How to Haunt a House is an animated short from Mickey Mouse Works, it was aired on October 30, 1999. It was also featured on House of Mouse episode "House Ghosts" and in Mickey's House of Villains. It stars Goofy and features Donald Duck with cameo appearances by Mickey Mouse and Clarabelle Cow.
Summary[]
As Goofy prepares to leave for the day, the Narrator (voiced by Corey Burton) explains the story will show how to haunt the living, but first one needs... not to be alive, as demonstrated when Goofy comes back as a ghost after dying in an offscreen car accident. Goofy declares that he is not ready to be dearly departed, but the narrator assures him that it's only temporary, just long enough to demonstrate...
How to Haunt a House[]
Step 1: Choose a House to Haunt[]
The Narrator states that finding the right house is all about location, so Goofy decides to search through the classified ads on a newspaper. He finds a house on a hill with creaking hardwood floors, a fog-enshrouded breakfast nook and an informal dying room. He goes to that house to haunt it.
Step 2: Selecting a Hauntee[]
The Narrator introduces three hauntees for Goofy to choose one to scare away. Mickey and Clarabelle immediately admit that they are frightened while Donald angrily scoffs that nothing scares him. This piques Goofy's interest as he picks Donald, much to the latter's oblivious surprise.
Step 3: Being Creepy[]
At the house's foyer, the Narrator tells the audience that nothing is scarier than the creaking front door that opens by itself. Donald arrives at the house and Goofy proceeds to open the door to scare him but Donald thinks that the house has automatic doors and enters happily, which leaves Goofy disappointed.
Step 4: Looking like a Ghost[]
While Donald is unpacking his stuff, the Narrator explains that with an ordinary bedsheet carefully placed on top of the ghost, they need to sneak about in a menacing manner, with Goofy following the narrator's instructions. However, Donald does not notice him, and because the bedsheet is covering his view, Goofy is unable to see anything as he becomes entangled in a lamp, a bookcase, and a taxidermy bear. The Narrator states that the ghost must continue with the instructions and watch as panic and terror wash over the victim. Donald leaves, and Goofy climbs up the drawer and falls out the window, together with the bear, books and light on some chairs outside. The Narrator goes on to say that that method of haunting is only feasible because of the eyeholes that must be cut in the sheet and Goofy complains to the Narrator for not telling him about the eyeholes until then.
Step 5: The Dark[]
Donals is taking a bath while the Narrator explains that everyone is terrified of the dark, which the ghost must use to their advantage. Goofy enters the bathroom through the sink and switches off the light. Donald illuminates a lamp, but Goofy also turns it off. He employs the same techniques when Donald turns on a flashlight, a miner's helmet, a candle, and a match. Finally, Donald uses a light stick, but Goofy grabs it, stating that the scenario is getting silly. He throws the light stick into the toilet and flushes.
Step 6: Things that Go Bump[]
Donald goes to bed and begins reading a book; Goofy approaches, and the Narrator states that a ghost has a wide range of frightening sounds with which to scare the unknowing victim. Goofy tries a variety of methods, including moaning (first by placing his head beside Donald's, then while dragging chains, then by gargling, and finally with his body cut in half), clashing cymbals, walking with accordions on his feet, using a leaf blower, strolling with a crying baby in a pram, and driving an AJAX truck. However, Donald remains calm and Goofy doesn't understand what is happening, then Goofy sees that the title of Donald's book is "How to Sleep with Your Eyes Wide Open" and Donald snores, revealing that he is doing what the book says. Goofy, fed up of being a ghost, wakes up Donald. Donald wakes up, sees Goofy and jumps out of bed scared for having seen a ghost and runs away.
Donald dashes downstairs, bumping with Goofy again. Goofy tries to say something to Donald, but he warns him to get away and continues running. He leaves the house and is involved in an offscreen vehicle accident, which (unbeknownst to Donald) ends his life. When Donald returns to the house as a ghost, Goofy apologizes to him and explains that he merely wanted to tell him that he is a ghost, and adds, chuckling, that he is one as well. Donald, enraged upon understanding he is dead, tries to seize Goofy, but Goofy urges Donald to calm down and that it is only temporary, to which the Narrator says yes and that it's just enough to demonstrate...
How to End a Cartoon[]
The Narrator tells Goofy and Donald to start the end by chasing each other into the distance on a hill, then that they scream comically as they jump off the hill and fall... followed by an iris out.
Trivia[]
- In one scene, Goofy is seen dragging chains around in his ghost form, a la Jacob Marley. This is a reference to when he did the same thing in Mickey's Christmas Carol, where he also played a ghost.
- This is also a reference to the Goof Troop episode Wrecks, Lies & Videotape, in which Goofy pretends to be a ghost to teach Pete a lesson.
- The stuffed bear that Goofy crashes in to does share some physical similarities to Baloo from The Jungle Book.
- Unlike other MouseWorks shorts, which were outsourced to Toon City in the Philippines, this one was made by Walt Disney Feature Animation's unit in Florida. This could possibly explain why this short had higher quality animation than the other MouseWorks shorts, not to mention the characters having colored outlines. Also this is one of the 7 Mickey Mouse Works shorts that using traditional cel animation
- The background designs and layouts during Step 2 are a reference to ABC's TV Show, "The Dating Game".
- By the cartoon's climax, it is revealed that Donald Duck sleeps with his eyes wide open (complete with the book "How To Sleep With Your Eyes Wide Open" in his hands), much to the ghost Goofy's chagrin. Ironically, Goofy himself would later do the same of sleeping with his eyes wide open in the ending of the How to Stay at Home short "Binge Watching" 22 years later.
- At several points of the cartoon, Corey Burton's narration mimics the voice of the Ghost Host from the Haunted Mansion ride.
- A few years later, Corey Burton actually voiced the Ghost Host, in the Haunted Mansion Holidays overlay.
Voices[]
- Wayne Allwine – Mickey Mouse
- Tony Anselmo – Donald Duck
- Bill Farmer – Goofy
- April Winchell – Clarabelle Cow
- Corey Burton – Narrator
Gallery[]
