A Note From the Haunted Mansion

 Many Disney Parks lovers have certain attractions that they are particularly in love with, and one of the most popular is The Haunted Mansion. In fact, it is so popular that many people collect items associated with it and swap tales and back stories about it. 

Although there are tons of new items (Disney has always been great at merchandising) I like items from the first couple of years best. Here is one of thise items:

This book of magic tricks was sold at Disneyland when the Haunted Mansion first opened. It has quite a few tricks that are loosly based on the attraction (ok...very loosly based), but the fun is in the illustrations and art work. Also, this little book reveals a real secret about the HM!

For many years, fans have considered "Master Gracey" to be the master of the house. This comes from a tombstone in the family plot dedicated to imagineer Yale Gracey. The "Master" part throws people because it is generally forgotten that "master" used to refer to a boy, not an actual "master." 

So, who was the real "master" of the Mansion? The book tells us! Take a look at this!

Yup, Phineas J. Pock was supposed to be the real master of The Haunted Mansion. He is actually mentioned in other early records as well, but he was, sadly, forgotten. 

So now, when you hear people going on and on about "Master Gracey" you can rest assured that the real shadowy figure in the background goes by the name of Pock...Phineas Pock.

Keep searching for treasure!

Smooshing Two Blogs

 Hey guys! Well, once I decided to start the ol' blog up again, I needed to decide exactly what I was going to do with it. You see, I ran two blogs for a few years, one on rockets and one on my "collections." In reality, it all became a bit too much. Therefore, we're going to change things up a little.

Therefore, I've decided to continue Stu's Attic, but not Shroudlines, the Blog. Actually, STB isn't going away, it will just be part of SA. That way I'll have more content for the one blog and it should make things easier.

Of course, I'm well aware that blog readership is pretty dead, and I could well be writing these just for myself, but that's ok. In a way, that takes any remaining pressure off. I can just write "whatever" about "whatever." 

Speaking of rockets, I recently went into the garage and took a bunch of pictures to document all of them. In the pictures it looks like they are just thrown everywhere, but I can assure you they have been carefullu placed so as not to damage them. I thought I'd include a few of those shots today to properly "rocket-offy" the blog. Don't judge. ;-)

Catching Up a Bit

 Welll, in the time since I last wrote, some good things have happened. Probably the most exciting is that I finished my 1968 through 1972 Hot Wheels collection! All of them! I got 'em! 

Now, you might think that you would feel great about that accomplishment...and you do; except now you have to figure out what to do next. You see, I've worked on that collection since about 1995. Now what? 

Well, I think I'm going to work on upgrading some of the cars. While a collection can be complete, it won't ever really be "finished." 

Here are some pictures of the Powley Collection!

                                    1968

                                  1969

                                 1970

                                 1971

1972

By the way, yes that Olds 442 is in the 1971 line up. Patience pays off! I paid a lot more for it than the others, but still much less than they usually go for!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!