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The origin of the Grim Organist can be traced back to Doug Ferguson and Phantasmechanics. Doug's experimental animatronic was then realized by Tom Marchak's Ghostly Grim Organist Baron Flesh Von Riptopen; Dan Oberley's Grim Organist; Brent Ross' Skeletal Organist; and Mike Fox's Nimble-Fingered Organist.

Ever since I first saw a Grim Organist, I've envisioned building a replica of the pipe organ in Disney's Haunted Mansion. Brandon Champlin provided me with many of these pictures. Brandon is a Haunted Mansion expert. You can check out his Ghost Relations Department website. Brandon's article on Inside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday was published in Haunted Attraction magazine #28.

From the first two pictures, you can see that the Haunted Mansion organ was originally used in the making of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and is sometimes referred to as Nemo's Organ.

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These photographs were reproduced without permission from the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea web page.

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This photograph is from the collection of Paul F. Anderson and was reproduced without permission from Issue #9 of the Persistence of Vision magazine, "An Unofficial Historical Journal celebrating the creative legacy of Walt Disney"

I learned my lesson after spending over five months and $2,000 building my coffin. I wasn't about to build my organ from scratch! This is what I will be starting with. It is a Wurlitzer 4520. I found it in the parking lot of my local Colton Piano & Organ. Who knows how long it had been there. I was told that if I hauled it away that I could have it for free. The funny thing is that when I got it home, it actually worked! It's actually bigger than it appears in this picture.

I have gutted the organ. The organ was filled with rather dated, bulky electronics. I removed all of the electronics in order to lighten up the organ. There are six speakers (including two sizable woofers) that are mounted behind the cloth under the keyboards. I plan to retain the speakers. I have bought a pair of three-way crossovers from Radio Shack that I hope to use to re-wire the speakers.

I plan to strip the paint from the organ and stain the underlying wood.

I am toying with the idea of building organ pipes out of varying diameters of PVC pipe. It's a little unclear as to how I will achieve the taper at the bottom of the pipes. The pipes would sit in a box mounted on top of the organ. I think that the towering pipes are what make the Haunted Mansion organ so imposing. I will decide whether to build organ pipes based on where I decide to display the organ. I can't justify building a set of organ pipes for a room with an 8' ceiling.

I plan to build out the front of the organ, including the "boxes" to the left and the right of the keyboards.

I have removed all of the brightly colored knobs, levers and switches from the face of the organ and I plan to replace the levers with white or ivory draw knobs. This will relieve the organ of its "high-tech" look. Here is a picture of the draw knobs that I will use,

I plan to build a bat sheet music holder as depicted in this blueprint and picture.

I have commissioned Darren Perks of Dynamic Design International to make the organist mask. The mask will be in the spirit of the Walt Disney Haunted Mansion organist mask, however, Darren will be given artistic freedom to incorporate his own style. This is a picture of Darren's sculpt,

I am using a Ghost Ride Productions Incorporated BF-M2 body form similar to the one shown here. The arms of the body form are made of flexible urethane foam with a twisted-pair of heavy gauge copper wire. Ghost Ride used a new technique to cast the torso and legs. The torso and legs appear to have been blown from the same material that would be used in packing. It's not terribly durable. 1/2" schedule 40 PVC serves as an armature, running from the feet up into the chest. I severed the legs at the hip and knee in order to orient the body form in a seated position.

The body-from will be decked out in a light blue tuxedo, a Dicken's cape and a partially-crushed Reggie hat.

The organist will be animated using pneumatic cylinders.

A cylinder will be used to lift and lower each hand. These cylinders will attach at the wrist. This is a picture of one of the cylinders,

This picture shows how the cylinder will be oriented along the face of the keyboard.

A rodless cylinder will be used to move each hand left and right. The two rodless cylinders will mount flush under the keyboard. This is a top view of one of the rodless cylinders as it would be mounted under the keyboard. The rodless cylinder is approximately 1/2" thick.

A cylinder will be connected between the organist's spine and his crotch in order to lean the organist forward. One cylinder will nod the head and a rotary cylinder will rotate the head. I'm not hung up on animating the fingers.

I plan to use a combination of five-port, three-position and five-port, two-position solenoid valves. The five-port, three position solenoid valves will be used in conjunction with those cylinders over which I hope to have digital control. Of primary importance are the cylinders that move the hands left and right and the rotary cylinder that rotates the head.

An AVR microcontroller will coordinate the movements of the organist with the soundtrack.

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