9 of the weirdest, most persistent Disney conspiracy theories

Nowadays, it appears any massive company, franchise, or well-known determine is honest recreation for conspiracy theorists, so it comes as no shock that Walt Disney and his residing empire have served as the topic of all kinds of far-fetched speculations. Even by Conspirasphere requirements, nevertheless, the conjectures surrounding Disney skew towards the decidedly odd.

Listed here are 10 of essentially the most enduring and weird of the various myths and misconceptions which have sprung up through the years across the Home of Mouse.

1. Walt Disney’s head is in cryogenic storage

This may be essentially the most widespread and fashionable of all myths regarding Walt Disney and the Disney company. The story goes that, when Walt died in 1966, his head (or in some variations of the story, his whole physique) was cryogenically frozen, to be reanimated when the know-how to take action grew to become obtainable. It appears the story could have first appeared within the tabloid newspaper The Nationwide Highlight in 1967, cropping up later within the French journal Ici Paris, and once more in The Nationwide Tattler.

Whereas it’s true that the primary occasion of cryogenic freezing of a human occurred in 1967, there may be zero proof that the Disney creator’s head or physique are on ice. In 1972, his daughter, Diane, publicly repudiated the thought. Hypothesis could have been fueled by Walt’s notably non-public funeral. Actually, he was cremated, and his ashes interred at Forest Garden Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

2. Walt left behind 5 years of micromanagement movies for his executives

This may be the least far-fetched concept on this checklist. Walt’s dying from lung most cancers was comparatively sudden, and got here at a pivotal second for the corporate. Walt Disney World was nonetheless underneath development, and Walt’s brother Roy deferred his retirement to supervise the mission. The parable persists that, throughout his final days, Walt taped a sequence of quick movies explicitly addressed to Disney executives which contained secret directions regarding the way forward for the corporate, together with a listing of movies which ought to by no means be launched for the (not but invented) house video market. Walt’s imaginative and prescient was so vital to Disney, the speculation goes, that he detailed each step that his followers ought to take.

The favored fact-checking web site Snopes has already been over this one, declaring the misunderstanding that Walt had a good rein on the corporate’s minutia. Actually, by the point of Walt’s dying, Roy Disney was already working a lot of the day-to-day enterprise. Walt’s position at the moment was extra akin to that of artistic advisor, and he held far lower than a controlling share within the firm. The thought of him leaving these varieties of private rundowns for his underlings is very unlikely.

3. Walt Disney left cash in his will for the primary man who will get pregnant

An completely weird entry right here. Even Snopes can’t assist us out with a proof about the place this unusual concept got here from, past declaring that the trope of an eccentric wealthy man leaving odd requests and prerequisites in his will could be very outdated. It should be stated, nevertheless, that whereas Walt Disney was a artistic thinker, he wasn’t notably eccentric. Walt actually had a eager curiosity in know-how that may advance human potential indirectly, however nowhere did he write or speak about human copy.

Not like among the gadgets on this checklist, this one can comparatively simply be put to mattress, on condition that Walt’s will is now a matter of public document. It might readily be seen that Walt left 45% of his property to his spouse and youngsters, and 45% to the Disney Basis. The rest was divided up amongst different family, with nary a future pregnant man to be discovered on the checklist.

4. Walt Disney was born out of wedlock

Picture by way of Getty

If it’s in print, it should be true, proper? This cracker may be traced again to a single ebook revealed in 1994, ominously titled Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Darkish Prince. It was written by a person named Marc Eliot, and inside its pages you’ll discover accusations that Walt was an anti-Semite and a spy for the Home Un-American Actions Committee, and that he faked his beginning certificates, having actually been born to a peasant girl in Spain.

Actually, it’s well-documented that Disney was born in Chicago, and Marc Eliot has been totally discredited by specialists, together with Disney historian Didier Ghez, who labeled the ebook as “So filled with errors, guesses, intentional lies and non-intentional ignorance it’s hardly price mentioning.” Eminent animation historian Michael Barrier concurs, describing Darkish Prince as “simply the worst Disney biography I’ve ever learn.”

