Turns Out Disneyland Used Real Dead People for Props on a Ride

by N/A, 9 years ago | 2 min read

To think that there are actual dead people in the "Happiest Place on Earth" is a little...bone-chilling.

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Built in 1967, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland was the last ride Walt Disney himself oversaw.

And while he praised the innovative ride for providing an experience that was "new and different," he and the ride's designers both agreed that its main props, the skeleton pirates, were lacking in quality.

With poor fabrication technology, their options were limited. So what did they go with? Real skeletons.

Disney purchased authentic skeletons from UCLA's anatomy department to use for the ride's props. And as expected, they made the experience a lot more convincing.

But as time went on and fabrication technology became more advanced, the real skeletons were phased out for equally as realistic looking fake ones.

What's under speculation is whether or not all traces of them were removed. Some have reason to believe otherwise.

Guests and even some Disney employees insist that a few human bones were left behind, stating the contrast in their appearance from fake props.

Take these two skeletons for example. Notice how much grittier the skull on the top is than the skeleton pirate.

This skull that sits near the ride's second drop is much the same, and understandably also believe to be real.

The teeth, the corrosion, the nasal passages? No prop artist would go into this great of detail, if this convincing of handiwork was even possible.

There's also a skeleton in one of the ride's dungeons that many guests have speculated the "fake" nature of.

Here's a closeup of it. If that's fake, that's the most incredible fake skeleton ever created.

The ride has undergone a number of renovations and changes since the release of the movies. Is it possible that the Imagineers simply forgot to phase out these human remains? Given their obsessive attention to detail, probably not.

Nonetheless, the morbid mystery certainly makes the ride more exciting, which was likely their intention all along.