For most Disneyland fans, there is a lot of joy in finding hidden secrets about the park that we all love to visit. There are many interesting little-known facts about the resort and some pretty crazy things from Disneyland's past that we still can't believe once existed.
One of these hidden secrets is the use of human bones in Disneyland's iconic Pirates of the Caribbean ride. There is a widespread rumor that the attraction contains a real human skull. We break down whether this rumor is true and the use of human remains in the attraction's past.
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Real Skull in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean?
For a long time, there has been the rumor that the skull that sits above the bed in the treasure room near the beginning of the ride is actually real. This rumor is likely born from the fact that there did used to be real human bones on this ride (more on that below), and the skull is notably darker and more tarnished-looking in appearance than the other skeletons throughout this segment of the ride.
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Though the rumor has gained some popularity over the years and was even once confirmed by a Cast Member, it is safe to assume now that this particular skull is not real. In today's day and age, the display of human remains would obviously raise some serious legal and ethical issues, and modern Imagineering is more than capable of delivering a realistic-looking human skull. It is unlikely that Disney would deal with the legal liability and upkeep of real human remains today. However, when the ride first opened, this was not the case.
At the time of the ride's opening in 1967, the technology wasn't sophisticated enough to create convincing-looking human skeletons, and so Imagineers obtained real human remains from the anatomy department of UCLA Medical Center for the ride.
According to former Disney producer Jason Surrell in his book Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, these remains were ultimately replaced by faux skeletons and ”were later returned to their countries of origin and given a proper burial.”
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With or without real human bones, Pirates of the Caribbean is considered to be one of the most immersive attractions ever created for a theme park. The ride has undergone many substantial changes over the years, but it is still one of the most iconic attractions at Disney—if not the most iconic—with several versions at parks around the world and a popular film series inspired by the ride.
You can read about the most fascinating secrets about Pirates of the Caribbean you may not have noticed, and all of the times the Pirates of the Caribbean movies referenced the ride that inspired them.
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My kid thinks it would be awesome if it was Walt’s skull. Now I need to watch your clip to find out if they know whose bones they be…
That would be awesome. I believe that that the bones originally came from someone who was in a car accident that donated their bones to UCLA.
Wow.. I just visited Disneyland with my cousin last month…Pirates of the Caribbean was my favorite ride when I was little so I had to go on it! Love the Restaurant there too! A very fun ride : ) That’s pretty interesting… I here they found the skull while building it years and years ago!
Thanks for the comment Maddie. I love pirates as well.
Who’s skull is it on the bed in the pirates of the carribian? I’ve been trying to find it for years. None of the cast members that I’ve asked know & if they do, they’re not suppose to say. Anyone know?
Actually all of the skeletons were once real. They were once slaves from China and Disney bought the bodies with consent of the ‘owner’
I was a cast member and I can confirm that that skull was given to Walt as a gift and is the only real skull left on the ride. When the ride first opened, the majority of the skeletons were donated by ucla because the props they originally were going to add looked too fake.
Very interesting. Thank you for the input.
First, how is the former owner of the skull “lucky” to be “immortalized” when his identity is unknown?…
Second, it would not seem disrespectful to me to use a human skull in the manner presented here IF I knew that it was done with the consent of the person who once used the skull — a possibility which seems doubtful to me.
There are some people who believe it actually IS the skull of Walt Disney himself! I don’t know if that’s true, obviously, but that is a theory that’s going around.
When the ride opened, all the skeletons were genuine, mostly donated to science for anatomical study, though there is some question as to whether or not the original owners had actually given legal permission for their skeletons to be used as such. Throughout the ride’s history, the necessity for routine maintenance would require that a skeleton be removed. By that point in time, the ability to obtain and/or convincingly recreate and articulate artificial human bones had reached an acceptable level of quality for Disney, and so skeletons that had been temporarily removed for cleaning or maintenance were replaced by artificial counterparts. Eventually, all the skeletons were swapped out with fabricated versions. The headboard skull, however, is in fact real and continues to watch over ALL the Disneyland patrons that brave the attraction. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!