5. Cinderella Fort may be dismantled and moved

Picture by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Photographs

Though the origins of that is unclear, this fable at the very least sort of is smart. Florida repeatedly suffers from excessive climate, located as it’s close to the tropics. Hurricanes are a daily prevalence, particularly through the summer time months, when Disney World welcomes its highest numbers of holiday makers. Maybe it wouldn’t be so shocking if one of many leisure park’s most-loved sights, the 189-foot Cinderella Fort, could possibly be dismantled in instances of emergency.

There may be, nevertheless, zero reality to this rumor. The citadel was accomplished in July 1971, after 18 months of development. 600 tons of metal bracing, along with a strengthened concrete wall and a concrete sub-structure, imply that the constructing can reportedly face up to winds of as much as 125 mph. The citadel’s exterior design takes inspiration from real-life medieval castles around the globe. It isn’t a modular piece of structure designed to be simply damaged down and moved.

6. Disney World is roofed by an enormous protecting dome

Picture by Matt Stroshane/Getty Photographs

That is one other of essentially the most enduring myths on this checklist, and it looks as if some folks dwell to gasoline it, judging by among the posts on Quora. An unimaginable variety of folks persist in believing {that a} big invisible dome covers Disney World, maintaining out each unhealthy climate and pesky bugs.

This story is definitely repudiated by the variety of vacation blogs which advocate the very best instances to go to Disney World as a way to keep away from rain. Additional proof comes by way of the truth that the leisure park has pre-planned backups in case of unhealthy climate, together with a particular Wet Day Parade. The origins of this story presumably stem from an actual mission for a climate-controlled dome, which was initially deliberate to face on the coronary heart of Disney World. Provisionally named “Experimental Prototype Group of Tomorrow,” the thought was deserted earlier than development started.

7. Nobody can die at a Disney park

Picture: Yoshikazu Tsuno/Gamma-Rapho by way of Getty Photographs

A macabre entry right here, and a surprisingly fashionable one. To make clear, nobody is claiming that Disney’s properties emit magical life-giving vitality, at the very least as far as we all know. Quite, the declare is that nobody ever has been legitimately pronounced useless in a Disney park. This fable asserts that Disney employees all the time take away deceased our bodies from park property earlier than informing the authorities, presumably as a way to keep away from destructive publicity.

Placing apart the authorized implications of such an act, Snopes as soon as once more involves our help. The actual fact-checking website has unearthed at the very least three documented circumstances of deaths on Disney property, together with 4 from the Nineteen Eighties and one other from 2018, when a utility employee at Disney’s Caribbean Seashore Resort died after the cart he was engaged on flipped, pinning him to the ground. Whereas the Disney company has actually been accused of overzealous safety of its public picture, on this one, it’s within the clear.

8. The busts within the Haunted Mansion are modeled on Walt Disney’s face

Disneyland in California, Disney World in Florida, and Tokyo Disneyland all characteristic the Haunted Mansion, a preferred ride-through attraction which makes use of a mixture of outdated theater strategies and state-of-the-art know-how to summon up a bunch of ghoulish surprises. A few of the most well-known residents of the Haunted Mansion are the singing busts, a gaggle of 5 armless plaster torsos whose heads spring to life and regale guests with some close-harmony singing, due to some nifty projected video results.

In some variations of this fable, one of many busts is predicated on Walt Disney himself. In different variations, it’s all of them. Whereas Walt was referred to as a flexible performer, that is one other concept which may simply be dismissed, because the identities of the actors and singers behind the busts are well-known. Verne Rowe, Thurl Ravenscroft, Chuck Schroeder, Jay Meyer, and Bob Ebright are the abilities on show.

9. Walt Disney was a Nazi sympathizer

Picture: Bettmann Archive/Getty Photographs

At the least a part of this inflammatory concept, which has been debunked, dates again to that discredited Marc Eliot ebook, Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Darkish Prince. However even fashionable animated comedies like Robotic Hen and Household Man have featured jokes alluding to this fable. Throughout World Warfare II, Walt participated within the making of top-secret coaching movies for the U.S. army, which might have required the best stage of safety clearance. He additionally produced many propaganda shorts criticizing the Nazis.

It’s true that German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose documentaries glorified Hitler’s regime, visited Disney Studios in 1938. She was in America to advertise her new movie concerning the Olympics. Walt invited her to a tour of his studio, however refused to display her movie or present assist for it. Tales that Walt additionally met with Benito Mussolini in Italy are false, and there’s no credible proof to counsel Walt was something aside from an American patriot.