The Little Ghost Girl at Disneyland
Disneyland is known as the Happiest Place on Earth, but for some cast members, the park after dark feels like something entirely different. Long after the guests leave and the lights dim, strange encounters have been reported in the quiet corners of the resort. One of the most unsettling stories comes from a former Disneyland cast member who swore they saw a little girl in a white dress late at night near Splash Mountain. This story was posted by Reddit user, cheekonyourface, on the Reddit post titled, "Current/Former Cast Members, What Are Your Ghost Stories?"
The Reddit user stated that when they first started working in Critter Country, they didn’t believe in ghosts. That changed one night when they were walking alone through the park after a late shift. As they made their way past Splash Mountain around 1:45 in the morning, they looked up and spotted what appeared to be a young girl standing near the path. She looked about seven or eight years old and wore what seemed like a first communion dress. At first, they thought she was a lost child and given how new they were at the job, they tried to look for another cast member, A bit frustrated. Security didn't clear the park properly.
The girl was close to entrance to Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, while they were closer to the entrance of Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. They call out to the girl, asking if she needs help or if she's lost. But at this very moment, the girl's back is to them.
As they move closer to the little girl, they're maybe about 20 yards apart. They glance left, then right, looking for help, before they look forward and see the little girl suddenly running towards them. However, the strange thing was, they didn't hear any sort of footsteps. And it looks like she is about to run straight into them, like they're going to collide. They wince and brace for impact, but nothing ever happens. They open their eyes, and the little girl is gone.
They didn't think about the encounter until about a week later, when they were opening the shift with one of the leads who had been working at Disneyland for over 20 years.
Fearing that they could get in trouble for not reporting a lost child in the park, they casually asked, "Have you ever seen anything weird at night?"
The woman would reply, "Did you see a girl in a white dress?"
This chilled the cast member to the bone. Their stomach dropped when they realized they were asked something that they wouldn't expect the other cast member to have known. The lead described exactly what they experienced, without them saying anything.
They had heard similar stories from other cast members over the years. According to park lore, the girl was known as Mary, a child who loved Tom Sawyer’s Island, Haunted Mansion, and that part of the park in the early 1970s.
After dying of leukemia, her ashes were reportedly spread on Tom Sawyer’s Island by her parents.
What makes this story so eerie is how many different cast members seem to have seen the same figure in the same area. Whether Mary is a ghost, a lingering legend, or just one of Disneyland’s many nighttime mysteries, the story has stuck around for decades. And for the cast member who saw her that night, it was enough to turn a skeptic into a believer.
If you enjoyed this story, hear me narrate it on Episode 18 (Story #2) on the Scarecast podcast. (LISTEN HERE)
