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[]
In order to demonstrate how to haunt a house, the narrator (voiced by Corey Burton) arranges for Goofy to be in an accident that causes his spirit to roam around as a ghost. Although Goofy worries that this means he's a goner, the narrator assures him that it's only temporary, just long enough to help with his demonstration.
The first step is to "choose a house to haunt", so the narrator suggests that Goofy check the classified ads in the paper to find one. Doing as tasked, Goofy settles on a house on a hill with creaking hardwood floors, a fog-enshrouded breakfast nook and an informal dying room.
Step two is "selecting a hauntee", and the narrator gives Goofy the choice of selecting Mickey Mouse, Clarabelle Cow, or Donald Duck to be the one he will haunt. After hearing him say that nothing scares him, Goofy selects Donald.
For the rest of the demonstration, Goofy tries to creep Donald out as much as possible, but each time he fails in some form. Eventually, tired of being a ghost, Goofy has Donald look at him face-to-face, and the mere sight of him causes Donald to freak out and run out of the house, which gets him involved in an accident himself. Now in ghost form, Donald seeks revenge on Goofy, and the two ghosts end up chasing each other to the edge of a cliff, from which they both fall.
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
- Corey Burton – Narrator
- Bill Farmer – Goofy
- April Winchell – Clarabelle Cow
Gallery[]
