Disneyland Urban Legend Of Fans Scattering Human Ashes Around The Park Proven True

Every avid Disneyland fan knows that there's been a long-running urban legend saying that visitors would scatter ashes around Walt Disney World and Disneyland rides like "The Haunted Mansion" and "Pirates of the Carribean." Turns out these stories are actually true and a lot worse has happened in Disney's parks.

According to the Wall Street Journal (via Geek Tyrant) scattering of human ashes is commonplace in Disneyland and Walt Disneyworld. Not only does it happen on a monthly basis; it happens so much that the Mickey Mouse House has a specialized team of custodians who are called in to clean up the ashes every time it happens. Disneyland employees use a special code to alert the admin when guests scatter human ashes around the park and that code is "HEPA cleanup."

For those who aren't familiar with the word, HEPA serves as a special kind of filter used to suck up fine particles in the air and that includes human ashes.

Speaking with the special custodians that clean up the scattered ashes gathered by Disney's HEPA filters, Wall Street Journal learned that these employees understand that while it might mean "grisly work for them" but scattering ashes is a "cathartic release for the bereaved."

According to the custodians, "treating Disney parks as a final resting place is the ultimate tribute to ardent fans."

The publication then went on to hash out the specifics of the ash scattering, saying that Human ashes have been spread in flower beds, bushes, lawns, outside the park gates, in the moat underneath the Dumbo Ride, in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and most frequently in the Haunted Mansion.

"The Haunted Mansion probably has so many human ashes in it that it's not even funny," one Disneyland custodian told the publication.

It's a pretty wild story, and while it might seem terribly frustrating to Disney, it might actually be comforting to those who've lost their loved ones and want to scatter their ashes at Disneyland as a tribute.

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