of his wife, who is buried there. Additionally, Horace is shown to have a friendly relationship with the ghosts, with "The New Groundskeeper" being focused on him being replaced by a younger man, upsetting the ghosts who want to know what happened to Horace, frightening him away and resulting in Horace getting his job back.
In a possible continuity error, he is referred to as "Dick" in "The Final Interview;" this is likely in reference to Dick O'Dell, a fan-name for the character from the cast member-created Ghost Gallery.
Disney Kingdoms[]
He briefly appears in the Disney Kingdoms Haunted Mansion storyline where he meets the protagonist Danny, notes that he's always suspected that the place was haunted but never seen proof, becoming immediately scared off when the Captain's curse is lifted allowing the ghosts to come back outside.
Video Games[]
2003 video game[]
The Caretaker also appears in the 2003 video game, but his dog is omitted. He appears as a disgruntled friendly ghost in the Winter Garden who keeps complaining that no one is around to pay for his work. It is noted that the game's player character and main protagonist, Zeke Halloway, is partially inspired by the Caretaker.
Game Boy Advance[]
In the cancelled Game Boy Advance game, the Caretaker's name is Jones. He asks for Yazz to find his "Keez" stuck on the roof while warning her of the dangerous enemies she'll find there.
Trivia[]
- The caretaker was recast as a grave robber for a 1974 model kit titled "The Grave Robber's Reward!"
- The name Silas Crump is a reference to imagineer Rolly Crump who worked on the Mansion and the Museum of the Weird.
- During Haunted Mansion Holiday, the Caretaker is replaced by Jack Skellington with Zero while in Phantom Manor he is replaced with the Phantom and Goliath.
- The caretaker's animatronic face-mold was reused in Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise where it is on a Safari explorer that got chased up a tree by a charging rhinoceros. Some skippers of the attraction would claim this character to be a distant-relative of the Caretaker.[2]
Gallery[]
