The Ending Of Haunted Mansion Explained

Before we jump into the film’s ending, let’s do a little recap of everything that leads to the big finale. Once single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son Travis (Chase Dillon) enter the mansion and become haunted by the various ghosts that reside there, they call on some experts who sound like they belong more at the start of a bad joke. What happens when paranormal photographer Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), priest Father Kent (Owen Wilson), psychic Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), and university professor Bruce (Danny DeVito) walk into a haunted mansion? Well, a mad scramble for answers. The group tries to work together to uncover the truth behind the mansion, its ghosts, and a particularly treacherous ghost known as the Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto).

The group eventually discovers that the Hatbox Ghost is formerly Alistair Crump — a socialite who secretly murdered many people until he was beheaded by his detractors. As the Hatbox Ghost, Alistair has been collecting souls in the mansion for decades, hoping to reach 1,000 souls so that he can come back to the world of living. Once the group learns that Alistair is only one soul away — and is targeting both Ben and Travis due to their lingering grief — they’re forced to find something that belonged to Alistair so that Harriet can perform a banishing spell with Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis). Unfortunately, Alistair’s got plenty of tricks up his sleeve.