Disney in a Minute: Who is Madame Leota?

We’re here with a series of quick posts, “Disney in a Minute,” bite-sized nuggets of information that can better help you understand a Disney term or planning topic. Enjoy!

Immediately prior to entering Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion attraction, you’ll see a headstone that reads, “Dear Sweet Leota, Beloved by All / In Regions Beyond Now, But Having a Ball.” Leota is the Madame Leota character that also appears mid-ride as the floating head in a crystal ball during the séance scene.

At the Magic Kingdom, Leota’s backstory is that she was witch living in Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s and was implicated in the inception of the Salem witch trials. There are different versions of her story in place at Disneyland, at the international park versions of the Haunted Mansion, and in film, novel, and comic versions of the Haunted Mansion story. She is definitely a woman of mystery.

In Disney World, she appears as a floating head attempting to conjure ghostly spirits, reciting the spell, “Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat; call in the spirits, wherever they’re at. Rap on a table; it’s time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond. Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween: awaken the spirits with your tambourine. Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond; let there be music, from regions beyond! Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!”

She is voiced by Eleanor Audley, who also provided the film voice for Cinderella’s stepmother in the animated Cinderella film and for Malificent in the animated Sleeping Beauty film.

Leota has become on of the most popular images to represent the Haunted Mansion on merchandise. You can find her face on everything from tee shirts to soap dispensers, with most of these items sold at the Memento Mori shop just outside the Haunted Mansion attraction.

Do you have any Madame Leota merchandise? Let us know in the comments.